The Study On The English Version Of 2009 Government Work Report Under The Guidance Of Functionalism

With the rapid development in economy, China has played an increasingly important role in the world. In view of this, the westerners want to acquaint with principles and policies of our government. The report on the work of government includes a variety of information on the social, economic and cultural development status and their future planning, which provides the channel to the westerners in learning the conditions of our country. Accordingly, the rendition of the Government Work Report is becoming more and more important. This thesis will study the application of the functionalism in the political documents translation. And the 2009 Government Work Report will serve as the subject of the study. As the theoretical foundation, the functionalism will get the thorough explanation in the thesis. First of all, the main principles of the functionalism will be discussed, which will provide guidance for translating political documents. As an authoritative document, the Government Work Report will definitely take on some special characteristics, and the illustration concerning its stylistic features will comprise the essential part of the thesis. Moreover the thesis will apply the text typology and Skopostheorie in the elaborate analysis of the text type and function, which contributes to the comprehending of the report. On the basis of understanding the features of the report, the translation of the report will be discussed. Under the framework of functionalism, the thesis will analyze the English version of the report at the word and sentence levels. Generally speaking, this thesis will endeavor to search for the appropriate strategies to guide the whole translation process. In this way, we may grasp the suitable way that the report has taken to give an account of work to the domestic readers and meanwhile apprehend how its rendition performs the function of propagandizing the principles and policies to the westerners. And then one may understand that on the basis of the proper translation, the international cooperation and mutual understanding could be further promoted.The thesis is mainly composed of the following parts: the expounding on the functionalism, the text type analysis, functional and stylistic analysis of the report, and the application of specific translation strategies. The emphasis will be placed on the application of the functionalism in the choice of translation strategies. The study explores the political translation from a new perspective. And after the detailed analysis of the English version of the Government Work Report, the guiding role of the functionalism could be better comprehended by the translators. Thus they may apply it effectively in the translation of political documents.