A Study Of News Translation Between English And Chinese From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

With the accelerated process of globalization, people from all over the world are experiencing a frequently increasing communication all around the globe. As one of the pillars of modern civilization, news has become an indispensable part in people’s daily life. So news translation is undoubtedly a necessity. The study in this field prospers for decades from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. And this thesis attempts to exert a rather comprehensive and macro study of news translation between English and Chinese from the perspective of Skopos Theory.On the basis of the clarification of several basic concepts concerning news translation and the theoretical construction of Skopos Theory as well as a macro grasp of translation process, news translation is divided into three phases, i.e. the phase before translation, the phase during translation and the phase after translation. And the activities of each phase are analyzed from the perspective of Skopos Theory in this thesis. In the phase before translation, the initiator or commissioner should decide the choice of news and translation brief, and hand over those to the translator. In the phase during translation, the translating methodologies are discussed after the clarification of the possible five purposes involved in news translation, i.e. to convey facts, to influence and direct public opinion, to disseminate knowledge and culture, to entertain the public and to achieve certain commercial objectives. Apart from the complete translation of cultural information in news for the purpose of culture dissemination, translation variation seems more suitable in the translation of news for the other four purposes as mentioned above. Complete translation is the combination of literal translation and liberal translation while the kernel of translation variation is change plus translation. And in the phase after translation, the initiator, commissioner and translator should pay close attention to target text receiver’s responses and needs and adjust translation brief and translating strategy at any time.