Abstract

Functionalist skopos theory is the latest achievement in the field of translation. Skopos theory breaks through the confinement of the traditional translation theories by providing the translator more strategies to choose from. Critics give more compliment than criticism to it; therefore there is a lack of study on the negative side of skopos theory. Many translators have contributed their translations of Lun Yu (The Analects of Confucius). Lin Yutang's The Wisdom of Confucius and Arthur Waley’s The Analects of Confucius published at the same year both evoked great repercussion. Researchers have made a lot of studies on the English versions of Lun Yu; but we can find little study of English versions from the perspective of skopos theory; in order to enrich the study, the author makes comparisons between the two versions on book titles, structures, sentences and annotations from the perspectives of skopos theory. The author acknowledges the positive effects brought by skopos theory to the translation process and evaluates the applications of skopos theory in the translation of Lun Yu in the following aspects: 1) Contradictions of skopos theory in the strategies choosing, 2) the effect of translators' subjectivity on translation quality, 3) the application defects of skopos theory in appreciating translation works. The author draws the conclusion that there exist some limitations with the skopos theory in interpreting the translations. The author hopes all the study can help a little the further study of skopos theory and Lun Yu translation.

Key Words: Skopos theory; Lun Yu; Problems in application; Translation quality

摘要

  功能主义目的论是近年来翻译理论发展研究的最新成果，它突破了传统翻译理论的局限，在理论上为译者提供了更多的翻译策略的选择。人们对于目的论的评价偏于积极，对其不足之处关注甚少，也缺乏相关的研究。《论语》作为中国古代经典之作，吸引了众多翻译者对其进行翻译。林语堂和阿瑟•威利的译本于同一年问世，在当时都引起重大反响。人们对于《论语》英译的研究很多，但是从目的论出发的研究很少。为了增加这一方面的研究信息，本文从目的论出发，在书名、结构、句子和注解四个方面对林语堂编译本《孔子的智慧》和阿瑟•威利译本《论语》进行了对比，评价出二者翻译优劣；并在肯定目的论在翻译中起到的积极作用的同时，探讨了关于目的论在论语英译中应用方面的三个问题：1）目的论在指导翻译策略选择上的矛盾性，2）译者主体性对翻译质量的影响，3）运用翻译目的论对译本进行评价时的欠缺性，从而得出功能主义目的论在实际运用中的局限，希望能对目的论进一步研究和《论语》的翻译有所帮助。

关键词：翻译目的论 论语 目的论运用问题 翻译质量