1、3.2 The applicability and the possibility of functional equivalence theory to the translation of the symbolic meaning of journey to the West Pilgrimage to the West, as a great piece of work in Chinese classical literature, takes a leading role because of its far-reaching cultural, historical and soc
2、ial significance even in current times. A huge majority of Chinese population are addicted and influenced by it which reflects Chinese ancient life and our cultural value to a large extend. Therefore, this novel plays an an indelible and irreplaceable important role in the process of spreading Chine
3、se culture. So that whether all versions can reflect its hidden meanings is essential. This novel was written in classical style and set Tang Dynasty as its background. On the one hand, Chinese people can find a lot of difficulties when they read it for its obscure expressions; on the other hand, ho
4、w to transfer the spirits and essence of work from original way into another language to enable the people in target language figure out its covering profound meaning furthermore. Taking consideration of all the characters and plots in this novel, there are a large number of rhetoric devices in Pilg
5、rimage to the West besides the classical style of writing mentioned above. The most impressed character Monkey King is a delegate of those people who are not afraid of hardship or evil power and they dare to challenge the royal classes who show up as the gods and goddesses in the novel. But also he
6、carries some shortcomings just like any normal creatures such as over proud and arrogant, easy impulse and seek to prevail others. Another totally opposite character Zhu Bajie is lazy, greedy and narrow-minded. He is easy to give up but with a warm heart. With the description of those distinct roles
7、, the author fully integrated human nature into them in fanciful imagination which let the reader appreciate the story while comprehend more deeply and get more real emotion. From above study, Pilgrimage to the West is obvious a great work, however, at the same time a dense, indigestible and wordy b
8、ook. It is widely known that functional equivalence theory is a basis theory in translation, therefore if the translation of Pilgrimage to the West can be accepted and adapted to this theory is considerable and valuable. Functional equivalence theory emphasizes that a works can keep its natural smoo
9、th after being translated from the source language into the second language. Moreover, the feelings and impacts that readers who belongs to the source and second languages gain have a majority similarities. Nida, the originator of this theory, believes that in translating works, the structures and c
10、ontents should achieve unity without limitation, but if these two are in conflict, the primacy of content must be retained. As for this reason, this theory includes the minimum functional equivalence and maximum functional of equivalence. And whenever necessary, additional comments can be added betw
11、een words and lines. The story of Tang Seng in Pilgrimage to the West has been widely spread before it came out as a book, and there are many versions about the story. From the beginning of the 18th century, Pilgrimage to the West has been translated into various languages for spreading Chinese cult
12、ure to the abroad. It is appreciated by plenty of foreign readers for its admirable heroes and vivid plots. However, there are few people ever noticing amounts of descriptions of nature environment. We must not ignore their importance for them creating a tense or wonderful scenery for stories.The mo
13、st reason that most reader take a glance at these descriptions is that they were written as long poems with a slow rhythm and sangqu (a type of verse popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, with tonal patterns modeled on tunes drawn from folk music), but it is sure that this style of written f
14、orm is valuable in this novel. Someone praised him: all Chinese literature, Wu is one of the most proficient writers who are the masters of poetry description. There are a number of natural descriptions are highly realistic, vivid and has a pleasant sense of humor. (Anthony:95,31). As a fact that hi
15、storically there are filled with great works using poems to pass feelings. Among recent translation versions, the one translated by British Chinese culture professor W.J.F Jenner is widely recognized as the closet version to the original novel. It is meaningful to choose one part to have a compariso
16、n between source language and the second language. 枫叶满山红，黄花耐晚风； 老蝉吟渐懒，愁倦思无穷。 荷破青纨扇，橙香金弹丛； 可怜数行雁，点点远排空。 Jenners English version is as follows: Hills covered with red maple leaves, Yellow chrysanthemums braving the evening breeze; Aging cicadas singing with less vigour. Autumn crickets longing for the
