Conducting Translation Criticism From The Functionalist Perspective

This thesis focuses on the application of functionalist approaches in translation criticism. Translation criticism theory and practice have long been restricted by the source text and equivalence, which hinders the development of translation. After functionalist approaches were proposed, they totally changed the traditional concept and task of translation and brought some fresh and dynamic perspectives towards translation criticism. It redefines the nature of translation and incorporates such elements as the translation skopos, the initiator, the translator, the target receiver, etc. into consideration. All of these elements set the critics free from the yoke of traditional model and open up a new perspective for translation criticism. In China, translation criticism is still in its infancy. We may be satisfied with the recent tendency that the translation criticism is shifted from texts to socio-cultural elements, but it should be admitted that our efforts on this field are still inadequate and the translation criticism is still under the control of traditional equivalence-oriented approach. This has greatly blocked the development of translation criticism theory and practice. One intention of this thesis is to provide some enlightenment for the development of translation criticism in China.It starts with a sketchy review of functionalist theory's origin and development.Functionalist theory did not appear overnight. Since the linguistic equivalencetheory failed to reconcile theory and practice, a new theory was pressed to come intobeing. The development stages of functionalist theory are represented by three majorscholars, i.e., Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer, and Justa Holz Manttari. They allmade great contributions to the development of this theory. However, in China, the research on translation and translation criticism lags behind the research in the West. Western translation criticism is more rational in method, criteria and process, and deeper in theoretical studies, while Chinese criticism attaches much importance to the source text and the linguistic aspect of the translation. Thus, it is essential for us to reconsider our thought pattern and advance our theoretical studies. After an exploration of the origin and development of functionalist theory, the author illustrates some important notions in functionalist translation theory, such as the nature of translation, the role of initiator, the translator and some other participants involved in translation process. As to the main rules in functionalist theory, the skopos rule that in translation process, any decisions made by the translator about the strategies and the skills he uses or the text type he chooses should aim at fulfilling the intended purpose, comes as the primary principle. Coherence, fidelity, and loyalty rules functions as subordinate principles. In this sense, the functionalist translation theory solves the eternal dilemmas of free vs. literal translation, good translators vs. slavish translators, dynamic vs. formal equivalence, etc. easily by employing these principles. The author also probes into a new understanding towards two basic notions in translation criticism-text and equivalence in light of functionalist approaches. Text, as the foundation of translation and translation criticism, is taken as an offer of information from which each receiver selects the items they find interesting and important. In this sense, the scope of translation and translation criticism is greatly widened. The functionalist approaches also discard equivalence as the unique criterion in translation and translation criticism and bring us a dynamic and culture-oriented understanding of it. It is the predetermined skopos which defines the form of equivalence and nonequivalence; the relationship between equivalence and nonequivalence becomes complementation instead of displacement. Moreover, it employs a more dynamic and flexible norm-adequacy. Adequacy is not a universal norm which can adapt to every occasion, but a framework of criteria which includes many multiple subordinate criteria, each of which can apply to every specific situation. Thus, the possibilities of translation and range of possible translation strategies are expanded. This thesis also tries to set up a functionalist translation criticism model in order to make our research both theoretical and practical. The functionalist translation criticism model is a bottom-up process and includes three basic steps. The author uses a literary translation case-Zhang Guruo and Wu Di's translations of Thomas Hardy's Tess of D'Urbervilles as a tentative exhibition of the functionalist translation criticism model. The analysis focuses on the comparison of Zhang and Wu's versions on the treatment of subtitles, styles, cultural elements. Based on their translation skopos-to introduce the unique writing skills of Thomas Hardy and strengthen the image of Tess in Chinese readers' hearts, the author makes an assessment on their translation strategies according to the functionalist translation criticism model. Zhang Guruo's version is more successful in dealing with cultural elements, while Wu Di's version does a better job in treatment of subtitles and concrete styles. Furthermore, as Wu Di's version appeared thirty years later than Zhang Guruo's, it is easy to notice that Wu's comprehension of the source text is obviously deeper than Zhang's. It should be the result of our translation theory development. In the future, we still need more mature theoretical support in order to guide our translation practice. Literary translation criticism is just a special example in the whole translation criticism system, but we can still get some enlightenment from this analysis.Although with many limitations, the present thesis is devoted to providing such enlightenment for our future study towards translation criticism. The author also hopes that translation criticism directed by the functionalist approaches will promote the development of translation theory and practice. Further study will offer a promising future for the functionalist theory and translation criticism theory and leads them to more perfection.