The Translation Techniques of Chinese Union Version --From the Perspective of Skopos Theory

Abstract

With the development of modernization and opening up and reform policy, Christianity has the opportunity to prosper in China. Holy Bible, the sacred scripture of Christianity, is one of the brilliant crystals of western culture. As a predominant translated work, Chinese Union Version (CUV) is widely spread in Christians and its publication marks the forerunner of vernacular campaign, which sets an example for the replacement of classical Chinese. CUV has been popularized extensively and intensively in China, which is closely related to its high quality of translation and techniques. Three rules of Skopos theory, including Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule are applied in the paper to prove that the three rules of Skopos theory should be taken into account when analyzing translation techniques of CUV. Fidelity rule is discussed first in a broader perspective, conforming to its feature of faithfulness. As a result, literal translation dominates the whole translational process. In addition, the specific techniques are concluded based on Skopos rule level and coherence rule level. The techniques of CUV translation include: diction, repetition, conversion, inversion and amplification.