On The Translation Of Allusions In The Governance Of China ? From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

The Governance of China answers the realistic questions of China's politics,economy,culture,and legal system in the new era.It is a significant window for the international community to comprehend contemporary China.By reading this book,readers of various countries can look at China more objectively.Once its English translation was issued,it attracted the attention of many scholars at home and abroad.Quoting a large number of Chinese allusions is a characteristic of Xi Jinping's speech style,and also a language feature of The Governance of China.The quality of the English translation of the allusions directly affects foreign readers' understanding on this book.This paper selects the translation of the allusions in the official English version as the research object,and study what translation methods the translator uses to promote the functional equivalence of allusions in the target text under the guidance of the Functional Equivalence Theory.Functional Equivalence Theory was proposed by American translation theorist Nida.He holds that translation should achieve the closest and natural equivalence from the meaning to the style in the target text.The readers of the target text should understand and appreciate the translation in the same way as the original readers.The goal of the translator is to accurately convey the meaning of the source text.If the original text form hinders the understanding of the target reader,the translator can change the form to convey the meaning.The author of this thesis demonstrates the language features and functions of the allusions in Xi's The Governance of China II at first,then classifies the 105 allusions in this book according to translation approaches: 24 allusions is translated by literal translation,6 by omission,and 75 by amplification,among which the number of amplification accounts for more than 70% of the total,and it is the main research object of this thesis.Moreover,the author further divides the 75 allusions using amplification into five categories according to the adding components,namely,adding subjects,adding cohesive ties,adding explanations,adding background information,and adding modifiers.In every category,the author gives analysis on examples under the guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory.Through the above analysis and research,this paper draws the following conclusions:1.From the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory,by adding subjects,cohesive ties,explanations,background information,and modifiers,the translation text conveys the connotation of the allusions in the original text,so that the target language readers can understand Xi Jinping's thoughts on governing the country.The allusions in the translation text basically achieve their same functions in the original text.2.The allusions in The Governance of China II are mostly obscure ancient Chinese poetry and prose,but the translation focuses on adding components as appropriate as possibleto retain the original style characteristics.Such translation can better meet the language and cultural requirements of the target language readers.From the perspective of cultural communication,it is conducive to the transmission of ancient Chinese poetry.The results of this paper will provide some reference for the C-E translation of the allusions in political texts.