How To Translate For Children-A Case Study Of Wang Weidong’s Translation Of Gulliver’s Travels Under The Guidance Of Skopos Theory

As is known to all,as a branch of literature,children’s literature plays an essential role in the development of children.With the development of society,the demands of children’s literary works are increasingly growing and with an increasing cultural exchange among countries,the translation and translation studies of foreign children’s literature become crucial.However,research studies concerning the translation of children’s literature is still comparatively less popular and much marginalized in the translation field in China.From the author’s viewpoint,being neglected does not mean it is unimportant,but means plenty room for study.Gulliver’s Travels written by Johnathan Swift is a controversial literary work,people hold different viewpoints toward it.Some consider it as a great political satirical literature,while some a children’s story full of fantasy and imagination.It was first introduced into China in the late Qing dynasty,since then a large number of Chinese versions appeared.Among all its Chinese versions,there are also two main trends,in which some translators strictly follow the original author’s intention and translate it into a politically satirical novel such as Zhang Jian’s translation,while some focus on the narrator Gulliver’s dramatic and strange travel experiences and transform the book into an interesting children’s story,such as Wang Weidong’s translation.In this thesis,through case study and analysis,the author intends to answer the research question "how does Wang Weidong translate for children" under the guidance of Skopos theory.The German Functionalist Skopos theory transcends the translation concept"equivalence",and provides a relatively more scientific theoretical framework for the translation as well as the translation studies of children’s literature.According to Skopos theory,translation should be considered as a purposeful action,the translation Skopos or say,purpose determines the whole translation activity,and the aim of the translational action is primarily determined by the target addressees.According to its book description,the target readers of Wang Weidong’s translation are Chinese young teens aging from 10 to 13 years old.Children of this age level are in a transitional period between childhood and adult whose cognitive level and language skill are improving rapidly but still limited.In Wang’s translation process,a good understanding and knowledge of cognitive and language development characteristics of children of this age level is a key factor for a successful and effective translation.In order to highlight Wang’s translation strategy and his language features,corresponding cases from Zhang Jian’s version are also chosen by the author to make a comparative study.Through the analysis of Wang Weidong’s translation of Gulliver’s Travels,this thesis intends to achieve the key elements of translating for children.