On Translation Of Children’s Literature Under The Guidance Of Adaptation Theory

Children’s literature is important to children’s psychological, intellectual development and language acquisition, but it gets little attention in translation studies. According to Jef Verschueren’s adaptation theory, language consists of continuous making of linguistic choices for language-internal and/or language-external reasons, which is, in essence, consistent with translation activities. Under this theory, Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back was translated into Chinese. Through sample analysis, this thesis focuses on four aspects:structural adaptation, contextual adaptation, dynamics adaptation, and degree of salience. It is found that adaptation theory has a strong power in guiding the translation of children’s literature and explaining translation phenomena in the field. Meanwhile, the translator showed high degree of salience in making linguistic choices and adaptation while translating. These results can help both broaden the way of studying children’s literature and arouse attention to the translation of children’s literature.