On The Application Of Translation Theories By German Functionalist School In China

The emergence of Skopos theory proposed by German Functionalist School indicates a turn of the translation studies. That is, the turn takes place from the translation studies dominated by the linguistics and formalism to more emphasis on the functions and social cultures. It has emancipated translation from the enslavement of source language, expounded translation activities from translators' new perspectives, and opened up a new window for the translation circle. According to Nord's classification in her works, "Translating as a Purposeful Activity: functionalist approaches explained", the application of functionalist translation theories falls into at least four aspects. To name respectively, they are pragmatic translation, literary translation, the translation teaching and training of translators and interpreters, and translation criticism, etc.After analyzing the current application of this theory on the basis of the works and essays ever published, the author maintains that there are wide applications in pragmatic translation in spite of the existing problems. The problems cannot be ignored because there is a striking imbalance in its study, mainly from the linguistic perspective, and what predominates all is the out-of-the-joint of theory and practice, etc. In practice, there are still debates about whether the theory is appropriate for literary translation, and whether there is much room for further study of the application in the translation teaching and training of translators and interpreters. And in the meantime, we cannot ignore that there are fewer researches in translation criticism. After careful study, the author draws important conclusions as follows:In a documentary translation, although the communicative language has been changed into the target language, the communicative situation remains the source culture and its features have been retained. While in the instrumental translation, the communicative language and situation have been changed into translated ones, and cultural features in the source language serve as a reference for communications with its focus on conveying the actual content of the original. The communicative function of the source and the target languages may be the same or different from each other. Under the latter circumstance, a hetero-functional translation is employed if the function of the original cannot be preserved as a whole or in the same hierarchy for reasons of cultural and /or temporal distance. Basically, functionalist translation theories are target-culturally-oriented, and they are especially appropriate for translating vocative and informative texts. Their function and purpose are in accordance with the translation principle of skopstheorie.As for the application of the theory in literary translation, the purpose of the creation of literary works pursues aesthetical experience and resonance of literary images as literary works put weight on the pleasure for artistic appreciation and affective nurture. And the purpose of literary translation is to highlight original artistic style and cultural colors of other countries, and to call for multiple developments in the cultural aspect. Meanwhile, as functionalist translation theories over-emphasize culture and function of the target language and domestication strategy, they neglect cultural power and essence of literary art of source texts. In practice, there are still debates about the appropriateness for literary translation. Here the author analyzes the translation of a poem in A Dream of the Red Mansions by Yang Xianyi, believing that foreignization strategy has realized the source-text writer's intention. In the eye of the functionalism, it is a successful translation. Then the author cites Fu Donghua's translation of the novel Gone with the Wind, supposing that his domestication strategy has realized the function of the target text, and received welcome from target readers, but some deletions in translation has led to disloyalty to the source text writer's intentions. On the other hand, Huang Huairen and Zhu Xiaoruo's translation takes the foreignization strategy, attains the purpose, but disobeys loyalty principle. On the whole, functionalist theories can in a degree fill the gap in translation studies and solve the problems in translation, and bridge the shortcomings of two above strategies. At last, the author explores homologous translation.With regard to the application in translation teaching and training of translators and interpreters, the author approaches it from four aspects, which are the target situation and functional text analysis method, translation strategies, text types and curriculum design, and teachers' instructions and commissions. It is of great value to adopt the theory in training of translators and interpreters.As far as the application in translation criticism is concerned, the author approaches it from theoretical construction and practical application, supposing that there is potential for translation criticism and translation construction.