Comparative Study On The Translation Of Culture-loaded Words In Fu Sheng Liu Ji From Perspective Skopos Theory

According to Skopos theory, the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose (Skopos) of the overall translational action. The top ranking rule for any translation is thus the"Skopos rule". Different translation strategies should be used for different purposes or intended functions. Skopos theory moves translation studies beyond the linguistic border and lays emphasis on those extra textual elements, especially on the interplay of ST author, translator and TT readers, providing a more rational evaluation of translations. As a break with the traditional idea of equivalence and a valuable complement to translation theories, Skopos theory thus opens up a new perspective for the translation practice and study.Within the theoretical framework of Skopos theory, the thesis attempts to make a comparative study of the two English versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji translated by Lin Yutang and Leonard Pratt & Chiang Su-hui respectively in term of culture-loaded words on the basis of Xing Fuyi's categorization of culture. The culture-loaded words occupy an important position in Chinese culture and bring some difficulties in translating. Based on the analytical study of the two English versions, the author tried to explore the translation strategies adopted by two translators in transferring culture-loaded words, various factors conditioning translators'choices of strategies and accordingly what effects of the translations are achieved.Through a comparative study, this thesis reveals that two translators adopted various translation strategies but show different preferences, namely, Lin Yutang preferred the domestication strategy, target language and culture-oriented translation and? intratextual coherence with a purpose of entertaining the target readers, while Pratt and Chiang were prone to foreignization, a lot of notes and some maps for explanation, source language and culture-oriented translation and? intertextual coherence so as to maintain exotic flavor of Chinese culture as much as possible. Generally speaking, the two versions are adequate as different strategies fulfill the different purposes of the two translations and meet the expectation of different readers though both translators deviate from their overall translation strategies in some cases, such deviation is intended to fulfill their different Skopos of translation. Then the research further reveals that different characteristics represented in the ?two versions and the different expected functions of the TT are consistent with the Skopos they set to reach.This thesis consists of five chapters. It starts with an introduction in chapter one, mainly about the significance and objectives and the thesis structure. It goes on to have a literature review in chapter two, mainly about previous studies on Lin Yutang's English version of Fu Sheng Liu Ji and on comparative study of two or three versions. In chapter three the equivalence-based translation approach will be reviewed, then Skopos theory, the theoretical basis of the thesis, will be presented and the influence on translation strategies will be studied. Chapter four starts with the brief introductions to the ST-Fu Sheng Liu Ji and its author Shen Fu, as well as the English versions and their translators, and then analyzes the translators'different purposes. The case study on two English versions succeeds in this chapter. There is comparative study of the translation of culture-loaded words and explanations of the strategy choice from the Skopos theory. This chapter ends with evaluation on the translators'strategies choice. Chapter five presents the conclusion derived from the analysis in the body part and points out the limitation of this thesis.