A Study on English-Chinese News Translation From the Perspective of Functionalism

Abstract

This paper focuses on the analysis of journalistic translation from the perspective of Functionalism. Functionalism is supposed to be a theoretic system with various translating standards led by the targets. It consists of the typology theory of text, the Skopostheorie, the theory of translation action and a series of approaches by Nord on the improvement and supplements of those theories. Functionalism escapes the bounds of equivalence by challenging the traditional translation theories highlighting the texts. It analyses the translation action not only by the linguistics but also within the frame of Act Theory and Tran Cultural Theory. Thus, the Functionalism, by which the translators could pay more attention to the readers as well as the social effects and the communicative function, could appeal to the practice better. The Functionalism introduces a brand new thinking to the study of translation. This paper focuses on coping with the practical problems of news translation on the basis of Nord’s approaches with a news report as a study case. After that, it will review the official translation edition to reach a conclusion.