Functional Equivalence In Academic Fine Art Publications Translation

The study on Chinese art history has been unfolded constantly due to its long history. Dr. Shane McCausland, a reader in the History of Art of China from University of London, emphasizes accurate description from the perspective of a westerner, which proves to be illuminating and complementary for the expansion of the study at home. The source text is an excerpt from his PhD dissertation titled Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) & the Revolution of Elite Culture in Mongol China.This thesis adopts the theory of Functional Equivalence, the core theory by Dr. Nida that has had a far-reaching influence on China’s translation fields. By studying the translation of words, phrases and sentences and applying the theory of Functional Equivalence, the author proposes three specific translation methods, i.e. source-oriented equivalence, target-oriented equivalence and source & target combination equivalence.The method this thesis employs is case study. It can be found that the source-oriented equivalence treats not only the translation of Proper Personal Names, Technical Terms and Back Translation, but also the translation of difficult expressions; the target-oriented equivalence deals with the differences between English and Chinese language; the source & target combination equivalence involves cultural and historical factors with the emphasis of the translation of four character phrases.The suggested concrete translation techniques will provide insights for future translators when they encounter such a text type.