On Drama Translation From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

As a special literature style with dual nature, drama can not only be enjoyed by readersas a literary work like fiction, but also can be performed on stage and appreciated byaudience. In the history of translation studies, drama translation has not received enoughacademic attention compared with other literary genres, monographs and papers on dramatranslation are also extremely rare both at home and abroad. The inherent duality of dramaincreases the difficulty of drama translation on the one hand, and brings some problemsabout how to determine the translation Skopos and choose appropriate methods to thetranslator on the other hand, for example, whether to emphasize the speakability of drama,or to ensure its performability. Besides, another thorny problem is how to evaluate atranslated drama.Among the numerous translation theories, Skopostheorie takes translation purpose asthe most crucial factor which not only determines the whole translational action, but alsogets rid of the equivalence-based translation theory and provides a practical perspective forsolving the problems of drama translation. Only having a clear translation Skopos of adrama can a translator adopt appropriate strategies and methods. In addition, Skopostheoriealso proposes “translation brief” to explain what type of translation is required, and regards“adequacy” instead of “equivalence” as the criterion to assess drama translation.This thesis studies the English version of some famous Huangmei Operas critically onthe basis of Skopostheorie. The author of this thesis mainly studies the translation Skoposand translation brief of Huangmei Opera, explores the validity and the applicability ofSkopostheorie in Huangmei Opera translation, and analyzes the translated version fromfour aspects in detail. It is hoped that this study can serve as a spur to the further study of thetranslation of Chinese traditional dramas.