Abstract

Idioms, widely recognized as the essence or the crystallization of language, hold an important position in language. A proper translation of idioms is not only helpful but also necessary in the intercultural communication. However, the contents and focuses of the English and Chinese idioms are quite different from each other. It is therefore quite impossible to expect to find equivalent idioms and expressions in the target language. Thus idiom translation is a difficult job.
This thesis, very tentatively, proposes to apply functional equivalence theory to E-C idiom translation, because a good translaton consists in reproducing the closest natural equivalent of the source idioms in the target language, firstly in terms of meaning, and secondly in terms of style. The author of this thesis tries to analyze approaches of Chinese translation of English idioms from the perspective of functional equivalence theory. The author put forward three methods: literal translation by retaining original images, literal translation by substituting original images and free translation by abandoning original images.
In the conclusion, the author argues that in the process of translation, cultural factors contribute a lot to translating idioms. However, Nida concludes that finding equivalent idioms is one of the most difficult aspects in translating. Only a small group of idioms that can be replaced with perfect or near equivalent idioms in translation while most others do not,  so some loss of meaning or skewing of meaning is inevitable in translating, and adjustments have to be made to preserve the original meaning to keep disparities before and after translation at minimum. That is also the main reason for using above-mentioned strategies and principles to translate both the sense and meaning of idioms. At last, this thesis proves that functional equivalence theory can work and solve a lot of difficult problems in E-C idiom translation.

Key words:functional equivalence theory; idiom; E-C translation

摘要

习语是语言的精华，是语言中非常重要的组成部分。在跨文化交际中，恰如其分地把习语由一种语言翻译成另一种语言，不仅是有益的，也是不可或缺的。然而，中文和英文习语包含的内容和重点都不尽相同。因此，要在目的语中找到与源语完全对等的表达几乎是不可能的，这给习语翻译造成了更大的困难。
作者试探性地提出把尤金•奈达的“功能对等理论” 引入英汉习语翻译中来，因为习语翻译本身就是“在接受语中寻找和原习语信息尽可能贴近、自然的对等话语，首先是意义上的对等，其次才是风格上的对等” 。作者在功能对等理论的指导下探索英语习语汉译的方法，主要提出来三种方法：保留形象直译法，转换形象直译法和舍弃形象意译法。
最后，本文作者认为在翻译过程中，文化背景因素对翻译有极其重大的影响。奈达认为“寻找习语的对等体是翻译活动中最困难的因素之一” 。一种语言的习语在另外一种语言中仅有少量的可以替代的对等体，更多的习语没有对等体，总有某种涵义会在翻译的过程中丢失，我们的目的应该是把这种损失降到最低限度。这也是本文作者利用上文提到的翻译方法和原则翻译习语并尽最大限度的保留原习语的意义和内涵的原因。文章最后指出尤金•奈达的“功能对等”理论能为英汉习语翻译提供一种新思路、新方法，同时为英汉习语翻译提供了一定的借鉴意义。

关键词：功能对等理论；习语；英汉翻译