On English Translation Of Antique Names From The Perspective Of Cognitive Linguistics

In recent years, antiques from China draw more and more attention of people all over the world and the English translation of antique names becomes even more important as China rises to be an international power. However, the English translation of antique descriptions published in the books and magazines in China, the English translation of antique names in particular, contains many mistakes and errors. In China, there is a lack of a unified theory guiding the practice of name translation and different translators often supply different translations of the same category name of an antique, while the mistranslation and the translation that is devoid of vital information crop up from time to time. In addition, the rich culture connotations in the antique name sometimes get ignored. All these make the spread of the Chinese culture much more difficult. The thesis applies the general ideas and principles of cognitive linguistics to the English translation of antique names and points out that the features of antique names embody the basic traits of human cognition. Furthermore, the thesis proposes that the English translation of antique names is the result of the translator's coordination between different cognitive models and the translator's decision on choosing a specific cognitive model. The translator's translation strategies and techniques, therefore, are subjected to the confinement of human cognition.Cognitive linguistics holds that language is indispensable with human's cognitive abilities and the features of antique names are the linguistic embodiment of human cognition. From the perspective of cognitive linguistics, categorization is the basic way and a vital process for people to grasp the world around them and names are the end products of different categorization processes. The cognitive category is different from the traditional category in that the cognitive category holds that the category is a flexible mental construction with a fuzzy boundary and a prototype and should be instantiated in a cognitive model. These features are reflected in the unique features of antique names, such as juxtaposition of figure and name, considerable length and rich culture connotations.Cognitive translation differs widely from traditional linguistic school of translation in that from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, translations rendered by the translator undergo two processes: interpretation and comparison. The mental representation acquired from the interpretation is instantiated in an optimal cognitive model chosen by the translator after he/she compares a number of different cognitive models. The instantiation process profiles the translator's mental representation against a chosen cognitive model, making some parts of the mental representation salient while covering some parts of mental representation in the cognitive model.Due to the cognitive differences between the Chinese language community and the English language community and the differences between Chinese language cognitive communities, translators encounter many difficulties in translating antique names, such as unification of the English translation of antique names, culture differences and differences in noun constructions. In order to overcome these difficulties and convey effectively the fine elements in antique names, the translator takes the cognitive requirement as the guiding principle and utilizes the characteristics of the cognitive category to seek an appropriate translation technique. In light of the differences between cognitive categories in the source language and those of the target language, the thesis discusses the translation techniques used in bridging these differences, such as borrowing, reduction and amplification.Finally, some suggestions on unification of the English translation of antique names are provided and together with the translator's translation strategy, the discussion on the cognitive influence of the text format is offered.