A Critique Of Giles' And Zhao's English Versions Of The Three Word Primer

The Three Word Primer is a traditional Chinese enlightenment textbook.It is written in plain simple words.It offers a panoramic view of Chinese literature,history,philosophy and education.Thus it is not only a popularity in China but also a classical one to learn about Chinese traditional culture and history in West.The Three Word Primer has five famous English translations while Giles and Zhao Yanchun's versions are generally deemed as widespread,that is the reason why they are chosen as the objects in this thesis.This thesis analyzes the achievements and failures in English translations of The Three Word Primer translated by translators from different historical and cultural backgrounds.In the 1960 s,Nida,a famous translating researcher,proposed a new theory,the functional equivalence theory,which believed that translation is not only the equivalence of meaning between two language texts,but also the equivalence of the style,vocabulary,syntax,discourse and culture.The core concept is “functional equivalence”,which means not only the equivalence of content,but also formal equivalence.Functional equivalence is generally divided into stylistic,lexical,syntactic,textual,and cultural equivalence.Through comparative research,it provides experience for a better English translation of The Three Word Primer in the future.Based on analyses on comparisons between the two translations,there are three conclusions.First of all,from the perspective of style,Zhao's version preserves the neat lines and rhythm which brings a better experience of reading the book.But Giles ignores the equivalence in style.So Zhao's version is equal to the source test in the way of style.Secondly,as to the translation of lexicon,syntax,passage and culture both Giles and Zhao Yanchun use transliteration,free translation,annotation,ete.In addition they also use domestication and foreignization in their versions.Both of them succeed in different degrees of functional equivalence between their versions and The Three Word Primer.In the end,as for a translation it's difficult to achieve a completely equivalence with source test.And equivalence in style and content are both vital in reproducing the literature features and enlightenment functions of The Three Word Primer.