Translation Strategies For Chinese Common Sayings From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

In November 2014,the English version of San Ti was released in the United States.Once it was released,it aroused great repercussions in American science fiction circle,which was nominated for the "Nebula Award" in 2014 and won the 73rd "Hugo Award" for Best Novel the next year,achieving a zero breakthrough of Asian science fiction.San Ti stands out among numerous works.In addition to the literary value contained in the novel itself,it is largely attributed to the translator and Chinese-American science fiction writer Ken Liu.As an organic component of human language,common sayings are created by working people,reflecting people’s life experience and aspirations.With distinctive regional characteristics and national colors,common sayings are the crystallization of national language.Common sayings not only exist in people’s day-to-day life,but also permeate into various literary works,and the science fiction San Ti selected in this thesis is no exception.The use of Chinese common sayings in San Ti is of critical significance to elevate the expressiveness of the novel.In the mean time,it enhances the vividness of the plot,narrows the distance between the genre of science fiction and readers,makes its description more acceptable to readers,thus contributes to the splendid performance of San Ti.Looking through Ken Liu’s English translation of San Ti,we can find the translation strategies and methods adopted by him can be explained in the theory of functional equivalence.Functional equivalence theory advocates that meaning takes precedence over form,emphasizes reader’s response,pursues the same or similar reflection between target audience and original audience.That is,whether the translation can be understood and accepted by readers should be an important yardstick for assessing the success of translation,which affects the translator’s choice of specific translation strategies.Therefore,in the light of functional equivalence theory,this thesis takes the English version of San Ti as the research object and explores translation strategies of Chinese common sayings in the novel as exhaustively as possible.Through the analysis,this paper draws the following conclusions:In general,Ken Liu’s translation of Chinese common sayings conforms to the requirements advocated by functional equivalence theory.There are 320 Chinese common sayings in San Ti and can be divided into five categories,including idiom,slang,proverb,motto,and two-part allegorical saying.In the translation of Chinese common sayings in San Ti,Ken Liu mainly adopts two types of translation strategies:foreignization and domestication.According to the statistics,the use of foreignization reaches 118,while domestication reaches 202.The supporting translation methods in foreignization include word-for-word translation,literal translation and annotation,and the supporting methods in domestication include free translation,paraphrase,borrowing,imitation,variation and re-creation.In accordance with the author’s classification and calculation,among all the translation methods,free translation(43.75%)is the most frequently method adopted by Ken Liu,that is to say,Ken Liu tends to convey the connotative meaning of the source language by choosing the expressions familiar to target readers so as to ensure the target readers and original readers have similar reading experience,achieving the goal of "functional equivalence"At the same time,literal translation(33.75%)is also frequently chosen by Ken Liu to preserve the original form as much as possible without hindering the transmission of meaning so as to promote the dissemination of Chinese culture.In addition,taking the context into consideration,the translator also flexibly adopts imitation(3.13%),variation(0.63%),re-creation(0.63%),word-for-word translation(1.88%),and annotation(1.25%),which has achieved textual equivalence to a certain extent as well as enhanced the readability of the translated text.It can be seen that Ken Liu’s preference for domestication strategy like free translation conform to the idea of "reader’s response" of functional equivalence theory,while the principle of focusing on the transmission of meaning without giving up form also provides theoretical support for the choice of foreignization strategy like literal translation and annotation.Therefore,in the translation of common sayings,there is no good or bad choice between translation strategies and specific methods.As long as it is conductive to target readers’ comprehension of the translated text and to convey the meaning of the original text accurately,domestication and foreignization can be compatible.However,translators should adjust the proportion of domestication and foreignization to achieve the most appropriate and natural equivalence of the meaning and culture in the target language.Thus,to a certain extent,this thesis can offer translators some beneficial inspirations in the choice of translation strategies in the translation of Chinese literary works going out.