On Harry Potter In The Perspective Of Skopos Theory-a Contrastive Study Of Three Chinese Versions

Skopos Theory is of much importance in Functionalist Approaches which includethree rules：Skopos Rule，Coherence Rule and Fidelity Rule．With the introduction，development and application of Skopos Theory，its great impact is increasinglyexpanding in China．For example，Zhong Weihe and Zhong Yu have provided basicmaterials for dissemination of Skopos Theory．The book Contemporary WesternTranslation Theory Selected edited by Chen Dehong and Chang Nam—fung has madeit a noticeable theory in translation study．In terms of application，Wu Nansong hascriticized the novel of later Qing Dynasty from the perspective of SkoposTheory．However，there still exist problems such as incomprehensive understandingabout Skopos Theory．There are more critic articles，but fewer study theses．There aremore articles on translation application，but fewer literature translation and even feweron children s literature translation．In2008the author input key words SkoposTheory and children literature translation in the CNKI digital library and only found5related articles, but in2012, we found more than25related articles, so we can saymore and more domestic scholars began to focus on the skopos theory and children’sliterature translation. This initiated the author into the contrastive study of childrenliterature translation in the perspective of Skopos Theory．In the process，the authordiscovered that three versions differed greatly in terms of language characteristics，syntax and device and strategies taken when reading the three versions of HarryPotter．Probing into the reasons behind，the author holds that the differences of the threeversions result from various purposes．The translators adopt different methods andstrategies in order to achieve their own goals．Therefore it is not enough to judge theversion merely from the language facet，the expected function or purpose may also betaken into consideration．Mr．Wang Zuoliang once said in a very insightful way， what is the greatestdifficulty in translation? It is the difference of two cultures．Something may be verynoticeable in one culture，however，in another culture the translators have to makeutmost efforts to explain it in translation (1989：34)．This is especially true regardingchildren s literature translation because children are at the stage of learning mothertongue．Too many awkward or strange words or phrases will disturb their study，andeven hamper correct formation and development of their mother tongue．The statisticaldata show that，in most cases，domestication method seems to be adopted in terms oflanguage，while in handling culture elements，we may choose foreignization strategy so as to broaden their horizon and learn about foreign cultures such as social customs，habits，rituals and so on．Harry Potter serials storm the whole world in recent years that leads to discussionsand researches in various fields. However, few theses dedicate to its translation. As aresult, this thesis makes a tentative study from a functionalist approach to itstranslation into Chinese, especially on how the skopos children-orientation determinesthe target text. Functionalists first of all regard translation as a human action, which isgoverned by three rules: skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule.In Harry Potter translation, with children as the center of the skopos rule to leadthe whole translation activities affect the translator’s translation strategy, so after thatwe existing children’s literature characteristics of the Chinese version. we selectedthree Chinese versions of Harry Potter to read and research, analyzes theircharacteristics in language, syntactic, means and translation strategy in different, andthen we choose suitable for children, which to show the skopos theory.