A Study Of James Legge’s Translation Of Mencius From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Skopos theory is the core of German functionalist approach. It holds the view that translation is a purposeful cross-cultural activity and each text is produced for a given purpose. In Skopos theory, the purpose of a translator determines his translation process and translation strategies. It puts emphasis on the target text and the target language readers. It puts forward three rules to judge a translation:the skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. In a word. Skopos theory provides a new perspective for translation study.Based on Vermeer’s Skopos theory, the thesis chooses Legge’s version of Mencius as a study object. By exploring Legge’s translation purpose of Mencius, the thesis tries to prove rationality of his version by analyzing Legge’s translation strategies in his translation. Legge is the first person who systematically translated a series of Chinese classics. His status of the missionary and sinologist makes his translation purposeful. His version has exerted great influence on the west where western readers know the oriental civilization and Chinese culture. Till now, Legge’s version is still regarded as a standard translation of Chinese classics.The thesis is divided into five chapters. The content of each part is as follows:Chapter one is an introduction that gives a brief introduction of the research aims, the research significance and the thesis construction.Chapter two is literature review. This chapter introduces the major English versions of Mencius, the study state of Mencius English versions in China and overseas, especially studies about Legge’s version of Mencius.Chapter three is theoretical framework. This chapter aims to introduce Skopos theory as a theoretical foundation and to analyze its applicability in Legge’s translation of Mencius.Chapter four is a case study which analyzes Legge’s translation strategies and its effect on his translation with the application of the three rules of Skopos theory.Chapter five is a conclusion. The noticeable feature of Legge’s Mencius is "faithfulness". All of his translation strategies serve the purpose of "faithfulness" Legge’s translation is acknowledged by western readers, which proves that Skopos theory is applicable in literary translation.