A Report On Four-character Phrase Translation Of Biography Of Jiang Yiwu(Chapter 9) From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

With the development of the cultural exchanges between China and western countries and the establishment of the strategy of Chinese culture going out,the translation of Chinese biography which contains profound cultural connotations and high aesthetic value has become more and more crucial.Translation of Chinese biographical literature not only can show the history of China,but also can spread the culture and spirit of China.Moreover,it can provide a "cultural window" for foreign people,assisting them to understand Chinese culture.Thus it will promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries,and cultural prosperity of the entire human raceThis report is based on the translation of Biography of Jiang Yiwu.The source text is excerpted from Biography of Jiang Yiwu,which is written by Zhou Xinglin.Biography of Jiang Yiwu is a typical Chinese critical biography.It mainly introduces Jiang Yiwu’s magnificent life and his many deeds.It is characterized by being academic,literary and historical.Translation materials of this report are selected from Chapter 9 of Biography of Jiang Yiwu,which involves a large number of four-character phrases involving Chinese politics,history and culture.The four-character structure is brief,profound and expressive.It is one of the most popular forms of Chinese people,and it is also a common form in ancient Chinese.In chapter 9 of Biography of Jiang Yiwu,there are lots of four-character phrases,including set phrases and free phrases.In order to reproduce the literariness,historicity and academics of the original text,the translator consults lots of historical and cultural materials,which can help the translator to understand their connotations accurately and make the target text faithful and reliable.This report adopts Nida’s functional equivalence theory as the theoretical support for translation,mainly focusing on the translation of four-character phrases.Through the analysis of the four-character phrases,the translator finds out the conclusion that the main translation strategy of the four-character phrases is the combination of domestication and alienation.Under the guidance of this translation strategy,the translator uses translation methods,including literal translation,free translation,borrowing translation,annotation,amplification,and combination,to deal with the translation of four-character expression,and realizes the functional equivalence between the original text and the translation.