3.2.1 Skopos 14
3.2.2 Translation Brief 15
3.2.3 Culture and Culture-Specificity 15
3.2.4 Adequacy 15
3.3 Three Major Rules of Skopos Theory and the Relationship Involved 16
3.3.1 Skopos Rule 16
3.3.2 Coherence Rule 17
3.3.3 Fidelity Rule 17
3.3.4 Relationships among Three Rules 18
3.4 Inspiration of Skopos Theory into Children’s Literature Translation 18
Chapter Four A Comparative Study on Two Chinese Versions 21
4.1 Introduction to the Source Text and Its Two Chinese Versions 21
4.2 A Comparative Study on Two Chinese Versions 22
4.2.1 Acceptability 22
4.2.1.1 Childish Wording 22
4.2.1.2 Colloquialism 26
4.2.1.3 Short and Simple Sentence 28
4.2.2 Entertaining Function 30
4.2.3 Aesthetic Function 33
4.2.4 Educational Function 36
Chapter Five Conclusion 38
5.1 Summary of Major Findings 38
5.2 Limitations of Study 39
References 41
A Comparative Study of Children’s Literature Translation from the Perspective of Skopos Theory
--- A Case Study of Two Chinese Versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter One Introduction
This introductory chapter briefs on the object, methodology, and result of the study, as well as the significance and structure of the thesis.
1.1 General Description of the Study
Theoretical frameworks applied to children’s literature translation studies vary from Polysystem, Norms of Translation, and Translation as Manipulation to Reception Theory and German Functionalist Approaches. This thesis, from the perspective of Skopos Theory, the foundation of German Functionalist Approaches, attempts to compare different translation strategies and methods employed in the two Chinese versions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Zhao Yuanren, and Jia Wenhao and Jia Wenyuan respectively, and then analyze what translation Skopos these translators have achieved by adopting their translation strategies and methods.
The research object is the original text of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its two Chinese versions. This book, written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is an outstanding model in children’s literature. It deserves employment as translation study case. This is not only because the original work has gained much fame for its fantastic theme, imaginative plots and linguistic features, but because its childish language and rhetorical devices involved have brought challenges for translators. Since its first introduction to China, several unabridged translated versions with perse translation strategies and skills have been available. In this study, one version by Zhao Yuanren, and another by Jia Wenhao and Jia Wenyuan will be analyzed in detail.
The theoretical framework of the study is Skopos Theory. Skopos Theory is put forward by Hans J. Vermeer in the late 1970s. Based on action theory, literary theory, communicative theory and linguistics, Skopos Theory defines translation as “a purposeful intercultural communicative activity between inpiduals instead of something that is done to a text by a translator” (Bian, 2006, p.44). And the translation purpose is determined by a complex mergence of factors involved in translation activity, such as clients’ needs and target readers’ cultural background. Translators are specified to follow the three rules proposed of Skopos Theory: Skopos rule, Coherence rule and Fidelity rule.
To conclude, with the help of adaptation, both Jia’s and Zhao’s versions succeed in amusing children. As to acceptability, they both manage well in translating colloquialism and short and simple sentences, but because of his lack of consideration about children’s language development, Jia achieves less acceptability than Zhao in terms of childish language. What’s more, Zhao and Jia mainly differ in translation for aesthetic function and educational function. Zhao is proficient in employing persified rhetorical devices and his translation is rich in linguistic beauty, while Jia lays his stress on the expansion of children’s knowledge while translating for culture-specificity by adopting foreignization. 目的论视角下的儿童文学翻译《爱丽丝漫游奇境记》比较(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_40602.html