The C-E Translation Of IPC From The Perspective Of The Functionalist Translation Theory

With over thirty years of reform and opening up to the outside world, China has greatly promoted its international status and attracted much attention from the world. Foreigners are eager to have a thorough and correct understanding of every social aspect of China. All the provinces and cities in China are working hard to promote local development and enhance exchanges and communication with other nations and regions in the world. The English version of the introduction to a province or city (IPC), an effective means of external publicity, aims at publicizing the local places among foreigners, as well as appealing them to make investment, starting businesses, paying an official visit to or touring around the local places through offering information of the basic facts about the place.German functionalist translation theory has provided a solid theoretical basis for the study of the C-E translation of IPC. It holds that translation is a purposeful behavior and a form of translational action based on the source text. The primary factor determining any translation process is the skopos of the overall translational action and the primary factor influencing the translators' choice of proper translation methods is the functions of the target text.The present thesis attempts to conduct a tentative study on the C-E translation of IPC from the perspective of the functionalist translation theory. The purpose of the translational action and the intended functions of the target text are analyzed and appropriate translation methods for the C-E translation of IPC are pointed out by the author. In the meantime, the present thesis makes a case study based on Gansu Province by identifying translation errors and difficulties in the book of Splendid Gansu—An Introduction to Gansu Province 2010 in light of the functionalist translation theory. Suggested versions are proposed by the author to improve the quality of its English version.The present thesis comes to the conclusion that the functionalist translation theory is effective and powerful in guiding the C-E translation of IPC. The translation brief, the principle of "function plus loyalty" and culture-specificity should be taken into consideration by translators during the process of translation. And translators are expected to put themselves in the shoes of the target-text addressees and adopt flexible methods to achieve the skopos of the translational action and the intended functions of the target text. A good English IPC is conducive to promoting the image of the local place and effective in attracting visitors and investors, through which local external publicity and the overall development will be promoted.