Abstract

Since the advent of Gulliver's Travels, it has been loved by millions of people and has gotten a great promotion. Many scholars studied it from different angles. This article chooses two typical translations from Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory. It combines theory with translation and analyses the two Chinese translation versions. The article includes meaning, style, the main differences between the source text and the target text and some factors involved in the choice of translation strategy. Through the comparison of two different versions, we can verify the practicability of Functional Equivalence Theory and provide more angles of literary translation. Using the theory to study Gulliver's Travels is beneficial to proving its guidance to translation practice. It has profound meaning for the construction of translation theory system with Chinese cultural characteristics.

Key words: Functional Equivalence; Gulliver's Travels; Practicability

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-2

2.1 Functional Equivalence-2

2.1.1 Nida and his theory of Functional Equivalence-2

2.1.2 The Characteristics and development of Functional Equivalence-3

2.2 A brief introduction to the novel and the author-4

2.2.1 The novel-4

2.2.2 The author-5

2.3 Significance of the compartive study of the two versions of Gulliver’s Travels-6

3 A case study on the Two Chinese Versions of Gulliver’s Travels-6

3.1 Functional Equivalence in Meaning in the Two Versions-7

3.1.1 Conceptual Meaning-7

3.1.2 Connotative Meaning-8

3.1.3 Affective Meaning-9

3.2 Functional Equivalence in Style in the Two Versions-11

3.2.1 Deviation in Vocabulary-12

3.2.2 The rhetorical equivalence-12

3.3 The main differences between the source text and the target text-13

3.3.1 Vocabulary differences-13

3.3.2 Cultural differences-14

4 Factors Involved in the choice of Translation Strategy-15

4.1 The social background-15

4.2 The academic situation-16

4.3 Purpose of translation-16

5 Conclusion-17

References-19