| Research backgroundWith the development of globalization,China is experiencing unprecedented changes in every aspect of its social,political and economic life,which has given rise to a strong influx of new lexical items into the Chinese language.Such new lexical items,or neologisms,are especially useful in identifying inventions,new phenomena,or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural dimension,tn an age of information explosion,these neologisms are best recorded,reinforced and spread by mass media.Compared with other linguistic components such as phonetics and grammar,lexical items capture and mirror social changes in most direct ways.Given the quantum changes that have taken place in China for the past decades,notably since the reform and opening-up,new lexical items have emerged with staggering speed.According to conservative statistics from the State Language Commission,the Chinese language witnessed an impressive addition of around 600 new lexical items each year in the 1980s and at least 400 each year in the 1990s,not to mention those that have died out of common usage after a fleeting life cycle.In fact,neologisms cannot be accurately quantified,since so many of them hover between acceptance and oblivion and many are short-lived, individual creations.(Newmark,2001:140) Generally speaking,neologisms are vivid,easy to remember and,more often than not,may spread like wildfire after they come into use in mass media.As mass media play a leading role in disseminating information and shaping public opinions,it is essential that press neologisms be translated in accurate and clear ways to assist with China's global communication endeavors.Due to the fresh and spontaneous nature and uncertain acceptability of press neologisms,even the most influential Chinese-English dictionaries could hardly keep up with the pace and offer sound translation.Theoretically,limited research has been done to shed light on the special requirements for the translation or expression of such novel terms. However,it is impossible to circumvent this problem in our communication with the outside world,as neologisms inevitably refer to the latest or current phenomena in China. Research purposeAs the translating of press neologisms,including the overarching principles and coping strategies,has hardly been explored,the purpose of this dissertation is to:1) Study the features of press neologisms;2) Discuss relevant translation principles;3) Analyze the types of wrong and inadequate translation;and4) Propose strategies for coping with potential problems accordingly.Research significanceThis dissertation narrows down its scope of investigation to the translating of press neologisms,a subject with growing importance against the background of globalization and upon which limited literature can be found.It attempts to establish a systematic framework from a brand-new interdisciplinary perspective for guiding the translating of press neologisms.As the issue in question spans across translation,cultural studies and journalism,points deserving special attention,including principles of translation,types of problems and coping strategies,are extensively discussed based on a comprehensive framework of translation and intercultural communication theories.In addition to pushing forward theoretical frontiers,the dissertation has suggested an impressive number of ingenious renditions for press neologisms from a wide range of fields,which cannot be found in any of the existing Chinese-English dictionaries and can come in handy for translators,reporters,lexicographers,as well as English learners and teachers.By following the new trail blazed by the author,translation theoreticians and practitioners alike are ushered into a new horizon and are likely to embark upon their own journey of exciting discoveries.Overall analysis of neologismsAs living testimony to linguistic dynamism,neologisms can be defined as "newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense"(Newmark, 2001:140).In this study,neologisms specifically refer to lexical units or those with a new sense that are not included in the Modern Chinese Dictionary published in 1978.A natural language is an open system with a strong generative power,which can happen at all levels of linguistic structure,including syntax,phonology and lexical items. Phonological and syntactical evolution is gradual,taking years and even centuries to take effect.Lexical changes,by contrast,are the most dynamic element of language.At the lexical level,neologisms may come from a wide range of sources,such as political and economic reform,improved living standards,more diverse cultural life,new and high technology,evolved education system,more flexible job market,emerging social challenges,trendy practices,increasing international exchanges and widely accessible interact use,etc.They tend to occur more often in cultures which are rapidly changing,and also in situations where there is easy and fast dissemination of information.They are often created through such means as rhetoric devices(e.g.metaphors,parallelism),abbreviation, acronym,borrowing from dialects and other languages,euphemism,allusions,intentional rhyming,addition of affixes,revival of dead lexical items,or merely playing with sound. Upon their creation,neologisms are immediately subject to public scrutiny.Many