Documentary Literature Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

Documentary literature has been increasingly prevalent since 1980 s.It is endowed with unique features,combining the literariness of novels with the objectivity of documentaries.The story narrated in the documentary literature focuses on some social issues,which is of great value for reading and researching.This sort of literature is indeed worthy of translation.However,insufficient researches have been conducted on the translation practice of documentary literature,and the researches based on certain theory are even scarce.The source text of this translation report is Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital.The documentary literature is written by Sheri Fink,the journalist and writer of The New York Times,and it represents one of The New York Times' Best Ten Books of the Year(2013).In August 2005,the Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans,and the Memorial Medical Center was affected seriously.In the Five Days at Memorial,the writer reconstructs 5 days at the hospital,and unspools the mystery of what happened in those days.This book indicates unique features of documentary literature,and it has refined structure,exquisite and terse description.Sheri Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals merely how ill-prepared we are for the impact of large-scale disasters—and how we can ameliorate the situation.The attracting story explores major social issues from a new perspective,and it deserves careful reading.In this report,the translator firstly describes the translation task,including its background and the reason and significance of choosing this text.Then the translator elaborates on translation process,including preparation before the translation,draft translation and proofreading and revision.The main part of the report is about case analysis.In this part,the translator analyzes some typical cases at the lexical,syntactic and textual levels under the guidance of the Functional Equivalence Theory.The Functional Equivalence Theory is proposed by Eugene A.Nida,who weighs the meaning instead of the structure of language.The Functional Equivalence Theory emphasizes that readers of target language should have an access to experience the similar feelings of the source text readers by reproducing the cultural connotation of the source text in appropriate and accurate target language.Under the guidance of the Functional Equivalence Theory,the translator takes Chapter Four of the book as a case to analyze.The translator endeavors to convey the original meaning of the source text and achieve faithful and effective translation.Through this translation practice,the translator finds that Functional Equivalence Theory can be adopted to translate documentary literature.Under the guidance of this theory,functional equivalence at the lexical,syntactic and textual level could be achieved in translating the documentary literature.Furthermore,the translator concludes that pre-translation task is critical for the success of translation;translation,in essence,is an intercultural activity.As a result,the translator should not only obtain the language competence and transfer competence but also improve the ability of intercultural communication.Before translating certain text,the translator should firstly master the culture,which will lead to effective translation in a completely different culture.