A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of Shijing By Xu Yuanchong And James Legge-from A Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Shijing is the earliest collection of poetry in China and even in the world,probably originated two thousand years ago.Its unique stylistics,phonological harmony,rich words and images have exerted a very important impact on the later poetry and literary creation,being a bright pearl among treasures of world culture.The translation of Shijing has a history over hundreds of years,while the translation study of Shijing is still in its infancy.The contemporary significance has set the study of the English translation of Shijing apart in the context of multicultural era.Under the guidance of Nida's functional equivalence theory and from four elements of a poem: stylistic,rhythm,diction and imagery,this paper attempts to make a comparative study of two versions by Xu Yuanchong and James Legge.Among them,the analysis of style and rhythm is guided by the form equivalence of Nida's theory,and the diction and imagery are more suitable to analyze through another equivalence of the theory: the equivalence of content.Whether the form or content,the ultimate main judgment criteria are still “whether the response of the target readers is similar with that of the original readers ".This paper attempts to draw the following conclusion: Shijing has its unique style and rhyme so that formal equivalence,both stylistics and rhyme should be realized so that target readers can have the similar first impression as the original readers.On this basis,a translator should consider the use of word.Ensuring the fluency of the poem,a translator should at the same time strive to reproduce the original images or the emotions involved in order to achieve the equivalence of content.Only in this way can the requirement be fulfilled that similarity of readers' response should be achieved.With the increasing influence of China,the Chinese classical poetry culture,as one of the important national soft power,will be paid more attention by people all over the world.Inorder to help them better understand Shijing,one of the sources of Chinese poetry,to promote the translation of classical literature,and to promote the Chinese culture to go out,I also do my best.the countermeasures and protections for the water environment.