A Brief Study On Bingxin’s Translation Of Gitanjali From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

Based on Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory,this study aims to analyze Bingxin’s translation of Gitanjali from four points of view-form equivalence,meaning equivalence,style equivalence and readers’ response.It proves that Bingxin’s translation practice is highly compatible with Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory and that the Functional Equivalence Theory is of great significance for poetry translation.The study shows that:1.Bingxin’s translation achieves form equivalence.Gitanjali is a kind of prose form.For this kind of special form in poetry translation,Bingxin not only learnt from it,but also made her translation with unique characteristics of Chinese poetry.2 Bingxin’s translation achieves meaning equivalence.Bingxin translated Gitanjali with an earnest and responsible attitude.In order to reproduce the original meaning as much as possible and avoid distorting against Tagore’s original intention,she considered every word and sentence carefully to maximize meaning equivalence.3.Bingxin’s translation achieves style equivalence.In order to reproduce the spirit and quality in Gitanjali,Bingxin didn’t stick to every word and sentence in correspondence but made the translation vivid on the basis of understanding the original text.4.Bingxin’s translation doesn’t completely take readers’response into account.From the view of her translation in religious vocabulary and language problem in translation version,we can see that although Bingxin has tried her best to achieve functional equivalence in form,meaning and style mentioned above in her translation process,Chinese readers could not fully understand Gitanjali from the standard of readers’ response.Through the above analysis,this study concludes that Bingxin’s translation of Gitanjali has achieved functional equivalence in form,meaning and style.However,there exist certain shortcomings in considering readers’ response.Thus,from the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory,Bingxin’s translation of Gitanjali has some defects,but can still be regarded as an excellent work.We conclude that Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory is of great significance for poetry translation.