A Report On The Translation Of Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir(Chapters 11～17) From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

The translation material of this translation report is excerpted from chapters 11 to 17 of Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir,which is written by Natasha Trethewey,the poet who won the Pulitzer Prize.The material is an autobiography,a kind of biography,belonging to literary texts.According to its characteristics,the author chooses the functional equivalence theory of Eugene A.Nida as a guide in this translation practice,aiming at accurate understanding and fluent expression,and striving for the consistency of translation style and original text.From the perspective of linguistics,Eugene A.Nida points out that “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message,first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.”Literary translation requires the translator to fully devote himself to the target of translation,experience the creative emotion of the original author,and finally express it in the target language.This requires the translator to lay a solid foundation in Chinese,understand the essence of Chinese language and literature,and integrate it into the blood.This corresponds to Nida’s “reader’s response theory”.Therefore,it is reasonable and applicable to apply the theory of functional equivalence to literary translation.This report will give a detailed introduction and analysis of this translation practice under the guidance of functional equivalence theory.On the one hand,from the perspective of semantic equivalence,the author will focus on the translation of English dashes and conjunction “when” to elaborate how the translator should achieve semantic coherence in translation;and the author will summarize three Chinese idiomatic expressions: 1.use of Chinese four-character idioms;2.use of verbs;3.use of short sentences,to realize the semantic equivalence between the original text and the translation.On the other hand,from the perspective of stylistic equivalence,the author will analyze the equivalence of dialogue translation in parenthesis translation,tone translation of the original text,and the stylistic equivalence in descriptive language translation.Through this translation practice,the author hopes to apply the knowledge to translation practice,enhance literary literacy,accumulate translation experience,and train translation ability and theory application ability.It is hoped that this translation practice and report can provide some help for the future translation practice of biography guided by functional equivalence theory and related research.