A Report On The Translation Under The Guidance Of The Functional Equivalence Theory ——Taking Wen Cheng As An Example

This paper is practical translation report on the Chinese translation of the Chinese novel,Wen Cheng.The research contents consists of 26 chapters from this novel and its English translation.Guided by Eugene A.Nida’s functional equivalence theory,this paper carries out analysis and research with examples.In the process of translation,we seek to reproduce the information in the source language in the most natural way,and pay attention to the needs of readers of the target language,so as to achieve not only the formal correspondence of the text,but also the functional equivalence between the two languages and cultures.The author analyzes the Chinese edition of Wencheng’s translation strategies under the guidance of Nida’s functional equivalence theory.The core of Nida’s functional equivalence theory is that the translator starts from the stylistic meaning of the original language,uses the most proper and natural equivalent words to translate the original text,and uses the objective response of the readers as the standard to measure the quality of the translation.That is,functional equivalence stresses that translation is not supposed to be limited to form,but should pay more attention to the meaning of the source text,and translation quality is supposed to be judged by the response of the target readers to the source text.The target text is consistent with the target text reader’s response to the source text,which is what distinguishes functional equivalence theory from other theories.This translation practice report is made up of five sections.The first section elaborates on the background of the translation and its significance.The second chapter is the process of translation: pre-translation preparations,the translation process and the post-translation proofreading.An introduction to the Functional Equivalence Theory and how it guides the translation practice in third section.This translation practice case studies is discussed in the fourth part.As the most important part,the author explores how to use different translation techniques such as addition,domestication,foreignization etc.,to achieve functional equivalence on dialogues.The fifth chapter is the conclusion which summarizes the major findings and experience,limitations and suggestions in this practice.The author believes that it is feasible to apply functional equivalence theory to this novel’s Chinese translation by translation practice and analysis.The essence of the theory is to realize functional equivalence between the source and translation,make reading the readers and reading the readers in the reading of the translation of the original when the reaction is essentially the same,so in the translation from Chinese into English under the guidance of the theory of the novel,to convey can be as much as possible to restore the novel’s content and style,and help the readers better and more profound understanding of the original thought and content.