1。2 Research Significance

The thesis has its theoretical and practical significance。 Translation of Chinese Poetry is of great significance in enhancing the development of Chinese culture, promoting the culture communication, and acting as a media for publicizing Chinese characteristics and Chinese spirits。 

The revivification and reproduction of scenery is of great importance for Chinese poetry with the fusion and interaction of the feelings and scenery。 Chinese poetry with scenery description possesses a strong sense of picture and how to restore the sense and visual aesthetic perception of the picture becomes a key point in translation。 Scenery translation is the highlight in poetry translation, whose effectiveness will directly influence target readers’ response。 That is to say, effective scenery translation and relevant translation methods will invariably contribute to poetry translation。

On the basis of Functional Equivalence Theory, readers’ response will be taken into consideration, which is to say, the translation will not only transmit correct information but also try to meet the needs of target readers。 In this way, the author hopes this thesis can help explore scenery description in Chinese Poetry and poetry translation in a deeper way and achieve the ultimate aim of cultural dissemination。

1。3 Organization of the Paper

This thesis is going to elaborate the topic in four chapters:

Chapter 1 is introduction。 It is about the background, significance and arrangement of this thesis。

Chapter 2 is a literature review of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory and related researches on scenery in Chinese Poetry。

Chapter 3 is a comparative study on poetry translation from the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory, including functions of the scenery in classical Poetry, a comparative analysis on different translation versions of typical poems with scenery, and some strategies in scenery translation。

Chapter 4 ends the thesis with a conclusion。 It summarizes the difficulties in scenery translation and also indicates some deficiencies of this thesis。

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2。1 Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory

2。1。1 An Overview of Functional Equivalence Theory

Dynamic equivalence theory is the predecessor of Functional Equivalence Theory。 In 1964, Nida, E。A。’s influential work Toward a Science of Translating came off the press and he argued that “There are fundamentally two different types of equivalence: one which may be called formal and the other which is primarily dynamic。” It was the first time that “Dynamic Equivalence Theory” had been proposed。

Nida believes translation is a kind of communication。 He holds that “the total amount of information received by a receptor may be quite different from what was intended by a source, and therefore the translator must be concerned with language not only as a code, but also as a communicative event”(1964:8)。 He postulates that in dynamic translation, “the relationship between the original receptors and the message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message” (1964:159)。 It suggests that reader response be brought into the field of translation studies and be used as a measure to evaluate the quality of translated versions。 论文网

In The Theory and Practice of Translation(co-authored with Charles R。 Taber), Nida defines translation as “reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style”(1969: 12)。 He also suggests that content be preferred to form when both of them couldn't be satisfied at the same time。

To define the priority of the concept of “communicative function” and avoid the misunderstandings of the term “dynamic” (Since the term “dynamic” was often misunderstood to refer to something that only has great impact, and someone believed that if a translation bring enough influence, it is no doubt the typical example of “dynamic equivalence”), in 1986, he superseded “dynamic equivalence” with “Functional Equivalence” in From One Language to Another (Nida and Jan De Waard, 1986)。