| Drama constitutes an important part of the world literature and its translation has been going on for many centuries. Yet only limited scholarly attention has been devoted to the translation of drama. The reason mainly lies in the duality of dramatic text: for it can either be viewed as literary works or as an indispensable component of the art form of drama. Dramatic text is the foundation of stage performance, through which its value can be achieved totally. On the contrary, if a dramatic text cannot be performed on the stage, it won't be a successful play. Abundant facts can prove that dramatic text is a particular literary genre, whose particularity primarily lies in its purposes for stage, and secondly for page.The translation of drama is targeted at achieving equivalent theatrical effects in the target culture. The characteristics of stage performance not only constrain the playwright's freedom of employing language but also unavoidably draw into a new dimension to the translation of drama. Being the main content of drama, drama language is nearly the only way for the playwright to communicate with the audiences. It shoulders the responsibility of developing the plot, revealing the theme, creating vivid characters etc. This peculiarity of drama language decides that it has its own features, such as intelligibility, brevity, characterization, actability and musicality. Hence, it could be an advisable choice for drama translators to review the features of drama language so that they can make well-informed decisions about the strategies and methods to be adopted in drama translation. Except drama language, the audience also plays an important role in the whole performance system. The audience's direct and immediate interaction with the actors on the stage enables him to be regarded as an element far more important than the reader in other literary systems. The interpretation and feedback of the audience in the theatre is fatal to the success of a stage performance.On the basis of functional equivalence theory, Jin Di puts forward the"equivalent effect translation"theory. He especially specifies three terms that he thinks are the most important concepts of his theory. They are receptor, effect and equivalence. He also points out that receptor is a crucial element in his theory. Without the receptor, transmission of the information cannot be accomplished. Guided by Jin Di's translation theory of equivalent effect and with a contrastive analysis of the two English versions of Teahouse, this thesis attempt to find out better ways to realize the equivalent effect of drama language and achieve the theatrical effectiveness of the text in the target theatrical convention so as to be accepted by the target language audience. |
