Functional Equivalence In The Translation Of Tea Picking Ballads From An Aesthetic Perspective

As a traditional Chinese cultural quintessence with time-honored history,tea poetry occupies an indispensable position in inheriting and spreading Chinese tea culture to the world.Tea Picking Ballads has attracted the interest of western sinologists.Several versions produced,one was translated and published by W.T.Mercer on Chinese Repository in 1840,and another well-known one by J.F.Davis in Chinese Poetry in 1870.And in China,the study of Bamboo Branch Song traditionally prevailing in various regions in China is getting hotter,but English versions are very limited,only some articles published by Jiang Xin from Cha's Research Team have them.The comparative analysis of the vocabulary,syntax,text,style and culture of Tea Picking Ballads and its translations helps to explore whether a translated version could meet the aesthetic principles while pursuing functional equivalence mutually.Based on aesthetic translation theory to preserve cultural features of source language and functional equivalence translation ideology to highlight target language reader expectation,the author also applies other translation strategies,such as omission,explicitation,supplementation and the like,to carry out modification and improvement of existing translations.The analysis of five equivalents of Tea Picking Ballads and its translations from aesthetic principles helps display that aesthetic principles could be realized to a certain extent while functional equivalence is pursued,vice versa.The two could complement each other and are organically combined to achieve a mutually beneficial function.It is also found that western translators' versions put emphasis on the rigorous text form and the legibility and melodious rhythm of tea ballad.And there is also a hint of excessive orientalization by overstating on Chinese working women's naivete and tolerance,while understating their brightness and optimism.In this way,it is expected that native Chinese translators could demonstrate values of this group of precious and delicate tea poetry more accurately and contribute to the grand “going out” strategy of Chinese culture.