English Translation Study Of Xixiang Ji From The Functional Equivalence Perspective

Drama is a special form of literature. It has the features of being directly perceived through the senses, interactivity with the audiences and unrepeatability. Besides, the cultural, historical and religious features of a country or nation can be reflected in drama. So how the cultural and linguistic beauty will be transmitted to the target receptors is worth considering by the translators. However, in translation studies, most people analyze and review drama from the literary angle. There are few people studying drama translation according to the characteristics of drama or from the aspects of stage performance. But only through performance could the charm of drama be shown. As drama is a unique style of literature, its stage performability and cultural connotations would be fully considered and appropriate translation strategies should be adopted.This thesis aims to explore the appropriate translation of the performability and cultural connotations of drama. With "Functional Equivalence" as the theoretical support and adopting the qualitative and quantitative methods, the author compares and analyzes the two English translations of the Chinese drama Xixiang Ji, which are The Romance of Western Bower translated by the Chinese scholar Xu Yuanchong and The Story of West Wing translated by western scholars Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema. The research result shows that Xu Yuanchong's English translation is more suitable for stage performance.