On Functional Equivalence In Literary Translation From The Perspective Of Context

Context is a kind of linguistic phenomenon or phenomenon related to the use of language. The concept of context was first posed by the famous anthropologist—Malinowski in the 1920s. In the following years, with the development of semantics and pragmatics, and also with the deep research on language, more and more linguists realized the importance of context. Context plays an important role in translation. Those who are engaged in translation should take context into consideration. Context not only determines how a word is to be understood, but also how it is to be translated. It goes without saying that linguistic context is the basis of proper understanding and translation. Non-linguistic context, however, is no less important and also exerts a considerable influence on translation. And only with accurate interpretation of the source language text can we translate it into proper target language, thus achieving successful functional equivalence.By applying to the theory of context and functional equivalence by Nida, this thesis focuses on the discussion of how to achieve functional equivalence in translation through faithful representation of the context.Tracing the representative researches on context both at home and abroad, the thesis discusses the definition and classification of context. Based on the demonstrated relationship between context and equivalence theory, it studies the dynamic function of context in translation. Furthermore, through a comprehensive study of the Chinese version of Vanity Fair, the thesis explores the dynamic function of context in literary translation from the perspective of linguistic context, situational context and cultural context.In conclusion, this thesis is just one more attempt to throw light on the relationship between translation and context, and to reveal the decisive role of context in producing satisfactory translation work. It analyzed the influence of various contextual elements on the process of translation and drew the conclusion: whether the translation practice, translation criteria or the translation criticism depends on the theory of context. Based on a close observation of context functions, the author tentatively intends to prove its importance in widening the scope of translation study and setting up a new angle in translation study and more attention and the studies on context in translation are drawn.This thesis indicates that functional equivalence in literature translation can be achieved by the faithful representation of context of the source text, which is of both theoretical and practical value to literature translation.