Xi Nan Lian Da Xing Si Lu : on the translation of aesthetic objects from the perspective of functional equivalence

Abstract

This capstone project translated the first section of the first chapter of Xi Nan Lian Da Xing Si Lu (《西南联大行思录》), written by Mrs. Zhang Manling. The excerpt introduced the historical background of the formation of the National Southwest Associated University (referred to as Lianda hereinafter) and gave readers a comprehensive view of the scholars and students’ life at Peking University during Sino-Japanese War period. As a university born from the wartime, Lianda was regarded as a miracle forged out of the endeavour and sacrifice of countless Chinese talents. This book might give readers an opportunity to know about the Chinese spirit from the new perspective of the history of education. As a documentary literature, Xi Nan Lian Da Xing Si Lu not only narrated the history, but presented the prose characteristics of Chinese aesthetics. With the guidance of Nida’s functional equivalence theory and supplement of Liu Miqing’s translation aesthetics, this capstone project analysed the challenges and limitations in the translation of aesthetic objects, dividing the discussion into lexical level, sentence level the artistic writing style. The translation aimed at conveying the closest meaning and retaining the aesthetic values of the source text and taking into consideration the reading experience of common English readers. This capstone project found that aesthetic appreciation is a multi-disciplinary activity whose ultimate goal is the pursuit of beauty. Despite discrepancies in aesthetic ideology between Chinese and English readers due to cultural and linguistic differences, functional equivalence could give full play to translator’s flexibility in creating or representing aesthetic values in another language. During this process, the use of rhetorical devices is a simple but effective method to mediate the gap, because rhetorical devices are one of the similarities shared by English and Chinese aesthetics. However, untranslatable obstacles were still inevitable in terms of the linguistic forms and the cultural connotations. Despite drawbacks and limitations in this project, it was hoped that these discoveries could provide reference value for future translation trainees to promote Chinese culture to the world through continuous efforts.