On The Chinese Translation Of English Songs: A Functionalist Translation Approach

This thesis attempts to explore the Chinese translation of Englishsongs from the functionalist translation perspective.According to the functionalist translation theory, which wasdeveloped in Germany in the late 1970s, translation is not a process oftranscoding, but a specific form of human action. Like any other humanaction, translation has a purpose. The translation purpose (Skopos) islargely constrained by the target text user and his/her situation andcultural background. The essence of the functionalist translation theoryreflects a more functionally and socioculturally oriented concept oftranslation.The Chinese translation of English songs is a difficult andcomplicated process. In rendering English songs into Chinese, translatorshave to work out the Chinese lyrics and make them integrated into theaccompanying music, that is, they have to make them singable. Toachieve singability, they have to go through the difficulties resulted notonly from the linguistic and cultural barriers but also from the constraintsof music.The functionalist translation theory is a useful and effective tool fordealing with the Chinese translation of English songs. It can liberate translators from the constraints of the original text. Armed with it,translators become more creative in carrying out in the targetenvironment the Skopos: making the Chinese song translation easily andpleasantly singable.The four chapters consisting of this thesis are as follows:Chapter 1 depicts briefly the short history of the Chinese translationof English songs in China as well as the importance of conductingresearch on translating English songs into Chinese.Chapter 2 discusses the features of the Chinese translation of Englishsongs. The focuses in this chapter are found to be on the stylistic featuresof song music and those of Chinese song lyrics.Chapter 3 tries to deal with the Chinese translation of English songsfrom the perspective of the functionalist translation theory. In this chapter,the inspirations drawn from the essentials of the theory, the relationshipbetween the three social functions of songs and the linguistic functions ofthe three basic texts by Katharina Reiss and song translators' faithfulnessunder the Skopos in the Chinese translation of English songs have beendiscussed.Chapter 4 intends to tackle some of the important problems inEnglish-song translation. These problems discussed are found in thetranslation of song titles, expression marks, songwriters' names, and thetranslation of song music and song lyrics.