Reception And Influence: On Functional Approaches To Chinese Translation Studies

The thesis focuses on the influence of Functional Approaches on Chinese translation studies.With the development of translation studies, various translation theories have been put forward.It is under this circumstance that Functional Approaches or Functional Translation Theory is put forward by German scholars in 1970s.Functional approaches emphasize the role of the translator rather than the "equivalence" between the target text and the source text.Functional Approaches improve traditional translation criticism which has only one "equivalence" criterion and develop a new dynamic model of translation criticism.Katharina Reiss,Hans J.Vermeer,Justa Holz-M(a|¨)ntt(a|¨)ri and Christiane Nord are representatives of Functional Translation Theory. Different from the equivalence-based theories,the Functional Approaches dethrones the authority of the source text and puts the translation studies into the framework of the action theory and cross-cultural communicative theory.Translation in these approaches is defined as a part of translational action which is viewed as the process of transferring message by translators.Meanwhile,translation in these approaches is also characterized by the intentional,communicative,intercultural, interpersonal and text-producing features.Essentially,the approaches involve viewing translation as a purposeful activity and the focus of these approaches are on the function or functions of texts,especially the target text's function.Thus,the approaches bring translation theory into the study of cross-culture communication and broaden translation studies horizon.This thesis focuses exploring the Functional Approaches influence on Chinese translation studies.The author has made some researches of the influence from the following aspects:1.Discussing the translation beyond the confine of the linguistic framework of the traditional Chinese translation theory.Traditional Chinese translation theory discusses the translation under the linguistic framework,it generally highlights the translation products,i.e.,the target text,and especially stress the "equivalence" between the target text and the source text.Functional Approaches study translation,which think of translation substance and stress translation process.In this sense,Functional Approaches give the translation nature satisfied explanation.2.Transferring Chinese translation criticism into multi-dimensions.Traditional translation criticism had only one criterion:faithfulness.An indisputable fact is that, in the history of translation,many unfaithful translations succeeded while some fully equivalent translations failed.Reiss regards the relationship between the target text and the source text as a criterion to evaluate the texts.So the relationship became the interaction of two texts.This theory presented objective and specific criterion for translation criticism,which broke through limitation of single factor in traditional translation criticism.3.Promotion of translator's subjectivity.In Scopstheorie, translating is an intentional action,which is a communicative action to achieve the special aim,and the translator can adopt various translation strategies.In this sense,the Scopstheorie can promote the translator's subjectivity.4.Revising Pan-culture in translation studies.Some extreme deconstructionisms discussed the process out of the source text.Such a phenomenon will result in radical functionalism and in tendency of Pan-culture.Nord's function plus loyalty approach can valid avoid radical functionalism and Pan-culture.In the function plus loyalty principle,the freedom and responsibility of the translator are highlighted both theoretically and practically.The translator's freedom is limited to avoid reckless translating.Many Chinese scholars make greater contribution to Functional Approaches.It is helpful to study the influence of the Functional Approaches on Chinese translation studies,and broaden the horizons for translation studies,especially for the translation criticism, translation process and the translator's subjectivity.