A Contrastive Study On Two Chinese Versions Of Nineteen Eighty-four From The Perspecitve Of Skopos Theory

Skopos Theory is widely used in the field of translation. This thesis takes thenovel-Nineteen Eighty-Four as the research object. Skopos Theory will beadopted to analyze the two Chinese versions by Dong Leshan and Liu Shaomingrespectively of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The thesis will make a contrast between thetwo Chinese versions of the novel with the perspective of Skopos Theory, aimingto explore the differences between the two Chinese translators and their styles oftranslation.The novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was written in1948near George Orwell’sdeath, which might have had a lot to do with the gloominess which is one of theessential characteristics of1984. It is believed one of the dystopias, together withBrave New World by Aldous Leonard Huxley and We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.Because of the special theme the novel conveys, different translation aimsinfluence the way Chinese versions show.Translation is greatly influenced by the aims and ideologies of the translator.To achieve their purposes, different strategies are used. This thesis hopes to givereaders a direction of understanding the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and improvetranslating skills.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter1introduces the backgroundof the thesis. Literature review will be described in chapter2. Overseas anddomestic studies are introduced in this part. In the third chapter, different ways ofthe two Chinese translators presented the novel will be discussed withintroduction of the translators as well. Chapter4is the contrast between the twoChinese versions of Nineteen Eighty-Four from the perspective of sentencestructure and diction using Skopos Theory. The last chapter is the conclusion ofthe thesis with limitation and further study of this thesis.