The Cultural Inheritance In The English-chinese Translation Under The Guidance Of The Skopos Theory

As a distinguished literary translator and bi-lingual writer, Lin Yutang has produced a great number of works, among which Moment in Peking, his first full-length novel written in English, enjoys overwhelming popularity. Because of its literary value, various Chinese versions have emerged. Of all these versions, Zhang Zhenyu’s Jin Hua Yan Yun and Yu Fei’s Shun Xi Jin Hua stand out, into which, however, very few researches have been conducted. This thesis conducts a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the translation methods and strategies respectively employed by Zhang Zhenyu and Yu Fei at the lexical and syntactic levels under the framework of the Skopos Theory put forward by Hans Vermeer in the 1970 s. This graduation thesis mainly answers the following two research questions:1. What are the major methods that are adopted by Zhang Zhenyu in terms of lexis and syntax? What translation strategy are such methods governed by? Can the translation strategy give expression to cultural inheritance?2. What are the major methods that are adopted by Yu Fei in terms of lexis and syntax? What translation strategy are such methods governed by? Can the translation strategy can give expression to cultural inheritance?The Skopos Theory mainly consists of three principles, the skopos rule, the coherence rule and fidelity rule. Of the three, the former two are employed to further the analysis of the translation methods and strategies in this thesis. The discussion focuses on individual dialects, regional dialects, synonyms and antonyms at the lexical level, and simple sentences, complex sentences, Statement sentences and Question sentences at the syntactic level. Quantitative analysis concentrates on the translation of individual dialects, simple sentences, statements and questions, and qualitative analysis focuses on the translation of regional dialects, synonyms, antonyms and complex sentences.The relevant analyses show that the two versions are significantly different in the adoption of translation strategies. Zhang Zhenyu’s gives preference to domestication which facilitates the understanding for target readers but somewhat ignores the ST writer’s ideas whereas Yu Fei’s foreignization is designed to express the ST writer’s ideas to the full, thus able to make the Chinese traditional culture inherited to the largest extent.There is no denying that this study can firstly provide some valuable translating experience for reference about which methods to select so as to achieve the expected effects. Pedagogically, this thesis tells the differences of domestication and foreignization and believes the translator’s expected purpose determines his translation strategy. Last, the thesis can help develop the awareness of the roles that different translation strategies can play in transmitting and inheriting national culture.