A Report On The Translation Of The Sound Of The Singing

According to Eugene Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory,the connection between target-text readers and messages is the same as the original readers and the source text.Therefore,in the process of translating the source text,the author can break through the limitation of the original word and form and focus on the meaning and spirit.This is a novel's English-Chinese translation report.The theory of Functional Equivalence can also be applied in the translation of novels as a guiding criterion.Therefore,the author selects The Singing of the Song,one of stories in the novel A Bird in the House,to translate,which was written by Margaret Laurence from Canada.In the report,the writer analyzes the translation strategies applied in translating Singing of the Song from four levels:lexical level,syntactic level,textual level and stylistic level.Through these four levels,it is illustrated elaborately that the theory of Functional Equivalence plays a crucial role in novels' translating.The writer of the report supposes that,at the lexical level,the translator uses literal translation or literal translation+annotation,free translation,and word conversion in translating to achieve the functional equivalence;at the syntactic level,the translator adopts the skills such as linear translation,reverse translation,amplification or omission,and structure conversion to attain the functional equivalence;at the textual level,the translator applies situational context,contextual context and cultural context to realize the functional equivalence;meanwhile,at the stylistic level,the translator handles rhetorical devices to reach the functional equivalence.The writer is intended to make the best of Nida's functional equivalence theory to convey the massage of the source text both naturally and fluently,to reproduce the style and spirit of it,and to enable the target readers to create a reading experience just as the source text readers.The report is divided into four chapters.The first chapter describes the purpose and significance of translation task.The second chapter introduces the translation process,including preparation before translating,translating,and revised translating.The third chapter is the case analysis,which first introduces Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory and then describes novel translation with the guidance of the Theory.The analysis next considers translation problems.Finally,the analysis uses translation strategies to illustrate how the theory of functional equivalence applies various methods,as well as the use of Chinese-four-character idioms,in the translation of selected portions of the original work.The fourth chapter is the conclusion.