| In an era marked by the rapid advancement of science and technology, as well as an increase in political, economic and cultural exchanges all over the world, we are living in an age when every country, every organization and even every person is closely connected with others. Chinese people are interested in events which occur beyond our borders and may have great impact on our lives; likewise, foreigners outside China are eager to learn about this country and its people, with China playing a bigger role in the international community. News communication—one of the major ways during intercultural exchanges, is becoming an ever important channel through which China is able to transmit information with the rest of the world. In the meantime, news translation, serving as a bridge of mutual understanding, poses a great challenge to translators.The German functionalist approach has provided a new perspective for translation studies. Originating from Katharina Reiss who was representative of the first generation of German functionalism, it was further developed and refined by Vermeer and Nord. In this thesis, the author attempts to re-examine Nord's functionalism, and apply it to the translation of China's news.The author first makes a brief introduction of German functionalist approaches, and special attention is given to theories put forward by representatives of different generations. Then the author expounds some key concepts in Nord's functionalism, which prepares for the forthcoming application to the real practice. With Nord's functionalist approach serving as the theoretical basis, the author explains how this model directs a translator in the process of translation, following the procedures of coming up with a translation brief, making a thorough analysis of the source text from both extratextual and intratextual factors, discovering translation problems and determining appropriate translation methods. During different stages of the whole application process, concrete examples from China Daily and Xinhua News Agency are drawn upon, and a case study is conducted in its entirety.It is the hope of the author that Christiane Nord's functionalist approach will shed some light on the translation of China's news. It is also hoped that translator learners may realize the practicality and feasibility of Nord's functionalism which helps to guide them in the translation process. |
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