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Nida’sFunctionalEquivalenceTheoryandApplicationByMartinClass1,2010,SchoolofEnglishStudyJune18,2012AbstractInfact,theessenceofNida’sFunctionalEquivalenceTheory﹙F-ETheory﹚emphasisthatthefunctionalequivalenceofinformationinsteadofthedirectformalequivalenceintranslation.Therelationshipbetweenthetargetlanguagereceptorandthetargettextshouldgenerallybeequivalenttothatbetweenthesourcelanguagereceptorandthesourcetext.ThispaperpresentsthetranslationstrategyintheapplicationofproverbandadvertisementandhelpreadersusetheF-ETheoryflexibly.Then,thepaperlaysacertainfoundationforourfurthertranslationstudy.KeyWordsFunctionalEquivalenceTheory﹙F-ETheory﹚;ProverbTranslation;AdvertisementTranslation.IntroductionBeingthekernelofthetranslationtheory,FunctionalEquivalenceTheoryisproposedbyEugeneNida—thefamouslinguistandtranslatorinAmerica.HistheorieswereintroducedintoChinaearlierwhichhadaremarkableinfluenceonthetranslationtheoreticalcirclein1960sand1970s.Therefore,F-ETheorynotonlyhasagreatimpactonChinesetranslationcircle,butalsogainsagreatmanycomments.1.TheessenceofNida’sFunctionalEquivalenceTheory﹙1﹚TheFoundationofF-ETheory1.SocialLinguisticsandCommunicativeFunctionofLanguage:NidaputDynamicEquivalenceTheory﹙D-ETheory﹚forwardfromtheperspectiveofsociallinguisticsandcommunicativefunctionoflanguage,whichiswritteninhisbook,TowardaScienceofTranslating,publishedin1964.Afterwards,hereplacedtheD-ETheorywithF-ETheory,becauseFunction,asaformofcommunicationintranslation,whichlaysemphasisonthecontentsandresultswasmorerationalthanDynamic.2.Chomsky’stransformationalandgenerativegrammar﹙T-GGrammar﹚:AccordingtotheSurfaceStructureandDeepStructureofChomsky’sT-GGrammar,Nidaproposedthattranslationshouldmainlyreflectthefunctionalequivalenceinthedeepstructureratherthanformalcorrespondenceinthesurfacestructure.Thus,thetranslationtextcanbebasicallyread,understoodandappreciatedinanoriginalway.﹙2﹚TheCriterionandPrincipleofTranslationTheessenceoftranslationisparaphrasing:Thatistosay,paraphrasingthesourcetextintothetargetlanguageandmakereadersunderstandthemeaningofsourcetextthroughtranslation.Inotherwords,Nidabelievesthatthecontentsaremoreimportantthantheformintranslation.However,healsoemphasizedthatalthoughtheformisinasecondplace,itdoesnotmeantheinsignificanceoftheform.Ifformisneglectedforthesakeofcontents,thetranslationtextlooksmustbetediousandaestheticfeelingofthesourcetextwilldisappear.Ontheotherhand,ifformisoveremphasized,literalfidelitycannotbeexpressedproperly.Thetranslationtextwillbesuperficialandawayfromthepoint.2.TheApplicationofNida’sFunctionalEquivalenceTheory﹙1﹚TheApplicationofF-ETheoryinProverbTranslationProverbisthemagnificenttreasureinhumanculturetreasury.Itistheaccumulationandsublimationofvariousexperiencesinhuman’slong-termlivelihoodandsocialpractice.Therefore,havingagoodcommandofusingproverbhelpspeopleunderstandthethinkingmethodsaswellasthecustomsandhabitsofanation.Then,weuseF-ETheorytogetagripofproverbtranslation.SomeEnglishproverbshavenoprofoundmeaningorobscureallusionbutmerelywordsandphrasescombinationinaplainandstraightforwardway.ForExample,HealthiswealthcanbetranslatedintoChinese“健康就是财富”;whenthreeknowit,allknowitcanbetranslatedintoChinese“三人知，天下晓”.Thiskindofproverbscanbecomprehendedliterallysothatword-for-wordtranslationwillnotbringanyproblems.However,theotherkindsofproverbshaveratherdistinctivedifferenceinculturalbackground,thinkingpattern,standardofbehaviorsandlifestyle.AccordingtothedifferenceofcultureandlifestylebetweenChinaandwest,wecaneasilyunderstandthatwhythelatterismoreacceptablethantheformerone.Forthisreason,thecharacteristicsofdistinctivecultureandlanguageandbeautyinsound,formandsensecanallbeexpressedthroughtheF-ETheory.﹙2﹚TheApplicationofF-ETheoryinAdvertisementTranslationThestyleoftheadlanguageisoftendistinctiveandinspiringanditshouldcatchthecustomers’attentionimmediatelythroughitsspecialaffection,stimulatingpeople’sdesiretobuy.Thus,theproperuseofadlanguagemakesfurtherinfluenceandmuchmeaningthanaditself.Someadsaphorismspreadallovertheworldandarewidelyknownbyeveryfamily.Tomakethecommercialadssuccessful,theimpactofthetranslationofadlanguageshouldbeequaltotheoriginaladlanguage.WecanfindoutthemeaningofthesourcetextfromthetargetlanguageaccuratelyundertheinstructionofF-ETheory1.TheFeatureofAdvertisementLanguage（1）BriefBeingrestrictedbymanylimitationssuchastimeandmoney,advertisementsarealwayshopingtoappealtheviewers’attentions.ManyfamousEnglishadswinbytheirpreciseness.Forexample,Intelligenceeverywhere.﹙MOTOROLA﹚（2）ColloquialismSpokenlanguageincreasestheaffinityofads.Thespokenlanguagethatweuseinourdailylifeisoftenadoptedinads.Andsomesmallwordsmaketheadsmoreacceptableforpeople.Forinstance,Oneboyisboy,twoboyshalfaboy,threeboysnoboy.(BirthControlinChina)（3）CreativityTheadvertisementproducersalwayscreatenewwaysandmethodstohighlighttheirproductsfrommanyothers’.Distinctiveadsmakepeoplestandstillandleadpeopletoendlessaftertastes.（4）RhetoricRhetoricisartofusinglanguageimpressivelyorpersuasively,especiallyinpublicspeaking.Toincreasethefunct