On English Translation Of "Report On The Work Of The Government" From The Functionalist Perspective

The annual"Report on the Work of the Government''( hereinafter referred to as RWG ), covering the areas of economy, politics, education, culture and all aspects of social life, consistng of looking back on the past achievements and putting forward the future plans, certainly presents the most authoritative source of information about the current situation in China. Meanwhile, the English translation of RWG also represents the highest standard of the translation of political domain. Therefore, a well-translated work of RWG counts for much in transmitting the information to the outside world. This thesis investigates the English translation of RWG from the perspective of German functionalist approach and aims to explore proper translation strategies for RWG translation expecting to provide a reference or guidance for English translation of the same text type.Adopting descriptive translation studies as the methodology, the thesis reviews the major concepts of the functionalist translation theory; analyzes the typology function and style features of RWG; and then sets out to explore factors influencing the English translation of RWG on the basis of the text typology theory, Skopostheorie, translational action theory and the poly-criteria principle theory. The manifestation of functionalism in RWG translation is categorized into four dimentions: lexical, sentential, discourse and cultural, and finally the corresponding translation strategies and techniques to deal with these problems are put forward.Through analyzing abundent authentic examples of RWG translations, the thesis finds out that the English translation of RWG adopts various strategies. It uses deletion, combination and free translation at the lexical level; addition, abridgement, and substitution at the sentential level; restructuring and dividing at the discourse level as wll as interpretation at the cultural level. The application of functionalist approach to the English translation of RWG can maintain the information consistency, overcome the cultural barriers and achieve the communicative purpose in the translation process.Based on a comprehensive analysis, the thesis discovers: that the RWG translation is a cross-cultural activity with the realization of the expected function of target text as the translation objective and thus the translators can choose whatever strategies that appropriate to achieve the communicative function; that the functionalist approach is feasible and practical to guide the English translation of the same text type as RWG; and that the functionalist approach has provided a theoretical basis for some effective translation strategies, such as, free translation, deletion, interpretation and restructuring.