On Strategies Of Humor Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

As an important verbal communicative means and writing skill, humor can convey profound meaning in unity and opposition through the adoption of witty expressive means such as hyperbole, irony, pun, sarcasm, etc., making the readers smile and provoking their thought. Humor is widely adopted in English literature works for its unique functions. Humor translation has been studied from various perspectives, such as linguistics, sociology, psychology, etc. by scholars at home and abroad. However, it is rather difficult to translate humorous utterances in literature translation owing to differences in language, culture, history, geography, thinking mode, etc. between western countries and China.American linguist and translation theorist Nida proposed a receptors’ response-oriented theory-functional equivalence theory in 1964 by arguing that translation should be based on the "equivalence" both in terms of meaning and style and a closest and natural equivalence between the source language and the receptor language should be achieved for the purpose of making the response of the target language readers essentially same or similar to that of the source language readers. His theory has attracted a lot of attention and scholars in different subjects have debated on it heatedly since it was put forward. In particular, it has had a profound influence on the progress of translation theory and practice. Meanwhile, it is available and practical in translating English humor utterances.Pride and Prejudice is the representative work of Jane Austen, which has enjoyed great popularity among the readers at home and abroad for its humorous style and skillfully-used rhetorical devices. This thesis deeply analyses the handling of humorous language and application of functional equivalence theory in the process of humor translation and figures out basic translation strategies-foreignization and domestication in translating humors by studying its Chinese versions of Sun Zhili and Wang Keyi.Conclusions have been drawn through the study on humor translation from the perspective of functional equivalence:1. Translation barriers in English humor translation are mainly caused by its distinctive linguistic and cultural features.2. A closest natural equivalence between the target language and source language should be achieved in English humor translation on the basis of "receptors’ response".3. Foreignization and domestication are two basic strategies which are appropriate for dealing with humor translation, but they should be adopted flexibly according to specific situation in the process of translation instead of being handled in opposition.In spite of its shortcomings, this thesis makes a comparatively further study on English humor translation from the perspective of functional equivalence theory and points out that foreignization and domestication are two effective strategies in translating English humor. The study is of some significance in providing a new perspective for English humor translation studies and is beneficial to teaching practice of translation.