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The Application Of Functional Equivalence Theory To Financial Documentation Translation

Posted on:2008-12-24Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:C C XuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360242969651Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
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With our country's further reforming and opening to the outside world and after China's entering the WTO, the intensification of international financial communication and cooperation becomes increasingly important. This phenomenon shows the growing significance of financial documentation translation. However, the development of financial documentation translation cannot catch up with this trend. The study of financial documentation translation is still in its starting phase and its relevant academic works are extremely rare. Due to the absence of appropriate translation theories guiding the practice of financial documentation translation, the existing situation of this realm is not satisfactory. The translations by amateur translators leave much to be desired. Even in many works translated by some financial experts, further improvement still needs to be made.In view of this phenomenon, the author tentatively applies Nida's functional equivalence theory to the practice of financial documentation translation. By functional equivalence, Nida refers to the equivalence "first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style".(Nida,2004:12) In addition, Nida claims that the degree to which the receptors in the receptor language respond to the TLT should be the same as the degree to which the receptors in the source language respond to the SLT. An ideal translation ought to aim to find the closest natural equivalent to the SLT, that is to say, the receptors of SLT and TLT are supposed to have the similar responses.Based on detailed exemplification, this thesis aims to study how functional equivalence can be achieved in financial documentation translation in terms of meaning and style. Examples are to be analyzed at the lexical, syntactic and discourse levels. The thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter One concerns literature review. Firstly, the study of financial English in China is presented, then past and present studies on financial documentation translation is discussed, and finally, the past and present study on financial documentation translation is studied. In Chapter Two, the author elucidates Nida's theory of functional equivalence. She briefly introduces Nida's definition of translation firstly, and then analyzes formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence, and finally, reader's responses are treated. In Chapter Three, the author deals with language features of financial English, which is a branch of business English. The author analyzes language features of business English firstly and then elucidates the special characteristics of financial English. In Chapter Four, financial documentation translation is analyzed from two perspectives: meaning and style. Section One deals with the importance of meaning equivalence in financial documentation translation. The informative and communicative functions of financial documentation translation determine that the translator should not follow the usually misleading rule of formal correspondence. He should try his best to reproduce the same effect upon the readers of his translation as that upon the readers of the original in a dynamic way. Section Two shows how the translator reproduces the most equivalent translation to the source language text from the perspective of style. What a translator should follow in reproducing the style of original text is "functional equivalence" instead of "formal equivalence". The formal, concise and courteous features of financial English determine that the translator should reproduce the style of the original text by appropriate use of a style close to classical Chinese; meanwhile, the literature flavor of financial reports determines that the translator should integrate the style of the original text into his translation. In Charpter Five, a brief conclusion is given. Numerous examples indicate that Nida's theory of functional equivalence can be best applied to financial documentation translation and functional equivalence can be achieved in both meaning and style.
Keywords/Search Tags:Functional equivalence, Meaning, Style, Financial English, Translation, Rhetoric
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