A Study Of The Translation Of The Chinese Idioms In The Selected Works Of Mao Tse-tung From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Idioms are an important part of a language. Though they are short and concise, yet they are rich in cultural implications. With the fast economic and social development, communication between different countries is increasingly enhanced. And in communication idioms play a prominent role. So how to understand idioms has become an important factor that influences cross-cultural communication. Whether or not a person can understand idioms directly influences the communication between people from different countries. Thus, it is essential to understand idioms accurately. However, due to the profound and rich meanings of idioms, it is really a challenging task for translators to translate idioms successfully.The Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung is an important work that reflects Mao Tse-tung Thought, in which enormous idioms are used. These idioms concentrate on the Chinese culture and express Mao Tse-tung Thought concisely and accurately. But how to translate these Chinese idioms into English is indeed a hard nut to crack for the translators.The Functional Equivalence Theory of the famous translation theorist Eugene A. Nida can serve as a guidance for the translation of idioms. The theory is not confined to the equivalence in the literal meaning and the form. Instead it attaches great importance to the responses of the readers. That is, it emphasizes that the translation should guarantee that it has the same effect on the target language readers as the effect the original brings to the source language readers.The thesis makes a deep analysis of the following problems from the perspective of Nida’s theory of functional equivalence, such as,"Why is the translation of the idioms in the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung well-received for the target readers?""How does the translation of the idioms in the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung achieve functional equivalence?""What translation methods have been adopted in the translation of the idioms in the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung?"Through the systematic analysis of the translation of the idioms in the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung from the perspective of Nida’s functional equivalence theory, a conclusion can be drawn as follows:By using a lot of translation methods like literal translation, and free translation, and literal translation plus free translation, literal translation plus annotation, omission, amplification, the translators have accurately and faithfully translated the Chinese idioms into English so that the translation is quite acceptable to the English readers. Thus, a good functional equivalence is achieved. And functional equivalence theory is a good guiding principle in the translation of the idioms in other classical works.