Abstract

Great literary works may serve as a bridge to connect the world by vividly reflecting social life and deeply arousing people’s resonance. Therefore, the translation of these works becomes important. There are lots of translation theories offering guidance for the translating process, among which Nida’s Functional Equivalence is a notable and influential one. Nida considered translation as art and formed and developed his own translation theory based on contemporary linguistics, sociolinguistics and social semiotics.

The Great Gatsby, one of the greatest novels in the 20th century, presents to us the disillusion of American Dream with the death of Gatsby. It is a widely-acclaimed novel for its deep social implications and heartbroken characterization of sad romance, which has triggered many studies from literary and cultural angles. This novel has interested some Chinese translators and various translations of the work have emerged. Related studies have discussed the language and cultural effect based on different theories. This thesis analyzes Yao Naiqiang’s translation of this novel by applying Functional Equivalence in terms of words, sentences, text and style of writing. Functional Equivalence has provided guidance for literary translation and set set a standard for the measurement of a translated work.

Key words: The Great Gatsby; Functional Equivalence; translation; application

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1Introduction.1

2 The Theoretical Framework: Nida’s Functional Equivalence1

3 F.Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby 2

 3.1 F.Scott Fitzgerald.3

 3.2 The Great Gatsby.3

4 A Study On Yao Naiqiang's Translation of The Great Gatsby.4

4.1 Lexical Equivalence 4

4.1.1 Words 4

4.1.2 Phrases 6

 4.2 Syntactic Equivalence .8

4.3 Text Equivalence10

 4.4 Stylistic Equivalence11

5 Conclusion.12

References14