A Study Of Public Text Translation From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

This translation project comes from a translation company.As a public notice of the amendment of the U.S.Food and Drug Administration,the article is mainly about the declaration of food nutrition and supplements.The article is rich in content,formal in style,and complicated in sentence structure.The translated part mainly deals with the nutrition and additive standards stipulated in the new act,as well as the comparison with previous acts.The wide time span,the complicated content,coupled with the formal style,wording and sentence structure add to the difficulty of translation.The essential part of skopos theory lies in that the most important factor in the translation process is the purpose of the overall translation.The theory consists of coherence rule,loyalty rule and skopos rule.The first two rules are subordinated to the skopos rule,which means that for the purpose of translation,the consistency and loyalty of the translation can be somewhat compromised.Based on the three rules and the characteristics of public texts(especially the one selected in this article),this article tries to explore ways to better preserve the features of the original texts and expound the embodiment of the three principles of skopos theory through case study.Based on the differences between Chinese and English languages,the author proceeds from the three principles of skopos theory and makes changes in vocabulary,syntax and discourse levels: literal translation,free translation and conversion translation are employed in vocabulary level,linear translation and reverse translation can be used in syntactic level,and a comprehensive analysis must be carried out in discourse level according to specific conditions.The author finds that in translating such report texts,skopos theory can be used to ensure the reservation of the stylistic features of the original text,the target text conforming to the language habits of the target language,and the translation quality.