A Study Of Translation Strategies Of The Spare Room From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Functional equivalence was raised by Eugene A.Nida in 1960s.Despite the fact that it came into being over 5 decades ago,this theory still plays a crucial role in the field of translation studies both at home and abroad.Functional equivalence focuses on conveying the meaning of the original text instead of the form and attaches importance to the response of target readers,which gives insight into what translation strategies we shall take to deliver a good translation.The author selects the translation material from The Spare Room,a novel written by the Australian writer Helen Gamer.This work is famous for its exquisite writing,vivid description of the characters and the context and the rich emotion between words.To represent these features and emotions,the translator adopts a series of translation strategies.Based on functional equivalence,this thesis analyzes the,typical examples in the first chapter of The Spare Room in terms of vocabulary,syntax,text and style.Besides,this thesis compares the original translation with the edited version in a bid to show how the author is enlightened by functional equivalence during translation and editing and to explore the reason why the author chooses the corresponding translation strategies.Given the genre and the writing style of the original text,this thesis mainly focuses on the ways employed to represent the aesthetic features of the original text.With regard to the vocabulary,the translator shall pay attention to the degree of emotions instilled in certain words and choose appropriate words to achieve the same reader's response as the original readers.Syntax-wise,the translator should recognize the different ways to achieve logical connection before adjusting the sentence structure and making necessary changes to link words so as to make sure that the translation is in line with the habit of Chinese expression.In terms of text,the translator should analyze the text in a large context and handle the link words and subordinate clauses in such way as to guarantee the coherence and fluency of the translation.As to style,the translator should take the aesthetic feature of the source text into consideration and represents the style by certain words and structures so as to show the aesthetic value of the literary works.After analyzing the translation practice and process,the thesis suggests that the translation should not follow the forms of the source text to the letter but take certain translation strategies to realize the same reader's response and represent the meaning and style of the source text based on the context and the habit of expression in Chinese.