Study On The Translation Of Letters To Franca Based On The Functional Equivalence Translation Theory

Louis Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher.He maintained a regular correspondence with Franca Madonia during twelve years(from 1961 till 1973).After he died in 1990,an edition entitled Letters to Franca was published by Stock(publishing house)and IMEC in 1998.Five hundred letters,postcards and published telegrams constitute his entire correspondence sent to Franca.And a selection of twenty two letters of Franca Madonia completes this collection.These letters reveal to us the most authentic and private aspects of this great philosopher.Based on the functional equivalence theory,this translation practice report tries to explore the appropriate and effective translation methods for epistolary texts by analyzing the difficulties encountered during the translation practice of Letters to Franca.This report of translation practice is mainly divided into four parts.The first chapter presents briefly the translation task and the significance of this translation project.The second chapter reviews the process of this translation practice by describing in detail pre-practice preparation,translation strategies,and post-practice marks.The third chapter is dedicated to study this translation practice based on the theory of functional equivalence,by analyzing the specific cases of vocabulary,syntax,discourse and style.In terms of vocabulary,the author proposes that the meaning of word does not limit itself to its literal meaning,and that the context can be used to determine the signification of vocabulary;and for the translation of culture-loaded words,we can resort to similar words in the target culture,or literally translate them and explain their cultural connotation.Syntactically,since omission structures and short sentences are frequently used in Letters to Franca,the author proposes to reconstruct the logic and achieve syntactic equivalence by applying the translation method called amplification.In the aspect of discourse,it mainly discusses how to realize the semantic consistency by adding appropriate punctuation marks and reasonably translating the double-dashes in the original texts.As regards langue style,the author puts forward that the original tone can be fully conveyed through the proper addition of mood auxiliary words,interjection and punctuation.The fourth part is the summary that discusses not only the author's gains and discoveries in this translation practice,but also points out the problems that exist and the deficiencies that can be improved.