Translating The Same Words Differently In English-Chinese Literary Translation:from The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Translation is an essential path to communication across nations and countries. Eugene A. Nida, thought that the function of the source text should gain great attention if faithful translation is to be desired. Thus, he proposed the well-known Functional Equivalence Theory, which emphasizes the equivalence of the communicative function, rather than the linguistic form. In literature, as the linguistic form may not directly present the meaning of the original work, Functional Equivalence Theory is especially crucial in literary translation.This report is based on the author’s practice of translating excerpts from Mark Twain’s What is Man, which is aimed to discuss the issue of how the same word needs to be translated differently. By following Eugene Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory, the author exemplified the different translation versions for the same word, and discussed the strategies used, including word formation, supplementation and omission of words and paraphrase.