A Comparative Study On The Two Chinese Versions Of The Remains Of The Day-from The Perspective Of Nida’s Functional Equivalence

Kazuo Ishiguro is a well-known Japanese-British novelist,whose works have had a great influence in the world since he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2017.As an important representative work of Ishiguro,The Remains of the Day wins the Booker Prize,the highest award in contemporary British novel,and has been widely read and highly praised all over the world.Mao Guoan and Feng Tao successively translate The Remains of the Day into Chinese,and the book titles of the two Chinese versions are Chang Ri Liu Hen and Chang Ri Jiang Jin respectively,both of which have achieved great success and attracted many scholars to study.However,most of their studies are focused on the themes of Stevens’ identity and history after World War II,or focused on the theme of Stevens’ memory through the narrative mechanism.It is rare to make a comparative analysis on the two Chinese versions of The Remains of the Day from the perspective of translatology,especially from the perspective of functional equivalence theory.Under this background,this thesis takes the three aspects of functional equivalence theory as its theoretical framework.Methodologies of comparative study and text analysis are applied in this thesis so as to attempt to make a comparative study of the two Chinese versions of The Remains of the Day,and probe the similarities and differences,the reasons for the differences in the two versions,and whose Chinese version is more likely to achieve functional equivalence as well.Through comparative study,the major findings can be concluded.There are similarities and differences between the two Chinese versions of The Remains of the Day in terms of the three aspects of functional equivalence theory.The similarities are that both of the two versions are cohesive,coherent,and have obtained highacceptability.The two versions are quite different in semantic equivalence,cultural equivalence and stylistic equivalence.Firstly,the degree of semantic equivalence in Feng Tao’s version is higher than that of Mao Guoan’s,because the former adopts the translation method of combining semantic translation with communicative translation so as to grasp the context and character better in The Remains of the Day,and his version effectively improves the degree of semantic equivalence.So the target readers can easily understand the real meaning of The Remains of the Day.Secondly,the degree of cultural equivalence in Feng’s version is higher than that of Mao’s.Because Feng mainly adopts semantic translation and amplification so as to retain the original image and provide interpretation.He provides a lot of footnotes with abundant cultural information,which effectively improves the cultural equivalence of his version.Thirdly,in terms of stylistic equivalence,Mao’s version is more in line with the style of Chinese novels than Feng’s.No matter in the use of four-character words,irony,metaphor,simile and other rhetorical devices,or in the use of long and complex sentences and double negative sentences,Mao can adopt the translation method of combining communicative translation and semantic translation flexibly,and he also adopts the translation techniques of combining sequential translation,reversed translation,and division so as to achieve stylistic equivalence.According to the principle of meaning first in Nida’s functional equivalence theory,Feng’s version is more likely to achieve functional equivalence than Mao’s.In conclusion,this thesis makes a rather significantly comparative analysis of The Remains of the Day from the perspective of functional equivalence theory,and provides a new theoretical perspective for the Chinese readers and literary critics.Furthermore,this thesis can also provide useful reference for the further study of novel translation in the future,and provide reference for research methods.