A Study of English Translation of Six Chapters of <i>A Floating Life</i> from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

Abstract

Chinese classical literature is the essence of Chinese traditional culture. With the revitalization of China, various western countries in the world have paid great attention to Chinese history, culture and literature. Many excellent Chinese classical works were translated into English. Shen Fu’s (沈複) Fu Sheng Liu Ji («浮生六記») is a representative work of Chinese classical literature and Lin Yutang’s (林語堂) version Six Chapters of A Floating Life is well-received in the English world. This paper attempts to study the application of the Skopos theory with the basic analysis on the translation strategies which is not including domestication and foreignization, but also translation techniques, such as amplification, deletion and annotation from the perspective of theoretical structure. Besides the basis of different translation strategies and techniques using in Lin’s translated version Six Chapters of A Floating Life, the author also try to analyze and illustrate from the perspective of Skopos theory, translators should have the concern of taking the target readers’ demands into consideration firstly before translating texts, for the target readers have their own cultural backgrounds, expectations to translated texts and requirements of cross-cultural communication.