A Comparative Study Of Mandarin And Cantonese Translations Under The Functional Equivalence Theory

There are few translation studies combining comparison of translation versions,Mandarin and Cantonese comparison,and studies under the functional equivalence theory.Therefore,the comparative study between Mandarin and Cantonese translations under the functional equivalence theory is a worthy direction of study.This study aims to find reasonable explanations for why most Cantonese dubbing translations for English films have effects more similar to the originals in recreating scenes of everyday life.Thus,based on the functional equivalence theory,which focuses largely on receptor's response,this study analyzes and compares the original script and the Mandarin and Cantonese dubbing translations of The Secret Life of Pets to determine whether the translations are functional equivalents of the script and whether the Cantonese translation has an overall higher level of functional equivalence,and ultimately,tries to summarize the aforementioned explanations.The study indicated that in general,the Cantonese translation is the functional equivalent while the Mandarin translation is not.With examples where both translations are functional equivalents,the Cantonese translation usually has a higher level of equivalence.The study also summarized the aforementioned explanations.This study combined the comparison of translation versions,Mandarin and Cantonese comparison,and studies under the functional equivalence theory.While many factors come into play in the evaluation of dubbing translations,this study focused only on the translated texts.This study is of reference value to audiovisual translation,translation studies on the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese in C-E and E-C translation,and the improvement of Mandarin translations.It is also an example of the applicability of the functional equivalence theory in related fields.