On The Style Of Of Studies In Translation

Literary translation is a process of creation by artistic means. To a great extent, it depends on the translator’s creativity to judge whether the translation version is good or not. Thus, translators have to take the original style into account. However, the toughest question during translating is how to treat the style of the original version. The author believes that the translated version should be accordance with the style of the original version, and different works with various genres or themes have different degree of translatability. By applying Nida’s theory of Functional Equivalence, the thesis will compare and analyze two Chinese versions of Of Studies (one version is translated by Wang Zuoliang while the other is by Cao Minglun) from the perspective of style translation, including the definition, composition, and translatability evidence of style. After analyzing the choices of style, figures of speech and wording, the author concludes that Wang’s version is much better. For one thing, the content is faithful to the original version. For another, the style Wang employed is closest to the original one. Wang’s version has already become the most classic translated work of the famous prose.