Functional Equivalence In The Chinese Translation Of The Banquet Bug

The thesis discusses the application of functional equivalence theory in the Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug. The Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug was published in China in November, 2009. The Banquet Bug is the first novel written in English by Geling Yan who is one of the most influential Chinese writers residing in the United States. It was translated by John Sheng Kuo who was born in Taiwan. It is a process of reiteration to translate the English work which is set in China into Chinese. In the process of translating, it is impossible to avoid cultural loss. The author attempts to discuss how the Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug achieves functional equivalence to the original text through analysis of functional equivalence theory.Functional equivalence theory was first put forward by the American scholar and translator Eugene A. Nida. According to the theory, translation should not achieve equivalence only in level of literal meaning, but should achieve functional equivalence both in language form and cultural connotation. There are three principles in functional equivalence theory to mention on the context of the source-language message, the receptor-language readers'response, and the receptor language and culture as a whole. In this thesis, the author will discuss the Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug from three aspects: meaning equivalence, stylistic equivalence, and cultural equivalence. Functional equivalence theory plays an important role in instructing translation practice. It is available to apply this theory to the Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug.To present a clear account of the research, the outline of this paper is presented. There are five parts in this paper. The first part is Introduction, giving a brief and general overview of the whole paper. The second part is Chapter One, introduction to functional equivalence theory including two sections: Eugene A. Nida and his theory of functional equivalence, and three principles for producing functional equivalence. The third part is Chapter Two, introduction to The Banquet Bug and the Chinese translation including three sections: review of The Banquet Bug, research on Geling Yan and her writing style, and the Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug. The fourth part is Chapter Three, functional equivalence in the Chinese translation of The Banquet Bug including three sections: functional equivalence from aspects of meaning, style, and culture. The last part is the Conclusion.