A Study Of The Transference Of Folk Custom Terms In Shuihu Zhuan Into English From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

With the quick economic growth of China in recent years, Chinese traditional culture is more widely accepted by the world. Thus, Chinese traditional culture in the English translation also ushered in a new spring. Among them, Shuihu Zhuan as one of the four greatest classical Chinese literary works comes to become an important subject of research in the field of translation in English.At present, the academic circles have had some related researches. Dent-Young’s translation work The Marshes of Mount Liang is the latest translation work of the four English versions which involves120chapters as a full version of the translation work. Thus, it can be considered as a new milestone in Shuihu Zhuan’s Enlgish translation history.Nowadays, the domestic researches on the English version of Shuihu Zhuan are translated by Dent Young is still not much. The transference study of the folk customs terms in Shuihu Zhuan is blank. Therefore, by the support of theoretical basis, the thesis with the perspective of functional equivalence theory and the research based on such academic circles, through the discussion of English translation background of the Shuihu Zhuan which translated by Dent Young. These are value orientation and translation strategies, which focus on transference study of the folk customs terms. Then based on the functional equivalence theory, reveal the relationship between language and the process of Chinese culture in the English translation.This thesis consists of four parts. Chapter one is the literature review. It is a comprehensive summary of recent academic researches on the English translation of Shuihu Zhuan, deepening the researching space, thus put forward the problem of the writing this thesis and the breakthrough point. The second chapter is the theoretical basis, it mainly discusses the definition of functional equivalence theory which includes the theoretical framework and the development functional of equivalence theory and the influence of it. The third chapter is the analysis of the text, taking examples of the transference folk custom terms from Dent Young’s The Marshes of Mount Liang, so as to analyze the translation from the translator’s value orientation in the process of the translation and the strategies. The fourth chapter, made conclusion and summarizes to the mentioned examples and theory, reveals the relationship between language and culture in the process of English translation.