Functionalist Approaches To The Translation Of Chinese Culture-loaded Words

With the development of economy globalization and deepening of the cultural exchange between different nations, the cultural factor involved in translation has been arousing more and more attention in translation studies. Translation is not only the transference from one language to another one, but also the exchange of information between different cultures. With a splendid history and abound cultural heritage, China has numerous culture-loaded words. These culture-loaded words directly reflect the characteristics of Chinese culture. However, they also give rise to the barrier to the cross-cultural exchange and Chinese-English translation. So, it is of some practical significance to study these culture-loaded words and their translation.How to translate the culture-loaded words more satisfyingly has become one of the focuses in translation field. Previous discussions are mainly centered on translating strategy, which method is more preferable. Functionalist theories highlight the classification of the text type and the analysis of the text's function, and allow the employment of different translation strategies according to the type and the Skopos of the text. This thesis investigates the English translation of Chinese culture-loaded words from the perspective of German functionalist approaches and aims to explore proper translation strategies for the translation Chinese culture-loaded words.This thesis is divided into five parts. The first part introduces the background and the necessity of the research.The second part is literature review. It provides a review of the development of functionalist translation theory and elaborates on the main contents of functionalist approaches. Significance of German functionalism is also discussed, including its applicability to the translation of Chinese Culture-loaded words.The third part starts with the relationship of language, culture and translation. It points out that translation is a bilingual activity and more essentially a bicultural activity. After the analysis of different interpretations of culture-loaded words put forward by many scholars, the definition and Classification of Chinese culture-loaded words is clear. This chapter also gives detailed arguments to the significance of the translation of the Chinese culture-loaded word and its translatability.The fourth part is the main body of this thesis. In this part, the problems and the principles in the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words are discussed in detail. It also deepens into the factor to be considered in the process of the translation of Chinese culture-loaded words. At the end of this chapter, detailed translating methods in light of functionalist approaches applied in translating Chinese culture-loaded words are provided.The last part is the conclusion. The author gives a summary of this thesis, and tells the major findings and the limitations of the study.