A Study Of Chinese Idiom Translation In The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory With Indonesian Translation Of “Nirvana In Fire” As An Example

Chinese historical TV series is one of the ways for foreigners to understand Chinese culture.Recently,with the development of China’s economy,many China’s TV series have also successively boarded online platforms,which allow more foreigners to watch Chinese historical TV series and learn about Chinese culture from it.Among the numerous kinds of Chinese TV series,Nirvana in Fire as a bearer of Chinese culture which aired in 2015 has hit critical success and gained worldwide attention,including Indonesia.Since this TV series contain large number of cultural loaded words and phrases such as classical Chinese language and Chinese idioms,sometimes it will be tricky for translator to translate those Chinese phrases to Indonesian.Therefore,I present this study of Chinese Idiom Translation in the Perspective of Functional Equivalence with Indonesian Translation of “Nirvana in Fire” as an Example.This study will use Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory as a basis to analyze the translation of Chinese idioms in this TV series from the perspective of “translation reader’s response and translation accuracy”.First,based on Newmark’s translation methods,writer sort out which strategies and methods are used in the translation process,and also analyze the effects and the effectiveness of the methods used in the translated text.Furthermore,in order to understand the response of the target readers,the questionnaire will be used to allow the target readers to rate the accuracy,readability and naturalization of the translation.From the total score of these three aspects,analyze which translation method is most effective and suitable to use in the translation of Chinese Idioms.Results of this study shows:(1)The TV series adopted two kinds of strategies in the translation process: “Foreignization strategy” and “Domestication strategy”.“Foreignization strategy” reflects on three kinds of translation methods,such as: “Literal translation”,“Faithful translation” and “Semantic translation”.“Domestication strategy” on the other hand reflects on“Idiomatic Translation”,“Free translation”,and “Communication translation”,this TV series adopted six kinds of translation method in total.The translation method that is mostly used in this series is “Communication translation method”,it accounts for 80%,and the translation methods that are lessly used are “Idiomatic translation” and “Free translation”.(2)The survey of translation accuracy shows that,“Idiomatic translation” and “Free translation” that are lessly used have the highest effect in conveying the meaning of Chinese Idiom,and it reach the requirement of functional equivalence,their accuracy rate is up to 90%.In contrast,“Communication translation method” which is highly used in the series is less effective in conveying the information of Chinese idioms,with the accuracy rate merely reaches 69%.(3)Most of “Literal translation method” in aspects of accuracy,readability and naturalization didn’t reach the requirement of functional equivalence,this translation method can’t convey the meaning nor the information of Chinese idioms in the process of translating,the target readers can only guess about what the idioms is going to convey,this method is not suitable for Chinese Indonesian idioms translation.(4)“Communicative translation method”is suitable for Chinese Indonesian subtitle translation due to its simple and brief form,natural and resourceful style,and colloquialism.