On Cultural Translation And Functional Equivalence

The exchange and communication between languages are in essence those between cultures. The major task of translation across cultures is to turn the cultural content in one language into another. Therefore, whether it is faithful or not largely depends on the degree of the translator's grasp of the two languages and the subtle differences of the cultural content expressed in the languages.In both translation theory and practice, what is important is to break the cultural barriers and convey the source cultural message faithfully and effectively. The theory of functional equivalence put forward by the well-known American linguist and translation theorist Eugene Nida is very revealing about the aspect of thorough understanding of the source text and achieving semantic equivalence across cultures. Because of cultural differences, identical response is an ideal which translators are striving for.First of all, the author of this thesis states the necessity of the research by revealing the inextricable connection among language, culture and translation. In view of the linguistic and cultural differences between English and Chinese, functional equivalence should be the aim pursued by translators. The author then continues to discuss the application of functional equivalence in cross- cultural communication, especially the application of functional equivalence in the translation of English and Chinese allusions.However, due to the linguistic and cultural differences, it is inevitable for translators to encounter the problem of untranslatability. In the last chapter the author also suggests some ways to deal with linguistic and cultural barriers in translation.