An Analysis Of Chinese And Korean Versions Of Harry Potter And The Philosophcer’s Stone From The Perspeetive Of Skopos Theory

There may be many translations of children’s literature, but among them there are bad ones. The reason is twofold. On the one hand, children’s literature is less appreciated and only very few translators specialize in translating books for the young. On the other hand, a theory that can guide the translation of children’s literature is yet to be developed. This thesis examines the Skopos theory and its role in translating children’s literature. To this end, it analyses and compares the Chinese and Korean versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.The Skopos theory, which sees translation as a purposeful activity, is a major advance in translation theory. The theory is a shift from linguistic translation to a more functionally-oriented one where translators consider readers of the target text and make adaptations. The Skopos theory states that a translator should have a purpose to determine translation methods and strategies, one that depends on target readers. The thesis introduces the Skopos theory in Chapter2as theoretical basis.As children’s literature is mainly read by children, a good translator must make the translation acceptable by the young. This, in turn, requires an understanding of their cognitive capacity and language ability. The thesis introduces children’s literature and its translation in Chapter3.Chapter4, the central part, analyzes and compares Chinese and Korean versions of the book. Based on the Skopos theory, the chapter identifies translation strategies in making the translation easy and children-friendly. It compares the two versions from three rules (the skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule) and anaylses the differences and their possible reasons. Chapter5concludes that different translators have varied cultural and language backgrounds and intended purposes and use different translation strategies as a result. Both versions sell well among target readers and are loved by children of the two countries, a testimony to their success.