A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of The Phoenix And The Carpet From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

The development of children's literature in China is always subject to foreign influence.Therefore,the translation of children's literature is supposed to be given more attention,but the reality is far from satisfactory.So far not many researches have been carried out in China concerning the translation of children's literature.In view of this,and spurred on by a personal preference for children's literature,the author of this thesis hopes that she could make some contributions to changing such a situation.Edith Nesbit is a British writer of children's novels.Her masterpiece,The Phoenix and the Carpet,has always been the author's favourite children's novel.It has been translated into many languages,including Chinese versions,of which Reng Rongrong's and Zhang Jie's are comparatively better received.Therefore,this thesis proceeds to compare the two Chinese versions from the perspective of functional equivalence theory,aiming to explore their merits and demerits respectively.The discussion is carried out from three aspects within the framework of the functional equivalence theory,namely,lexical equivalence,syntactical equivalence and stylistic equivalence,with an insight into the particularity of children's literature.The author finds that in spite of the fact that either of the two versions demonstrates its own advantages and disadvantages,both achieve the equivalence with the original to a certain extent,while at the same time representing different styles.The author holds that generally,Reng's version reflects the translator's greater concern for the particularity of children's literature than Zhang's,and thus is more successful functionally.That is why his version is readily welcomed by children readersOn the basis of the above research,and guided by functional equivalence theory,the author attempts to propose some tentative strategies regarding children's literature translation,with the idea of child-centeredness as the highest principle.Hopefully the research may be of some help to the practitioners of children's literature translation.