A Comparative Study On The Translation Of The Culture-loaded Words Of The Art Of War

Language is not only a communication tool but also the linguistic carrier of culture. Different cultures and nations differ from each other in the ecological environment, religions and customs. Thus the tremendous cultural differences bring about a lot of culture-loaded words which are the direct reflection of a nation’s unique culture, history and environment. In the process of translation, the culture-loaded words refer to those specific cultural expressions of the source language that do not completely correspond to those of the target language in meaning and style.According to the functionalist Skopos theory, all the human activities including translation do have certain purposes or aims. The skopos rule, coherence rule and loyalty rule are the three translation rules of the Skpos theory. The Skopos theory emphasizes the communicative function of a language and breaks through the limitations of traditional translation theories which highly stress the grammatical and linguistic factors of a language and pay more attention on the source language. A good translation should be responsible for the sponsor of the translating activity, the translator, the source text reader and the target readers according to Skopos theory, and an adequate translation should also realize certain communicative and cultural function. The thesis is making a comparative study on the translation of the culture-loaded words in the selected four English versions of the Art of War, respectively by Lionel, Griffith, Lin Wusun and Luo Zhiye, from the perspective of Skopos theory.At last, the thesis concludes that a translation that achieves certain cultural and communicative functions can be regarded as an adequate translation. Lin Wusun, Luo Zhiye and Griffith’s versions all offer detailed explanations and notes to the culture-loaded words by means of transliteration and annotation. Lionel’s translations of the culture-loaded words are comparatively simple and brief without many explanations. Generally speaking, all these four versions are basically in accordance with the skopos rule, coherence rule and royalty rule. However, the four translated versions of the culture-loaded words still have shortcomings that are also discussed in detail in the thesis.The thesis is making a comparative study on the translation of the culture-loaded words in the selected four translated versions of the Art of War in the light of Skopos theory so as to promote the development of researches and studies on the Skopos theory as well as to encourage the comparative study on the different versions of literary works.