17、 days of plenty, The lotus was losing its green silken leaves, The fragrant orange tree was massed wit golden globes, Lines of wild geese, alas, Spread out like dots across the distant sky. (Jenner,2003;759) It tells that Tang Seng has been away form his hometown for years to go on a pilgrimage for
18、Buddhist scripture. He felt depressed when capture the sight of autumn scenery in which most lives have faded. The first line red maple leaves points out the season, and the following things including yellow chrysanthemums, cicadas, autumn crickets and lotus all show his sadness out. And the wild ge
19、ese can be considered as the symbol of his homesickness. This poem is read just as the description of surroundings on the surface, but it really expresses the deep emotion inside of Tang Seng after seriously appreciating. This poems fulls of the symbolizing beauty of Chinese classical poem. Based on
20、 the characters feelings, Wu created a vivid picture combining yellow chrysanthemums, cicadas, autumn crickets and lotus. The aim of creating those surroundings is simplifying the words and impressing readers. The translator, Jenner, to a full degree, shows all the symbolization in an imaginative an
21、d dramatic language. Firstly, he translated every word like lotus, red maple that had narrow meanings completely, and keep personification and similes of original poems at the same time. Furthermore, Jenners version also gives expressions about the main characters feeling towards his own country, es
22、pecially the last two lines of the poem. Moreover, Wu put this poem at the beginning of chapter twenty- three of which the title is San Zang keeps his faith with firm holy virtue to indicate the hardship that Tang Seng would face with. Together with his followers, he was trapped into the female chea
23、ting. After a long journey and hard fighting, they were too tired to carry on and there were still many challenges in the front of their way. The four Buddhas changed their appearances and acted as rich and pretty women who would like to marry them. This scenery in the poem has given a hint that the
24、y must will be seduced, and the ending part reflects Tang Sengs strong belief for bright future. This work has created a huge world view of East and West , based on the true story of Xuan Zangs west journey, telling the story of the Tang Seng and his pupils after experiencing many difficulties, erad
25、icating all kinds of evil traps and eventually obtaining final achievement. To be honest, some parts in this novel was selected from real stories and real society, for instance, the popular religious belief in Tang Dynasty and Xuan Zang is a real person who was in charge of spreading Chinese culture
26、 to the western and absorbing Buddhism thoughts to push the development of his own country. But overall, the most details of it are imaginative. In order to reflect the prevailing social environment and personal spirit, the author Wu Chengen, using a great number of rhetorical devices which symbolis
27、m was accounted for a larger proportion in. Symbolism is characterized in veiled terms including classical allusions, foreshadowing and much imagination, which is highly depended on specific culture and background. The translators interpretation of the original text is so essential, and they should
28、be able to distinguish the similarities and differences between source and target languages as a result of processing the original text into another version. Although there are great difficulties, but translators use various methods mainly are omission, annotation, literal translation and conversion
29、 method to make sure that the original symbolic meanings are reflected in the translated version. There are three essentials in poem are melopoeia, phanopoeia and logopoeia (Zhao Yanchun, 1996:33). Chinese classical poems, especially metrical poetry, are highly welcomed by readers for their harmony
30、between sense, sound and form. (Ren Wei,2003:137). Taking an ancient poetry as an example.黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵 故人西辞黄鹤楼，烟花三月下扬州。孤帆远影碧空尽，唯见长江天际流 Seeing Meng Haoran Off at Yellow Crane Tower My friends has left the west where the Yellow Crane Towers; For River Town green with willows and red with flowers. His le
31、ssening sail is lost in the boundless blue sky; Where I see but the endless River rolling by.This is a poetry describing the departure of poets friend. He feels depressed for friends leaving. However, the emotion is not showed by any obvious words but with the scenery, such as the boat, the sky and
32、the river. In the second line, the translator replaced Yangzhou with willows and 烟花with red flowers. To some extend, he didnt use functional equivalence theory to translate for English readers may not know Yangzhou or yanhua. But the next two lines are completely follow the structures and words, whi
