| The Functionalist Translation Theory was established in Germany in the1970s. Skopostheorie put forward by Vermeer is its most important theory. Skopostheorie first redefines the meaning of translation. According to Vermeer, translation is a purposeful, source text-based, cross-cultural human action. In the framework of Skopostheorie, the guiding principle of translation is no longer equivalence, but the skopos of the translation. The skopos of a translation influences the whole translating process, including the choosing of materials to be translated, the adoption of translating methods, and the standard of evaluation. Skopostheorie brings a lot of changes to the field of translation studies. It’s revolutionary nature is manifested in many aspects:first, the status of the original text is lowered; second, the skopos of a translation determines the translator’s choice of translation strategies; third, equivalence is no longer the only principle of translation; four, the standard of evaluation is changed to the extent to which the translated text fulfills the skopos of the translation. For that, Skopostheorie offers a brand new approach to translating studies.After its appearance, many scholars have realized its values in guiding practical translations. But as to the question whether this theory can be applied to the translation of literary works which usually lack an explicit purpose, opinions differ. Based on Skopostheorie, this article intends to use Chi-Chen Wang’s Dream of the Red Chamber as the target of the case study, with an aim to prove that Chi-Chen Wang’s translation was influenced by the skopos of his translation. The political, cultural environments at the time of his translation determined the target readers’ expectations which again exerted a profound impact on Chi-Chen Wang’s skopos of translation, which is to create a common reading material for common English readers. This skopos influenced Chi-Chen Wang’s whole process of translation.The paper first introduces the theoretical foundation and, based on that, explores the political, cultural backgrounds and the target readers’expectation to help analyze the skopos of Chi-Chen Wang’s translation. After this analysis, the paper tries to identify the influences this skopos exerts on Chi-Chen Wang’s translation by following the three principles put forward by Vermeer and then locates the places that manifest this influence. Through detailed investigation, the paper concludes that Chi-Chen Wang’s translation was influenced by the skopso of his translation and this skopos determined the choice of contents to be translated and the strategies to be adopted by the translator. The great success of Chi-Chen Wang’s translation attests to his fulfillment of the purpose of the translation. At the same time, we can also conclude from the analysis that Skopostheorie is an effective theory in guiding all kinds of translations, literary translation included. |
