A Comparison of Two Chinese Versions of Red Star Over China from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

Abstract

Functionalist Skopos theory holds that the purpose of translation determines the translator’s choice of translation strategies. This theory is widely adopted in translation studies, and it also has instructive significance for the comparative study on different translations of same original text. In Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow described his experiences in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region in the first-person perspective. Chinese scholars have carried out thorough researches on the Chinese translations of Red Star Over China, but they have not paid enough attention to the different translation strategies adopted in different Chinese versions. From the perspective of Skopos theory, this paper studies the differences in translation strategies between Dong Leshan’s version and Wang Tao’s version of Red Star Over China. Dong’s translation applies literal translation for the purpose of faithfulness to the original text, while Wang’s translation is more inclined to liberal translation. Both versions bear some weak points in coherence, fidelity, and over-domestication, which need to be improved in future translations.