On Functional Equivalence In Two English Translations Of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan

By using Eugene A. Nida's translation theory of functional equivalence, this thesis makes a comparative study of the two English versions of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan, a famous story by Lu Xun.Among the many translation theories emerged in the East and West, Eugune Nida's theory of functional equivalence is one of the most widely accepted. Nida defines translation as:"Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style."(Nida, 1969:12) His functional equivalence focuses on"the response of the receptor", in which the criterion of evaluation lies in the comparison between the understanding of the target readers and that of the source-language readers. The closest natural equivalent translation is the one that can evoke from its target readers the same response as the source text can from its readers.In light of Nida's theory of functional equivalence, this thesis makes a comparative study of the two English versions of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan. Through analysis of a number of examples from three perspectives: meaning, style and culture, the study tries to find out whether the closest natural equivalence has been achieved in the two versions in the three perspectives as well as the means to achieve equivalence.It is found in the study that functional equivalence has been realized to different degrees in the two versions. Conclusions are reached as follows: (1) Great attention should be paid to the context by the translator. A word may have more than one meaning, and the translator should find through the context the exact and equivalent word in the target language. (2) The translator should try his best to transfer the stylistic features of the original work, to let the target readers have the similar esthetic experience as the original readers do. To reach that goal the translator may adopt various methods like imitation of the original style,recasting or recreation of the original style. (3) Because of the cultural differences between different nations the translator often has to add relevant information in translation to achieve equivalence in cultural connotation. Various techniques are often used such as literal translation with a footnote or an endnote, contextual amplification or paraphrase to bridge the cultural gap.