On Translating Cultural Elements In Drama From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Cultural translation has always been the focus of translation work in literary translation. Due to differences among value system, aesthetic taste, thinking mode and custom, cultural element transmission is comparatively more difficult than transmission of other elements in translation. It is noteworthy that the cultural element transmission has been paid great attention to in recent years.In accordance with Skopostheorie raised by German functionalist theorists, the purpose of a translation justifies its translation methods and strategies. The standard for the evaluation of a good translation is not determined by the"equivalence", but by the"adequacy"of the target text, that is, to what extent that the translation has achieved its aim. The duality of drama translation sets up more obstacles for its translation in comparison with other literary genres. When it comes to cultural element translation in drama, only when the translator has a clear idea of his Skopos, can he testify and balance the contradiction in drama translation and choose appropriate methods or strategies to handle the cultural elements. Skopostheorie makes possible avoiding the application of"equivalence"standard to measure a translation, and meanwhile offers a brand new way to evaluate the target text.This paper, from the perspective of Skopostheorie and relationship between culture and translation, gives an overall discussion about Skopostheorie based on which the paper offers comparative analysis upon the cultural element transmission in Teahouse in terms of purpose, strategy as well as the effect two versions receive respectively. The aim of this paper is not to make comparative analysis but to testify by means of analysis the applicability of Skopostheorie in rendering cultural elements and to arrive at the conclusion that translation work serves the Skopos. In light of the duality of drama translation, this paper also gives some humble suggestions on cultural translation of drama in accordance with Skopostheorie.