Hymnal Translation In The Framework Of Nida’s Theory Of Equivalence

The thesis is going to adopt The New Hymnal, edited by the Chinese ChristianHymnal Committee, as the research target, with the guidance of Eugene Nida’sequivalence theory, to take a closer look at the quality of the translation and its levelof acceptance. In this way, the study will test whether the translated hymnal serve theevangelic purpose as the editors had intended.The thesis is going to use the methodology of questionnaire and comparative studywhich is to compare the responses of Chinese receptors and English-speakingreceptors, of Christians and non-Christians. The findings contains roughly thefollowing contents.From the macro aspect, the responses between the Christians of the Chinese andEnglish-speaking groups resemble each other very much and it is the same with thatbetween the non-Chrisitan groups. On the whole, receptors of the same identity havethe similar responses.From the micro aspect, the responses between the Chinese and English-speakingnon-Christians may vary in the minor phraseology and subtle wording.In Chapter5of the thesis, there will be detailed and systematic analysis and studybased on the results of the questionnaire, so as to test the quality of the translation,assess the function of Nida’s equivalence theory for the translation and research.Besides, the study will also point out the shortcomings of the theory and thelimitations of the study for the review of future studies of other researchers.