A Report On The Translation Of At The Bay From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalance

Katherine Mansfield was one of the most creative and famous short story writers in the early 20 th century.She was said to be a key figure in the development of British short stories because of her unique narrative perspective and delicate writing style.Meanwhile,her short stories mark that the creation of British short stories has stepped towards a mature stage.Mansfield had created 93 works drawing wide public attention in limited 15 years of her literary career.Those outstanding representative works,such as The Garden Party,Bliss,At The Bayand so on,have wonher worldwide fame.This paper is based on the translation practice of At The Bay,which is one of the representative works in Mansfield's late creation period.The whole text,describing the life from morning to night of a New Zealand family,consists of 12 independent parts.Most content of this novel are peculiar language of characters,monologues and detailed description of scenery.In terms of vocabulary,the frequent use of partial tone and slang creates a real life picturefor the readers,which also increases the interest of reading.In addition,a large number of color words are used in the long description of scenery,which reflects the author's careful observation and love for the beauty of her homeland.In terms of syntax,many long sentences and SVS(Sentences with Verb Constructions in Series)are used in this novel,making it sonorous and forceful,which vividly demonstrate the motion state of characters.Finally,in terms of rhetoric,rhetorical devices are liberally used in the text,which also highlight the author's writing style.In view of the translation phenomenaand translation difficulties above,various translation methods and techniques are adopted in the translation practice,mainly from the lexical,syntactic and rhetorical level.At the lexical level,in order to conform to the identity of the characters,the homophonic translation and free translation methods are used to tackle incorrect pronunciation in the novel.Derogatory translation and literal translation are used to deal with some slangs,in order to truely represent the emotional attitude of the characters.And literal translation and cultural conversion method are used in dealing with a large number of color words to make it more acceptable and comprehensible to the readers.At the syntactic level,different methods should be used to translate long sentences according to the specific context.Some need syntactic linearity,and some need to be splitted into short sentences,while others need additions and deletions to restruct the sentences in order to convey the meaning of the original text more accurately and clearly to the readers.As for sentences with verb constructions in series,literal translation method and amplification method should be used to achieve the same sonorous and authentic effect of the text.At the rhetorical level,according to different contexts,some rhetorical devices of the sentences should be reserved and be translated literally,and some need to use free translation method,while others need exegesis.Since the aims of fiction translation match the philosophy of functional equivalence theory which emphasizes the readers' response,this report is based on the functional equivalence theory to explore the translation methods and skills from the above three aspects.