Translation Strategy Study on the Functional Equivalence Theory: Taking Translations of Security: A Framework for the Study of Unwanted Futures (Chapter 1) as an Example

This study applies Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory to translating Chapter 1 of Translations of Security: A Framework for the Study of Unwanted Futures, a conceptually dense academic text. To bridge the English-Chinese typological gaps, a multi-tiered strategy was employed: lexical solutions ensured conceptual fidelity, syntactic adjustments enhanced naturalness, and textual techniques optimized cohesion and coherence. The research validates the theory’s efficacy for academic texts, establishes unified Chinese security-studies terminology, and demonstrates how theoretical adaptations localize Western critical scholarship.