A Contrastive Study On The Three Translation Versions Of Mao Zedong Poems From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

The translation of Mao Zedong Poems presents the pattern of diversification: diversity intranslation subject, style and publishers. With Mao’s poems published officially in1957, itstranslated versions in more than40languages have been read in more than20countries,12ofwhich are in English. Different translation versions serve different purposes under a givenhistorical context, which results in different translation strategies. This thesis choosestranslation versions rendered by Willis Barnstone in1972, Foreign Language Press in1976and Xu Yuanchong in2003.Barnstone paid much attention to the need of target language readers and the original textwas treated as literature work appeared in the English world and tried his best to maketranslated lines accessible to English readers. However, because he is a foreign translator,there are unavoidable mistranslations in his version. The Foreign Language Press’s versionwas rendered by Mao Zedong Poems Translation Group and issued by domestic authorities.At that time, every part of the translation was under strict censorship and supervision, whichinevitably made the translation different from others no matter in content or form. In thetranslation process, the Foreign Language Press preferred the translation strategy offoreignization, attaching great importance to the authority of the original text. After the policyof Reform and Opening up, translators had a more profound understanding on Mao ZedongPoems. Xu Yuanchong focused on the Three Beauty in the poems, namely, beauty in sense,sound and form. When translating, he tended to adopt domestication approach.By detailed analysis on those three versions, we can make a conclusion that they allrealize their translation skopos, which determines their translation strategies. Therefore, thetranslation versions should be dialectically treated and appreciated under given context. As tothe transmission Chinese culture to the West, translators should not only pay attention to thecultural information, but also keep eyes on the acceptability of the target text.