33、ch can prove that functional equivalence theory is adapted into Chinese classical written ways. To analyze the poem in Pilgrimage to the West whether it adapts to functional equivalence theory or not, it is better to cut in from sense, sound and form. 1. SenseThe original beginning sentence was tran
34、slated into Hills covered with red maple leaves . An amazing scene is presented before readers with very precise words used. The following sentence is translated into Yellow chrysanthemums braving the evening breeze . There is no obvious clues pointing out flowers name even though it is in autumn. T
35、he translated version tells readers clearly about the flower while the author was planned to leave readers to imagine on their own. In Chinese literature, it is called fuzziness which is used to inspire readers thoughts and imagination. Therefore, it is a must that ambiguous words should be kept in
36、translation. As for the verb brave is not so appropriate in the text because the flowers have to stand the freezing wind instead of bravery. Therefore, the word bear is better than brave . Whats more, the last word of the second sentence breeze can remind readers of pleasant wind but not the cruel s
37、ituation on autumn night. Referring to the third line Aging cicadas singing with less vigor. There is one rhetoric device - personification be used. Jenner used sing to indicate the cound of cicadas which was greatly appropriate. There is an obvious error in the translation of Autumn crickets longin
38、g for the days of plenty. The original idea that the author used autumn crickets is to express Tang Sengs longing homesickness, but the translated version only shows out the nature of crickets which is too superficial and shallow. It is not denied that Jenner misunderstood the meaning of lotus. The
39、lotus was losing its green silken leaves appears that the leaves of lotus are fading away. In fact, the flowers of this plant will die in autumn, not its leaves.Jenner, as a foreigner, has no idea about the traits of lotus, therefore he made such a mistake.And the next line The fragrant orange tree
40、was massed with golden globes. can be appreciated delightfully for the fabulous translations. Jenners using mass to describe the harvest of oranges is impressive. The last two lines are used to describe geese flying in the sky. Lines of wild geese, alas, spread out like dots across the distant sky.
41、The mood particle alas is vividly showing out the original word 可怜 which contains over limited feelings of homesickness. These two sentences keep the rhetoric device - simile in them as compare flying geese as a line of dots towards the south. 2. SoundPoetry is one kind of silent song. There is a lo
42、ng history that Chinese people started to make poems. According to records, the earliest poem in our history is Dange： 弹歌断竹续竹飞土逐肉It is found in Wu Yue Chun Qiu and said that it was a song in the times of Huangdi. Ancient population treated it as a short simple poem or a song which only included four
43、 lines, eight words. Another well-known poetry collection work is called The Book of Songs. There are many popular poems in it, for example 蒹葭蒹葭苍苍，白露为霜。所谓伊人，在水一方。溯洄从之，道阻且长。溯游从之，宛在水中央。蒹葭萋萋，白露未晞。所谓伊人，在水之湄。溯洄从之，道阻且跻。溯游从之，宛在水中坻。蒹葭采采，白露未已。所谓伊人，在水之涘。溯洄从之，道阻且右。溯游从之，宛在水中沚。ReedsThe reeds and rushes are deepl
44、y green,And the white dew is turned into hoarfrost.The man of whom I think,Is somewhere about the water.I go up the stream in quest of him,But the way is difficult and long.I go down the stream in quest of him,And lo! he is right in the midst of the water .The reeds and rushes are luxuriant,And the
45、white dew is not yet dry.The man of whom I thinkIs on the margin of the water.I go up the stream in quest of him,But the way is difficult and steep.I go down the stream in quest of him,And lo! He is on the islet in the midst of the water.The reeds and rushes are abundant,And the white dew has not ye
46、t ceased.The man of whom I thinkIs on the bank of the river.I go up the stream in quest of him,But the way is difficult and turns to the right.I go down the stream in quest of him,And lo! He is on the island in the midst of the water. From above examples, it easy to find there are many metaphors in
47、Chinese poems what tend to include natural environment to replace the real things that poet wants to show out. And that is just the reason why its so difficult for translators understanding and translate it into a quality equivalent version in another language. It can be told that the above English
48、version obeys the rhythms in the original poem, but a lot of obvious words like the man of whom I think of, I go up, in quest of him lose the simple, elusive art style. 3. Form The original version is written in a classic Chinese poetry style called pentasyllabic (or five-syllable) regulated verse. Formally, it is divided into eight lines including two parts what are used to describe the environments in which the story happens and the deep feelings inside ones mind. There are some differences between the length of lines of
