Academic Translation From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Jointly published by Nanjing University Press and the Nanjing University Center for Chinese Think Tank Studies&Evaluation,the Chinese version of James A.Smith's The Idea Brokers aims to introduce the history of American think tanks to its target readers:people with a bachelor's degree or above.In light of this,the author chooses the Skopos theory to guide the translation practice.In addition,Smith's book,as an academic text,features terms,long sentences and a formal writing style.This thesis,therefore,examines these three aspects to illustrate how rules of Skopos theory(the Skopos rule,the coherence rule and the fidelity rule)can be applied to achieve the translation objective.The Skopos rule specifies that translation strategies are determined by purposes.There are many American political terms in the source text.Since the target readers are hardly specialists in American politics,the translator needs to clarify these terms.Thus the author,following the Skopos rule,employs amplification and footnotes to achieve clarification.The coherence rule specifies that the target text should meet the standards of the target language,which,in this case,accords with the translation purpose.Considering the great difference in syntax between the English and Chinese languages,the numerous long sentences in the source text should translate to shorter ones in the target text to facilitate comprehension by target readers.Thus the coherence rule is adopted and,through sequencing,reversing and splitting,aims to make the translation accessible for its readers.The fidelity rule specifies that the target text should be faithful to the source text,which,in this case,accords with the translation objective.Since the writing style of Smith's book is formal,the translation employs written idioms and expressions from classical Chinese to convey the same style.