Ⅲ Vermeer’s Skopos Theory of Translation 9

3.1 Origin and development of Vermeer’s Skopos Theory 9

3.2 Three principles of Skopos Theory 9

3.3 Comments on Vermeer’s Skopos Theory 11

Ⅴ. Translation of Official University Website Pages and Analysis of Translation Errors 12

4.1 Stylistic features of university English Website pages 12

4.2 Translation of official university English website pages 12

4.3 An analysis of English translation of University webpages 14

V Conclusion 19

Bibliography 20 

A Study of the Official Website English Versions of Two Jiangsu-based 985-Project Universities—from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

I. Introduction

1.1 Research background

With the development of China’s foreign exchanges, more and more Chinses students choose to go abroad, accepting foreign education. At the same time, the proportion of foreign students in China is also increasing, arising widespread concerns. Data illustrates that by the end of 2016 there are over 440,000 students from more than 200 countries and regions around the world in China, scattering in 700 institutions of higher learning, scientific research and other teaching institutions of over 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Such large number of foreign students has injected new vitality into domestic education.

Meanwhile, it has caused widespread concerns on the translation of the university website, since prior to schooling, foreign students acquire information about Chinese institutions in a variety of ways, with the Internet being the most popular one for its convenience. More importantly, of colossal network information, only the school  official  website publishes the most authoritative one. Therefore, the English translation of university website plays an essential role in the process of intercultural communication.

1.2 Research significance

Most  English  versions, however, are  based on their  Chinese  ones.

Nord, one of the representatives of German Functionalism Theory, believes that the target readers have been the main factor deciding translation process and the use of language. Therefore, the translation of University Website should take into account whether readers share the same cultural background and focus with that of people using source language. To this end, two Chiense scholars Zhang Xinjun and Yang   Hui（ 2003 ） chose dozens of Chinese colleges and universities’    English

webpage profiles as raw materials and conducted a survey on English-speaking informants. The results, doubtfully, examines that the majority were perplexed with these materials, which were comprised of puzzling information. The data of errors are concluded as follows:

percentage 21.2% 20% 13.5% 45.2% 100%

Common error in English Website translation The problems of university webpage translation were classified into following ones as information processing, repeating, Chinglish and spelling and grammar errors. In any cases, they had provided us with a case reference. It can also be seen that there are many problems  in English translation of Chinese university webpage. However, it is still not scientific and rigorous enough; for instance, information processing and implementation can be reduced to one.