Translation In Light Of Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory

Dr Nida's theory of functional equivalence has been highly valued and has influenced the practice of translation in general. The primary purpose of this paper is an attempt to explore the theoretical basis of Nida's functional equivalence theory and provide practical help to translators involved in translating Chinese political text in the light of this theory.The major contributions of Nida's functional equivalence to translation theory can be found in his insightful study of translation based on an extensive range of theories, including Chromsky's transformation-generative grammar, information and communication theory, and also socialinguistics and socialsemiotics. As different from other text-based equivalence theory, Nida's functional equivalence distinguishes itself by shifting its focus of attention to the relationship between text and reader, and by regarding reader's response as the criterion of translation. With China's development and opening up, China plays an increasingly important role in the world. More people want to know China, not only its culture and history, but also its present political, economic and technological development. Therefore, translation of Chinese political text becomes one important medium for foreigners to know China's current development. Many translators have made great contributions in this regard. But as far as the author of this paper can see, our translation work still leaves much to be desired. The study of these underlying difficulties becomes quite necessary and important. This paper, as a tentative study of exploring effective methods for translating Chinese political text on the basis of the functional equivalence theory, is expected to be conducive to the translation work as a whole. Since each language has its distinctive features, and every nation has its own culture, it is natural that we should adopt Nida's theory based on Chinese context. The paper consists of four parts. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction of the theory of functional equivalence and compares it with other translation theories both in China and in the west. Then the author illustrates the important concepts inNida's theory and discusses the inspirations for translation we may draw from this theory. In order to identify the underlying difficulties when translating Chinese political text, Chapter 2 analyzes Chinese political text both in terms of its function and style. Chapter 3 discusses the importance of understanding cultural and linguistic difference between Chinese and English-speaking countries, and explains through examples the influences of cultural and linguistic differences on the translation difficulties, with particular reference to Chinese political text translation. Chapter 4 concludes the basic principles of Nida's functional equivalence and makes a tentative study of ways of translating Chinese political text on both lexical and syntactical levels. The Conclusion reasserts the significance of approaching translation in the light of this theory. It not only helps to settle the dispute between literal and free translation, but also introduces to translation a new criterion, the target receptor. However, the author also points out in this part certain limitation with Nida's functional equivalence theory that she concludes from her study. In spite of the limitation, Nida's functional equivalence still gives a lot of insight to further translation studies.