A Study Of Chinese Translation Of English Hard News From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

News is a prominent means of information exchanging between countries. News can be divided into hard news and soft news according to the standard of different contents. Hard news refers to the news that has serious topics such as politics, economics, science and technology and so on. Hard news, recording what has just happened, what is going on, and what will happen, is of high timeliness, and describes what and why the events happen, and what effect people might have. This thesis focuses on the field of Chinese translation of English hard news. With the deepening of globalization, hard news has become the vital part of information exchanging between different countries. Since English is the most widely used language in the world, the quality of Chinese translation of English news will directly affect the communication between China and other countries. Therefore it is necessary to make a profound study of the strategies of Chinese translation of English news.Some barriers exist in current Chinese translation of English hard news such as in the fields of linguistic equivalence, cultural equivalence and stylistic equivalence. Taking Eugene Nida’s functional equivalence theory as the theoretical framework, this thesis is designed to analyze the strategies of Chinese translation of English hard news focusing on those problems. Eugene Nida’s functional equivalence theory emphasizes the principles of "content over form" and "readers’ response". Hard news is a kind of informative text which aims at transmitting timely information, and it also has the common feature of news——to satisfy readers’ needs. The emphasis on content and readers’ response in functional equivalence theory is in accordance with the goals of news. Therefore, functional equivalence theory has applicability in the practice of news English translation.In the main part of this thesis, this thesis firstly penetrates deeply into the framework and details of functional equivalence theory which introduces the miniature, development and principles of functional equivalence theory; secondly, it gives a comprehensive introduction to hard news and its linguistic features; finally, it explores the embodiment of the application of the theory in real practice of translation, and puts forward some strategies at the levels of word, sentence and text according to problems in current Chinese translation of English hard news, and illustrates these strategies with some news translation examples.There are six chapters in this thesis.Chapter one is the introductory part. It gives a brief introduction to the research background, research objective and significance, and research methodology as well as the overall structure of this thesis. As the development of the society, our world is becoming increasingly dependent on a variety of media to communicate. Various kinds of news quickly spread on the internet, and news translation has provided people with a new vision. It is self-evident that Chinese translation of English hard news is important, for it sets up a bridge for Chinese readers and the world. This thesis analyzes the Chinese translation strategies of English hard news, hoping to attract some attention from more scholars to this translation field.The second chapter is the literature review which mainly introduces the definition, essentials, linguistic features of English hard news, and previous studies on the application of functional equivalence theory and news translation. Functional equivalence theory has been applied in various fields currently, but there are few studies on the combination of this theory and hard news translation. Therefore, this thesis discusses the directive function of functional equivalence theory to Chinese translation of English hard news starting from the features of hard news.In chapter three, the theoretical framework is introduced. The theoretical basis is Nida’s translation theories in which "functional equivalence" is the core concept. Functional equivalence theory seeks to translating the meanings of phrases or whole sentences between two different languages rather than translating the meaning of individual words in syntactic sequence. Under the guidance of core concept, Nida puts forward some basic principles in translation. Chapter four introduces the problems existing in Chinese translation of English hard news and the applicability of functional equivalence theory to Chinese translation of English hard news. At present, the barriers in hard news translation are how to achieve linguistic, cultural and stylistic equivalents. This thesis demonstrates the applicability of functional equivalence theory to solve the problems in translation practices according to the barriers in these levels.The fifth chapter is the main part of this thesis. This chapter discusses the specific strategies in Chinese translation of English hard news. Firstly, the strategies at the word level are literal translation, free translation and literal translation plus explanation. Secondly, the strategies at the sentence level are amplification, omission, conversion of word class, conversion of voice, and using Chinese proverbs. Lastly, the strategies at the text level are cohesive word adjustment and text adjustment.The last chapter makes a conclusion. In this chapter, the major findings of this thesis are summarized and the deficiencies and limitations are pointed out. Meanwhile, some suggestions are proposed for future study in this field.This thesis analyzes and concludes some effective strategies in Chinese translation of English hard news under the guidance of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. It is considered that the guidance of functional equivalence theory will improve the accuracy of news translation. Under the guidance of this theory, Chinese readers will receive the closest natural equivalence as English readers. Therefore, this theory could enhance the translation quality and communicative effectiveness. In conclusion, the significance of this thesis is to provide some theoretical reference for hard news translation, and to emphasize the guiding role of functional equivalence theory in news translation. It is hoped that the thesis will attract some attention from scholars in this field so as to promote the development of English hard news translation.