On Translation Strategies Of Two English Versions Of Hong Loumeng From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Skopos theory was first proposed by some German scholars in the 1970s. According to Skopos theory, translation is a purposeful activity and ST is only regarded as an information provider. During the translation process, the translator can select the information intentionally according to his/her own translation purpose and TT readers. This theory ends up the heated debate between domestication and foreignization, and gives us a new perspective in translation.Under the light of Skopos theory, this thesis is intended to probe into the translation of culture-loaded information of Hong Loumeng within the five subsystems of culture: the ecological cultural-loaded information, the material cultural-loaded information, the social cultural-loaded information, the conceptual cultural-loaded information and the linguistic cultural-loaded information. The purpose of the analysis is to reveal how the translation Skopos influences the translators'choice of translation methods and strategies in translation. In the author's opinion, in order to achieve his/her skopos, the translator should employ different translation strategies when dealing with culture-loaded information in the process of translation. In the translation of Hong Loumeng, the Yangs adopt foreignization strategy and retain original cultural flavors of the ST in order to spread the Chinese traditional culture. On the contrary, David Hawkes adopts domestication strategy to make the TT more readable and acceptable to the Western readers. Both versions are good. They have achieved the translator's skopos. However, in terms of introducing Chinese cultural heritage to foreign readers in a new era of globalization, foreignization is more effective in the translation.