A Report On The C-E Translation Of "Xia Is A Rind Of Lofty Morals-An Interview With Louis Cha" From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

Based on the guidance of Eugene Nida’s functional equivalence theory,this C-E translation report is a reflection and deliberation of translating "Xia is a Kind of Lofty Morals--An Interview with Louis Cha",which is picked up on the second issue of Young Writers in 2019.As the most elaborate interview with Louis Cha in recent years,the source text has distinctive Chinese features:teemed with well-known Chinese names,martial arts fictions’titles,culture-loaded words and expressions,questions concerning manners,sentences with inadequate context,and Chinese rhetoric with or without equivalents in English.They are also difficulties in translation.To memorize Sir Louis Cha and spread Chinese culture and martial arts into the Western world,it is due time for the translator to render it into English.Nida’s functional equivalence focuses on "readers’ response",which calls for the response of the receptors to translated text is the same as the response of the original receptors to original text.It includes two extreme ends:the minimal and realistic level,the maximal and ideal level.Given that domestication will continue to persist and serve as the overall strategy for long in cross-cultural communication,with the principles of loyalty to the original text and author and serving to target readers,functional equivalence is suitable for the spreading of Chinese culture as the translation purpose and native speakers who cherish martial arts as its target readers.Aiming at realizing functional equivalence to the most extent,this project adopts different translation strategies and methods.At the lexical level,annotation added for Chinese names are a necessity for foreigners’ better understanding of their identities,statuses,and relationships with others;free translation is suitable for martial arts works’ titles to expose their main ideas;transliteration with addition or free translation for culture-loaded words and expressions have largely preserving and spreading Chinese elements to some degree.At the syntactic level,literal translation with addition for questions concerning manners has taken readers’ politeness into accounts;and addition for sentences with inadequate context gives receptors’ proper background information.At the rhetorical level,literal translation and paraphrasing are suitable for Chinese rhetoric with English equivalents and without English equivalents respectively.Therefore,functional equivalence is a good perspective for rendering such a genre--especially for interviews with classical Chinese writers.It is in accordance with the cultural strategy of"Chinese stories,international expressions" and has inspiration for translators to deal with similar source texts with distinctive Chinese elements and spreading values,which could be a good example for followers.