However, in practice, it is very difficult for us to fulfill these tasks. The translation of English financial news is not an easy job. It calls for the help of translation theory. Fortunately, Skopostheorie is a good theory to guide the translation of English financial news. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis is to analyze financial news translation under the guidance of Skopostheorie. More specifically, the thesis firstly aims at studying the features of English financial news, the second aim of the thesis is to introduce three translation principles to English financial news translation, and the last aim is to explore some appropriate and effective methods for English financial news translation.
The aim of the thesis will be achieved by analyzing a series of data. These data are mainly collected from: the representative newspapers (such as: China daily, Financial News, International herald, The New York Times, Times) and some foreign websites where the bilingual financial news are available.
1.3 Structure of the Thesis
This thesis is divided into five parts:
Chapter 1 is a brief introduction of this thesis. It argues the necessity of the study of financial news, and discusses the aim of this thesis.
Chapter 2 is a brief literature review which falls into three parts. Firstly, it makes an overview on Skopostheorie. And then it summarizes the previous studies on English news translation, some achievements of which perhaps can be borrowed by financial news translation. The last part comes to the translation of the English financial news. It is merely a very brief summary of the study in this field.
Chapter 3 is an analysis of the features of financial news. The features are described from the perspective of headlines and bodies.
Chapter 4 introduces three translation principles on the basis of Skopostheorie. The three principles are: the principle of loyalty, the principle of accuracy, the principle of popularity. As for loyalty principle, the thesis analyzes it at the headlines
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and bodies level. Then the thesis introduces the accuracy principle. Finally, this chapter illustrates the popularity principle with many examples.
In chapter 5, many translation methods will be proposed. These methods are put forward on the basis of Skopostheorie and the principles of financial news translation. As for headlines, the methods of omission, addition and adaption, rhetorical devices are all useful methods. As for bodies, transference, literal translation as well as free translation are good means for translation. Besides, the translation of quotations is talked about separately.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 An Overview on Skopostheorie 2.1.1 The Development of Skopostheorie
In 1971, Katharina Reiss introduced a functional category, which developed a model of translation criticism based on the functional relationship between source and target texts. She proposed the prototype of functionalist translation theory in her book Possibilities and Limitations in Translation Criticism, which is generally regarded as ―the starting point for the scholarly analysis of translation in Germany‖ (Nord, 2001:9).
Reiss thinks the ideal translation would be one ―in which the aim in the TL [target language] is equivalence as regards the conceptual body, linguistic form and communicative function of SL [source language] text‖ (Nord, 2001:9). Reiss holds that communication should be achieved and the equivalence must be sought at the text level (Munday, 2001).
Reiss‘s text type theory is a breakthrough from the previous equivalence theory and it narrows the gap between translation theory and practice. Though still built on the theory of equivalence, it is no longer limited to the linguistic level equivalence. On the contrary, it turns to a communicative functional equivalence.
Reiss‘s student, Hans J. Vermeer developed text typologies which ―helps the translators specify the appropriate hierarchy of equivalence levels needed for a particular translation Skopos‖ (Reiss &Vermeer, 1984:156) and set up Skopostheorie. In Vermeer‘s opinion, ―any form of translational action, including therefore translation itself, may be conceived as an action, as the name implies. Any action has an aim, a purpose. The word skopos, then, is a technical term for the aim or purpose of a translation. Further: an action leads to a result, a new situation or event, and possibly to a ?new‘ object. Translational action leads to a ?target text‘ (not necessarily
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a verbal one).Translation leads to a translatum (that is, the resulting translated text), as a particular variety of target text.‖ (Vermeer 2000: 227)
Vermeer calls his theory Skopostheorie— a theory of purposeful action. In the frame work of this theory, the addressee—the intended receiver or audience in the target language and culture with expectations and communicative needs—are considered as the most important factors that influence the translators‘ action. In other words, in the process of translation, the translators will choose special translation methods to meet the needs of the clients.
On the basis of Vermeer‘s Skopostheorie, Justa Holz-Manttari goes one step further. She puts forward with the theory of translational action, which is based on communication theory and action theory. Communication theory helps her highlight the components in a process of communication across cultural barriers and action theory provides the basis for a delineation of the specific characteristics of translation action (Baker, 2004).
The action theory considers translation as a process of intercultural communication and regards the text, which can function appropriately in specific situations and bodies, as the end product (Baker, 2004).
In Manttari‘s opinion, translational action is the range of what translators actually do and translation is what translators do when translating texts (Nord, 2001). She even tries not to use the term ―translation‖, which presents a wider conceptual sense for ―translation‖ (Nord, 2001).
In fact, the action theory provides the foundation for Hans J. Vermeer‘s Skopostheorie (Nord, 2001:27).
Nord, a dominant master and an advocate of the Skopos model, added loyalty as a complement to it when she finds two independent limitations: Firstly, different levels of readers have different expectations of the translation text. Therefore, the translation purpose (skopos) could impossibly satisfy all the target readers. Secondly, the translation purpose may be just against the author‘s purpose of the original work (贾文波, 2004:47).
Loyalty refers to the responsibility that translators bear in all the parties involved
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in translation. Loyalty means that target–text purpose should be compatible with the original author‘s intention (Nord, 2001:126). Nord modifies the deficiencies of Skopos rule, and overcomes the possibility of random translation. Thus she further develops the Skopostheorie.
2.1.2 Three Rules of Skopostheorie 2.1.2.1 The Skopos Rule
For Skopos rule, ―a translation action is determined by its Skopos, namely, ?the end justifies the means‘‖ (Reiss& Vermeer, 1984: 96). In another word, the top-ranking rule for any translation is thus the Skopos rule. Just like Vermeer‘s explanation: ―Each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. The Skopos rule thus reads as follows: translate/interpret/speak/write in a way that enables your text/translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function.‖ (Vermeer1989: 20).
This rule ―allows the possibility of the same text being translated in different ways according to the purpose of TT [target text] and the commission which is given to the translator‖ (Munday, 2001: 80). As Vermeer puts it, ―what the Skopos states is that one must translate, consciously and consistently, in accordance with some principle respecting the target text. The theory does not state what the principle is: this must be decided separately in each specific case‖ (Munday, 2001:80).
Skopos rule is a good way to solve the long existed debates (e.g., to use free or literal translation, dynamic or formal translation) in the translation field because it ―gives the translator a new perspective to decide which strategy will be employed in the whole process‖ (Nord, 2001: 2). Simply speaking, a particular translation task may use either ―free‖ or ―faithful‖ translation according to the purpose for which the translation is needed.
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