A Comparative Study Of Three Translations Of “Qiang Jin Jiu” From The Perspective Of Metafunction Theory

As one of the strategies of Chinese culture "going abroad",the translation of Chinese classics into foreign languages is highly valued."Qiang Jin Jiu",as the masterpiece of the great Romantic poet Li Bai in the Tang D'ynasty,is one of the classics that have been translated in English and some other languages by many translators.Composed after the poet was exiled from Chang'an,the capital of Tang,the whole poem is mainly about drinking wine with relish but it is not advocating indulgence in alcohol.The poet's sigh of human life for his talent being unrecognized expressed in extremely bold style shows his contempt of fame,riches,and the ruling class and his confidence that"Heaven bred in me talents and they must be put to use",reflecting the noble-mindedness and wild pride of Li Bai.The poem is outstanding for its frequent use of hyperbole,pompous manner,exuberant language and other artistic features.In recent years,scholars have paid keener attention to the translating and study of translations of Li Bai's poems under guidance of various translation theories.Systemic Functional Grammar(SFG)was established by Halliday and introduced to China by Hu Zhuanglin and other scholars.After that,this theory has been applied in studies on translation abroad and at home.Halliday generalizes language function as three metafunctions:ideational function,textual function,and interpersonal function.This theory provides an ideal method for the comparison of the translations.By analyzing the language from the perspective of Metafunction translators can deepen the understanding of language and achieve better translation.Based on the theory of Metafunction,this study compares and analyzes the similarities and differences between the three English translations respectively by Xu Yuanchong,Witter Bynner and Stephen Owen.In transitivity and logical function of ideational function,translators usually try to choose the same type of process as the ST.However,they can be different in word choice due to their different understanding of the ST.Logically,the most frequently used relation is parataxis and extension.In thematic structure,information structure and cohesion of textual function,translators will preempt the actual subject as the theme and use reference to make the text coherent.Translators will restore the subject omitted in the ST,use mostly the present tense and choose modal terms that correspond to the ST to demonstrate the mood and modality system of interpersonal function.This study proves that Metafunction theory can be used to study poetry translation.Under Metafunction theory,the ST can be understood more profoundly and the quality of the translation of Chinese poetry can be hopefully improved greatly.