Translation Of Chinese Video Game Texts From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

This thesis is a report on the translation practice of a game text titled Infinite Cultivation.The text was translated into English and was to be put into use in a game for the Southeast Asian market.It tells a story of a time traveler who comes back to ancient China during the Shang and Zhou dynasties,gets involved in a battle between humans,gods and demons,and finally survives and becomes a Buddha and achieves immortality.Chinese elements,Taoist terms and items unique to the immortal cultivation world are frequently found in the text;at the same time,as a game text,its language is concise and full of a sense of humor,and it is also interspersed with slangs familiar to Chinese game players,with a great deal of dialogue scattered around.These are the features of the source text(ST),which actually constitutes great difficulties in translation practice.Vermeer’s Skopos theory plays a big role in guiding the translator to finish the translation of the game text.The three principles of Skopos theory are of great help for her to spread Chinese culture and deliver a target text(TT)that is more acceptable for readers of the target language.The purpose of the translation is the key to choosing translation methods or strategies.Therefore,based on the theory,the translator analyses the difficulties met during the translation process at lexical,syntactic and discourse levels,such as the translation of magical items and skills,four-character expressions and Internet slangs at lexical level.She adopts different translation methods,such as literal translation,free translation and literal translation with notes at lexical level,to achieve the purpose of translating the game text and deliver a translated text that is more acceptable for target readers.At syntactic level,the methods of addition,restructuring and adaptation are used to achieve the coherence of the TT.At the level of discourse,the method of omission and the use of pronouns and superordinates have made the translation more coherent for target readers and free from redundancy commonly seen in Chinese sentences.The translator hopes that this report can bring inspiration to readers who are interested in Chinese culture and Chinese game texts,and that by translating the game text into English she could help enhance the influence of Chinese games in the global market and spark foreign readers’ interests in Chinese elements.