On Fictional Conversation Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

This is a report on the fictional conversation translation of Shadow of Night fromthe perspective of the functional equivalence theory. Conversation between charactersplays a very important part in the novel since it helps to reveal the characters, promoteplot development and indicate the characters’ status and relationships. Therefore, thetranslation of fictional conversation into the target language also becomes very crucialfor the translator. In order to help the target readers have the equivalent response tothe conversations between characters as the English readers do, the author attempts toapply the functional equivalence theory to the translation of fictional conversation,thus to reproduce the closest natural equivalence in the translation of conversation,firstly in terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style. Only in this way, the targetreaders are able to have a better understanding and appreciation of the characters inthe novel.This report mainly falls into four parts, including task description, processdescription, case study and conclusion. The case study part is the most important partin this report, in which the writer will focus on how to achieve emotional equivalence,social-relation equivalence and cultural equivalence of fictional conversationtranslation. On the emotional equivalence level, the writer pays great attention to thetranslation of affection, translation of resentment and translation of courtesy; on thesocial-relation equivalence level, the writer tries to reproduce the meaning and styleof the conversations between couples, between friends and between master andservant; on the cultural equivalence level, the writer will mainly talk about how toachieve equivalence on religious differences, equivalence on mythological figures andequivalence on different living habits. She will try her best to enable the target readershave the closest equivalent response to the conversations in this novel, thus to have abetter understanding and appreciation of this novel.By analyzing the fictional conversation translation from the perspective of functional equivalence theory, the author tries to figure out the ways to reserve themeaning and style of fictional conversations to the largest extent, thus to help thetarget readers have a better understanding and appreciation of the novel.