A Study Of Wang Bao-tong’s English Translation Of The Triword Primer From The Perspective Of Functional Euivalence

As a traditional primer for elementary education in ancient China, The TriwordPrimer is featured by three-character in each line, written in rhymed metrical verseand pleasant to ears. The book is covered by a wide range of knowledge includingeducation, ethics, astronomy, history and geography, and the book implicates theConfucian thought and illustrates stories of famous historical figures, which hasprofound significance and been passed down through generations. While the Englishversion of The Triword Primer translated by Professor Wang Bao-tong in HenanUniversity deserves to be called a classical translation, which reproduces the beautyof the original text in meaning, rhyme and form. The thesis is a study of WangBao-tong’s English translation of The Triword Primer from the perspective ofNida’s theory of Functional Equivalence.Among all the theories of translation which appeared in the East and West,functional equivalence proposed by Eugene Nida is one of the most influential andwidely accepted theories. Nida put forward a definition of translation as: Translatingconsists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of thesource-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.We can figure out that his Functional Equivalence takes “the response of the receptor”as the focus, in which the understandings of the target readers and that of thesource-language readers should be compared to be the standard to evaluate whether atranslation is proper or not. It can be inferred that the target text readers would havethe same response as the source readers on the closest natural equivalent translation.Based on this theory, the thesis attempts to analyze in what way that “the closestnatural equivalent” translation is realized and the method to achieve the equivalencethrough the analysis of abundant examples in terms of meaning, rhyme and form. Thethesis consists of five parts: In introduction part, the background of the The TriwordPrimer, which includes its author, different versions, influence at home and aboard,and significance in Chinese education, will be provided. And then, the theoretical framework of the study----Nida’s Functional Equivalence is introducedand some previous studies on the research are mentioned. Chapter one elaborates inwhat way that Wang Baotong’s translated version of The Triword Primer is equivalentto the original in terms of words and phrases and historical stories in meaning.Chapter two deals with that Wang Bao-tong’s translation The Triword Primer achievesequivalence in meaning by demonstrating some examples. Chapter three analyzes thatWang Bao-tong’s translated version of The Triword Primer achieves equivalence inform, which reproduces the original text in terms of writing style and rhetoricalfeatures. In the conclusion part of the thesis, closest equivalence of the Englishversion of the The Triword Primer translated by Wang Bao-tong is emphasized andsummarized. Meanwhile, the thesis holds that Wang Bao-tong’s special affection topoetry and rhyme and his contribution on the introduction of the Chinese traditionalclassics deserves our respect and admiration. Lastly, limitations of this study and thespeculations about the further researches are illustrated.