A Comparative Analysis Of Chinese Idioms In The Two English Versions Of Fu Sheng Liu Ji From The Perspective Of The Skopos Theory

Fu Sheng Liu Ji is a biographical prose writeen by Shen Fu in the Qing Dynasty.Only four chapters remained. Each of the four chapters which are written in a unique style with discrete records is narrated synchronously. The book has been translated into several languages and published in many editions, among which are four English versions. Lin Yutang and Graham Sanders published their English versions in 1935 and 2011. Lin’s version which people cannot bear to finish reading is famous for its elegant style. Sanders’ s version is renowned for its elaboration with abundant annotations and figures. Chinese idioms are notable in Fu Sheng Liu Ji and redered differently in the two translated versions. As one of the important part of culture-loaded words, Idioms with concise expressions and comprehensive meanings are the essence of Chinese language and possess distinct cultural features. Idioms translation is not only the change of language, but the transfer of culture. The similarities and differences of idioms translation in different versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji are of research significance.The skopos theory was put forward by German translator Hans Vermeer in 1970 s.Skopos theory holds that translation is a purposeful human activity. Translation is eventually decided by the translator’s purpose and target text readers’ needs. There are three rules in the skopos theory, respectively, the skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. The skopos rule is the chief one while the other two rules are subordinate to it. Going beyond source-text bound theories of equivalence to some extent, the skopos theory gives new explanation to the long-drawn dilemmas of “free”and “faithful” translation, dynamic and formal equivalence, covert translation and overt translation and puts forward a new paradigm to translation study.Under the framework of the skopos theory and its three rules, by a descriptive study of Lin Yutang’s and Sanders’ s translated versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji, the author mainly employs qualitative analysis, accompanied by quantitative analysis to compare idioms translation between the two versions and tries to answers twoquestions. First idioms translations are analyzed from the perspective of skopos theory. Based on the above study, second, similarities and differences between the two versions are compared and results are derived. Through the analysis, it is found that first idioms translations of the two versions are different under the skopos rule,the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. Second, the differences are displayed in translation methods, cultural image treatment, footnotes, average sentence length(ASL), type token ratio(TTR) and lexical density. It can be seen that the similarities and differences are caused by different translation purposes and target text readers.Lin Yutang intends to introduce Chinese cultural essence, Chinese way of life and the story of Shen Fu and Chen Yun to the west as well as to dissipate the misunderstanding towards China in the western world while Sanders’ s purpose is to translate the original language and sense as closely as possible.This thesis hopes to probe into the applicability of the skopos theory through the study of idioms translation in the two translated versions by Lin Yutang and Graham Sanders. Through the analysis of similarities and differences between the two versions, this thesis aims to provide some references to the translation of Fu Sheng Liu Ji and translation study of Chinese idioms in future.