A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Nowadays the two Chinese versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone obtain reputation among the readers for its splendid translation. Despite their success, there are few academic studies on the translation of the book domestically. Skopos theory points that during the practical translation process, translators should be target-text oriented and take such factors as the intended text function and the target readers into consideration so as to produce a readable and meaningful text. Under the guidance of skopos theory, the thesis adopts a comparative study, first it analyzes the intended text function and target readers of two Chinese versions; then it explores similarities and differences of two Chinese versions in linguistics, rhetoric as well as choice of translation strategies, and applies the skopos theory to analyze and prove the reasons of the variations are resulted from different target readerships, which proves the skopos theory is applicable for literal translation; next it discusses influence of translator’s initiative on translation effect in two versions, demonstrating that when translators obey the skopos theory, translation can reach a successful effect, which further proves the validity of the skopos theory. Finally, the author draws the conclusion that skopos theory can be applied to guide literary translation, especially when the text has a specific readership. Meanwhile, translators should keep their initiative correspondence with skopos theory in the whole course of translation, which requires translators should choose appropriate language styles, translation methods and strategies according to different readerships so as to meet readers’needs and reach different expectant effect.