Functional Equivalence Theory
Biancheng, as the masterpiece of Shen Congwen (a contemporary novelist, essayist, researcher on historical relics and the representative figure of the Beijing School novelists), constitutes an excellent medium-length novel devoted to depicting country flavors. With its unique artistic charm and picturesque depiction of country flavors, the novel has attracted the attention of many overseas readers and has been translated into dozens of foreign languages and selected to be included in university textbooks of more than ten countries including the United States of America, UK and Japan. Therefore, Biancheng has greatly facilitated cultural exchanges between China and the west. Given this, the domestic translation field is yet to conduct more studies …show more content…
Nida. The concept of functional adequacy in translating has been described in a number of books and articles as “dynamic equivalence”. In Toward a Science of Translating (Nida, 1964) dynamic equivalence has been treated in terms of the “closest natural equivalent”, but the term “dynamic ” has been misunderstood by some persons as referring only to something which has impact. Accordingly, many individuals have been led to think that if a translation has considerable impact then it must be a correct example of dynamic equivalence. Because of this misunderstanding and in order to emphasize the concept of function, it has seemed much more satisfactory to use the expression “functional equivalence” in describing the degrees of adequacy of a translation. This term is to provide a much sounder basis for talking about translation as a form of communication, since the focus is on what a translation dose or performs. A lack of functional equivalence can then be described in terms of a failure to provide isomorphic …show more content…
Therefore, due to that there is no agreed standard for literature translation, it is necessary for literature text to be retranslated by taking into considerations such factors as time, society, history, and cultural context. Functional equivalence theory can offer translators with a new perspective for a in-depth study of translating, apart from a strong explanatory power. Through the in-depth analysis of the two English versions of Biancheng, I hope my goal can be achieved to do some help on the translation of the works of the Shen Congwen and some references to the translation of literary
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