A Comparative Study Of Four English Versions Of Chapter Of Ji Of The Art Of War In The Light Of Skopos Theory

The thesis is a comparative study of four English versions of Chapter of Ji of The Art of War in the light of the skopos theory. The author intends to design a systematic and methodologically stringent frame of reference for comparing and evaluating the four English versions as a whole as objectively as possible.The author reviews the present situation of translation criticism and investigates the development of the skopos theory and analyzes the reason why the skopos theory is appropriate for translation criticism. The skopos theory states that translational actions all have the specific skopos or purpose, which determines the whole process of translation. The skopos theory concentrates on the skopos rule, coherence rule, fidelity rule and loyalty rule with the skopos rule predominating. The author tries to combine the skopos theory with the functional analysis of the source text to establish a feasible frame of reference for evaluation. By adopting a top-down functional translation process, the author first starts on the pragmatic level by deciding on the intended function of the translation and then makes a distinction of the functional elements of the source text with the purpose of listing translation problems which will be encountered in the translation process. Lastly based on the translation style decided by the translation type, the translation problems will be tackled at linguistic level. As far as the framework of evaluation is concerned, the key is establishment of translation brief. With the skopos of translational action as the underlying rule for evaluation, the author makes a comparative study of four English versions from the perspectives of pragmatic, cultural and linguistic or text-specific level. With the adequacy principle as an effective measure of describing the relations between source text and target text as a consequence of observing a skopos during the translation process, the author holds that, if the target text fulfils the skopos outlined in the translation brief, the target text is functionally and communicatively adequate.