A Study Of The C-E Translation Of Chinese Local Snack Names From The Perspoetive Of Functionalist Translation Theory

Since China adopted the reform and open-door policy, Chinese economy has experienced an unprecedented development for over three decades. After China’s entry to WTO, China has witnessed a tighter economic and trade tie with the rest of the world. What’s more, the success of the2008Olympic Games has further promoted cultural and human exchanges between China and other countries. Each year, many foreigners come to visit China for various purposes. This can be attributed not only to the continuous increase in China’s comprehensive national strength which provides more job opportunities and better living conditions for foreigners, but also to China’s profound traditional culture and unique folk customs which have great appeals to foreigners.As an indispensable part of Chinese culture, Chinese local snacks serve as an important medium in carrying forward Chinese history, culture and local customs. Therefore, the translation of Chinese local snack names is more than literary translation, and involves the international communication as well. Thus, the translation quality will have a direct influence upon China’s national image in the eyes of foreigners. At present, few studies have ever been conducted on the translation of Chinese local snack names. Most of scholars have focused their attention on the translation of Chinese dish names, and ignored the translation of Chinese local snack names. A few researches on the translation of snack names were not comprehensive and systematic enough.The translation of Chinese local snack names falls into the category of advertising text translation, and advertising text translation is an important part of translation in practical writing, whose translation purpose is to attract foreigners’ attention and inspire their desires for enjoying these snacks. Therefore, we should have sufficient awareness of the considerable differences in history and culture, thinking mode, conventional expressions and aesthetic standards between China and western countries. What’s more, Chinese and English texts are structured and expressed in different manners. The translation practice shall be handled under the guidance of functionalist translation theory so that translators can use different strategies to address different translation purposes and then attract foreign diners. As a function-oriented theory, functionalist translation theory highlights the communicative function of target texts. Hence, when the features, functions and translation purpose of Chinese local snack names are considered, this thesis adopts functionalist translation theory as its theoretical basis. Under the guidance of this theory, the translated versions of Chinese local snack names can do a better job in attracting foreign diners and publicizing China’s time-honored history and folk customs, helping foreigners better understand China, and then promoting the friendly exchanges between China and the western countries. With the functionalist translation theory as a guideline, the thesis collects more than100Chinese local snack names to demonstrate the significance of functionalist translation theory in the translation of Chinese local snack names and to expound some suggested translation strategies based on this theory.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter I introduces the research aims and significance, research methodology and the structure of this thesis. Chapter II describes the previous and current studies on the translation of Chinese local snack names, and offers an overview of Chinese local snack names including features, classification and functions. Chapter III, as the theoretical framework of this thesis, introduces the background and development of functionalist translation theory, highlights fundamental principles and important scholars and thoughts of this theory, thus laying a comprehensive foundation for the subsequent research of this thesis. Chapter IV is the main body of this thesis which analyzes the typological features of Chinese local snack names including informative text, expressive text, and operative text. Then, under the guidance of Skopos theory, the writer points out some translation problems of Chinese local snack names from linguistic, pragmatic and cultural perspective, and gives some suggested translation methods for the translation of Chinese local snack names. Chapter V summarizes the research findings, points out the research significance, limitations and suggestions for further study.