A Report On The Translation Of China Dolls(excerpt)

Functional equivalence theory was raised by American famous translation theory researcher Eugene A.Nida in 1960 s.Even to this day,this theory still plays an important role in the field of translation studies.The theory focuses on the equivalence of meaning rather than the form,and the final purpose is to make the same or similar feeling between the target language readers and the source language readers.This theory gives insight into what translation strategies the translators shall take to deliver a proper translation.China Dolls was written by Chinese American author Lisa See and the novel was first published in 2014 with 120,000 words.There is no Chinese version by now.The novel is the story of life,work and friendship among three Asian-American girls from 1930 s to 1940 s in the Chinatown in America.The two chapters were selected from China Dolls,which are mainly formed by the description of psychological activities and dialogues.Thus,based on its language feature,the writer analyzes some translation examples and discusses the translation strategies from the level of words and sentences under the guidance of functional equivalence.The purpose is to deliver a proper translation which conforms to the target language habits and achieve functional equivalence.According to this translation practice and analysis,the writer thinks translators shouldn’t be limited by the form of the original and make an ambiguous translation in the end.In contrast,combined with the context,translators need to spend much time understanding the meaning of the original and the habits of target language,then take the proper strategies.Finally,the translation should reproduce the real significance of the original.