Functional Equivalence In Translation-A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of Hongloumeng

Hongloumeng, which is the peak of the art of Chinese classical novels, charts the course of prosperity and decline of an aristocratic family with a key clue of the tragic love story between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. As an encyclopedic novel, Hongloumeng unrolls a panorama of social history of the Qing Dynasty in a very vivid way. All the personages and events converge on, link and restrict each other to make the plot develop gradually in a chain of cause and result, and finally the tragedy dramatically reaches its peak. Since its appearance, Hongloumeng has been attracting the interest of a wide range of readers, including not only Chinese, but also foreigners. It was translated by various translators and published in many foreign languages, such as English, German, and French. Up to now, there are altogether two complete English versions of Hongloumeng, namely A Dream of Red Mansions, which was translated by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang and published by Foreign Languages Press in Beijing and The Story of the Stone, which was translated by David Hawkes & John Minford and published by Penguin Books Ltd in London. The former one was divided into three volumes and published in succession from 1978 to 1980, whereas the latter one was divided into five volumes and published in succession from 1973 to 1982.The criterion for a good translation has been an essential issue in the translating circle over many years. Both Chinese and foreign theorists have proposed a large number of criteria to evaluate different translated versions. Among them, the functional equivalence theory proposed by Professor Nida is regarded as one of the most effective criteria for people to evaluate different translated versions. The theory of functional equivalence advocates the closest natural equivalent of the source language message. What functional equivalence theory pays special attention to is the equivalence of response between the source text readers and the target text readers, rather than the equivalence of form between the original text and the translated text. Under the guidance of functional equivalence, a translator is not much concerned with matching the target text message with the source text message. What concerns him is whether the translated text can evoke a close equivalence of response between the target text readers and source text readers. In this paper, the theory of functional equivalence will serve as the guiding principle for us to evaluate the two English versions and find out which version can enable the target text readers to understand and appreciate the original message adequately and accurately and evoke a close equivalence of response between the source text readers and target text readers.This paper consists of altogether six chapters.Chapter One is an introduction to the whole paper. In the introduction, the motivation and objectives, the applied translation theory of this present study and the background knowledge of Hongloumeng and its author Cao Xueqin would be briefly presented.Chapter Two is the literature review, containing an introduction to the nine English versions of Hongloumeng as well as the previous comparisons and studies of the two complete English versions under the guidance of different theories.Chapter Three will be devoted to a detailed explanation of Nida's translation theory, including his definition of translation, the theory of functional equivalence, the differences between formal equivalence and functional equivalence, the importance of readers'responses and some principles for producing functional equivalence.Chapter Four is the main body of this paper. It is to compare some renditions in the two English versions on different levels of systematic structure and design, the translation of the designative and associative meanings of words, stylistic features of conversation and vulgarism, rhetorical devices like puns and euphemisms, idioms and social customs and habits involving cultural connotation, people's names, and some unavoidable loss of original message to find out which version has achieved greater degree of equivalence of the source text. All the examples presented in this paper are selected from the two complete English versions of Hongloumeng, one was translated by Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang and the other was translated by David Hawkes & John Minford. By studying the selected examples, we will clearly know the different orientations the translators hold, due to which, different types of equivalence and different degrees of equivalence of the source text are achieved in the two versions. Chapter Five is an introduction to some mistakes and problems appearing in the two versions. By presenting those mistakes or problems, the author of this paper does not try to doubt the translators'capability to translate Hongloumeng. Those mistakes and problems will serve as evidence for us to find out the reasons that lead to them.Chapter Six is a conclusion, in which, this paper will point out that both of the two versions enjoy distinct features and can be regarded as good translations on the whole. Most target text readers believe Hawkes and Minford's version can enable them to appreciate the corresponding message of the source text adequately and accurately, and The Story of the Stone is more likely to enable them to have a response close to what the original readers experienced. It is quite understandable for Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang to be more oriented to the source text and its author, because they intend to introduce the original Chinese culture as much as possible to the foreigners. But translation in nature is a kind of dynamic intercultural communication, which will be influenced or restricted by many factors, such as the social, historical background in which the communication proceeds, the publisher's will, the translator'purpose to translate the original novel, the target readers'cultural background and their overall expectation and so on. Chinese and Chinese literary works don't share the same status and importance as English and English literary works, so if people intend to retain strictly the features and characteristics of Chinese literary works in the translated version, then the formal and close renditions can become the very factor which impedes the whole undertaking of translating and the communication between different cultures. So, Hawkes and Minford's version not only is the closest natural equivalent of the source text, but also provides more foreign people with a window which will induce them to learn more about Chinese culture and literary works.