On Translation Of Religious Encyclopedia In Light Of Functional Equivalence Of Culture

This thesis aims at finding translation methods that enable translation to keep the function of the original and be digestible for its target readers by carrying out specific analysis on various issues in English-Chinese translation of A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism,an encyclopedia of Indian culture,under the guidance of Functional Equivalence of Culture from Susan Bassnett,the famous English translation theorist.The source text introduces Indian culture in English,and its translation has the Chinese as its target readers,which requires the translator to replace the original expressions with ones that conforms to Chinese readers' habits to maximize the retention of the function of spreading Indian culture.Based on the analysis of language features in original text,this paper discusses specific translation methods in combination with the Functional Equivalence of Culture in practice.The author holds four principles should be observed:(1)applying the replacement of the scopes,the aggregation,the context and the combination of the meaning to achieve the functional equivalence by the replacement of cultural markers;(2)“following the old translation”and imitating to attain functional equivalence of constant information;(3)adjusting word order and using ancient Chinese style to reach the functional equivalence of information receiving habit;(4)fulfilling the functional equivalence in information increasing and decreasing through supplement or deletion.The purpose of applying these translation methods is to produce an ideal target text and to provide some practical guidance and help improve the translator's translation competence.