On Drama Translation From The Perspecive Of Skopos Theory

This thesis makes a comparative study between the two Chinese versions of Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband in light of skopos theory with an attempt to find out the insights of this theory on drama translation. Since ancient times, drama has been performed on stage and its duality distinguishes it from other literary forms. On one hand, the drama text is to be performed for the audiences; on the other hand the classic dramas would later be read by readers. As a script for performing, the language used need to be intelligible and colloquial; while as a literary work, culture transmission is its task.The duality of drama causes dilemma for the translators as different strategies are to be employed if the purposes are different. It is to begin with theatre semiotics proposed by Prague school in 1930s in the field of drama translation studies, and in 1980s, Susan Bassnett put forward "performability" as the criteria for the evaluation of drama translation. "Readability" and "performability" become the focus of argument in the field of drama translation studies. A lot of Chinese scholars also examined a lot from the perspective of performability.The skopos theory is the core theory of German functional theory of translation since 1970s. It proposes that the purpose of the translation determines the translation methods and strategies so as to produce a functionally adequate target text. It is enlightening with regard to drama translation.This thesis makes a comparative study between the two Chinese versions of Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband. One is Taiwanese scholar Yu Guangzhong’s version published in 1998, and the other is Wen Xin from China mainland published in 2002. This thesis makes a comparative study between the two versions from linguistic dimension and cultural dimension in light of skopos theory.Based on the observation, the author finds out that Yu employed free translation strategy to preserve linguistic features of drama language. When studied from cultural dimension, Yu maintained the form and meaning in the target text. Wen Xin employed literal translation strategies more, so the linguistic features of drama language are not well preserved, and when translating word with culture connotation, Wen often added footnotes or used literal translation. It is thus believed that Yu’s purpose is to preserve the duality of drama language, and he translated the play for the audiences and readers as well, while Wen translated it solely as a normal literary work. The remarks of the two translators, especially Yu’s remarks support the conclusion. Therefore, it is believed that the skopos theory is applicable to drama translation. If the purpose of the translator is achieved, then the translation is adequate and successful, so it is believed the two versions are successful as the two translators achieved their purposes.