A Functionalist Approach To Verbal Humor Translation In Three Men In A Boat

For a long time in China,the study of verbal humor translation has not been paid due attention to.Although scholars had urged for more extensive research into humor translation over the past decade,the situation hasn?t improved much.Meanwhile,it is unanimously agreed in the field of translation studies that humor translation is a hard nut to crack,and is even considered an impossible task by many prominent scholars.However,those who believe humor is untranslatable invariably attach great importance to source text,so much so that when they render source text into target text,they can only convey the literal meaning of ST,while failing to transmit the implied meaning.Consequently,the humorous effect is severely damaged.According to functional theories of translation,ST only serves as the source of information,from which the translator can choose what suits the purpose of the TT in the process of translation.From this perspective,the purpose of TT rather than fidelity to ST should be given top priority in translation,which can help the translator break through the shackles of ST and transmit humor into TT,enabling the TT to produce for the TT readers an effect similar to that which ST readers get from ST.Jerome K.Jerome is one of the most prominent humorists in modern Britain,whose most famous novel Three Men in a Boat has enjoyed widespread popularity in the western countries since its publication.In the novel,the writer told many stories that happened during the journey of three men(including a dog)down the Thames River in a boat.Although the story itself may not be funny,the way the writer told it never fails to draw loud laughter from the readers.Unfortunately,in China few studies have been devoted to the translation of the novel,and among the few studies dealing with translation problems,almost none is done in a functionalist perspective.This thesis,taking Three Men in a Boat as a case study,tries to examine whether the translation of the novel is successful,and if not,tries to improve it from the perspective of functionalist theories.In this way,this thesis attempts to demonstrate that humor is not untranslatable,and that functional theories of translation also apply to literature translation,which,therefore,is significant both theoretically and empirically.This thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter One is literature review,which mainly deals with previous studies on humor,including definition and classification of humor,current studies on verbal humor,and the translatability of verbal humor.This thesis?s adoption of humor definition and classification is made clear in this part.Also the applicability of functionalist theories on humor translation is discussed here.Chapter Two is theoretical framework,in which functional theories of translation and cooperative principle are introduced.Chapter Three is a case study of Three Men in a Boat.In this chapter,Jerome K.Jerome and his novel Three Men in a Boat are briefly introduced,and then the examples from the novel are classified into five groups based on cooperative principle,for the convenience of study.After this,the examples are examined to see whether the translation is successful with respect to the functional theories of translation.If it is not successful,improvements are given.Following Chapter Three is the conclusion,which concludes the thesis and points out in which way this thesis might be further improved.