of them have never graduated from the game into real life.In addition to coinage,neologisms may come from semantic shift.According to Stem(1964:163),change of meaning is "the habitual modification,among a comparatively large number of speakers,of the traditional semantic range of the word,which results from the use of word 1) to denote one or more referents which it has not previously denoted,or 2) to express a novel manner of apprehending one or more of its referents." He distinguishes seven types of sense changes, namely,substitution,analogy,shortening,nomination,transfer,permutation and adequation. When a new meaning is assigned to an existing word,we may have one of the following four situations:1) the new meaning is just an addition to the existing semantic web of the word;2) the new meaning gains a more prominent position over the old meaning;3) the new meaning replaces the old meaning;and 4) the new meaning casts off the previous derogatory implication and becomes neutralized.In modern times,neologisms often become accepted and integrated parts of the language through mass media,the internet and word of mouth.Whether this happens depends on many factors,probably the most important of which is acceptance by the public.Of course,acceptance by linguistic experts and incorporation into dictionaries also plays a part.Out of understandable reasons,linguists often delay acceptance by refusing to include the neologism into dictionaries.This also explains the absence of English translation of many neologisms in Chinese-English dictionaries.Neologisms may take decades to become "old",though.In other words,neologisms are relativistic,as yesterday's neologisms are often today's essential vocabulary.Translating neologisms is-generally difficult,as there is often a lack of ready equivalents in the target language and such terms are culturally loaded.When such difficulties are encountered,the whole issue of translatability is raised.Catford distinguishes two types of untranslatability,which he terms linguistic and cultural. Linguistic untranslatability is due to differences in the source language and target language whereas cultural intranslatability is due to the absence in the target culture of a relevant situational feature for the source language text(Bassnett,2002:38).Traditional translation principlesAs a highly sophisticated mental activity,translation process still remains to be a black box to a large extent.As Weaver(1989:117) put it,"If someone asks me how I translate,I am hard put to find an answer.I can describe the physical process.I make a very rapid first draft,put it aside for a while,then go over it at a painfully slow pace,pencil - and eraserin hand.But that is all outside.Inside the job is infinitely complex." Nevertheless,a vast repertoire of insights have been shed on the nature of translation.As early as 1791, Alexander F.Tytler put forward the three principles of translation,namely,1) the translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work;2) the style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original;and 3) a translation should have all the ease of the original composition.These three principles are highly consistent with the principles of "faithfulness,expressiveness and gracefulness" suggested by Yan Fu(1898),a prominent Chinese scholar known for his contribution to translation theories and introduction of Western ideas into China by way of translation. Another highly influential translation principle is to achieve "dynamic or functional equivalence rather than formal equivalence" as proposed by Nida,who succinctly argues that translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest equivalent of the source language message,first in terms of meaning,and second in terms of style (1982:12).In recent years,translation approaches have been revolutionalized by German functionalists.Nord(2001:75) views "translating as a purposeful activity" and Vermeer (2000) has developed the Skopos Theory.According to Nord,every translation should be directed at an intended audience and to translate is "to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances"(2001:12).Skopos theory focuses above all on the purpose of translation,which determines the translation methods and strategies that are to be employed in order to produce a functionally adequate result. Both of them seek to release translators from servitude to the original text,viewing translation as a communicative act that must be purposeful with respect to the translator's client and target readership.The above and many more scholars have approached the nature and principles of translation from different perspectives and arrived at different understandings.As a result, there has never been short of heated debates.In spite of divergent opinions,we should be able to see the overriding principle of being loyal to the source text and smooth in expression,which is generally upheld by contending schools of thought and applied in practice.Principles for translating press neologismsWhile the translation of press neologisms follows the common translation principles pointed out above,some particular points deserve our special attention.A defining feature of neologism translation is to cope with brand-new lexical items that have never been translated before.To rise up to the challenge,a translator has to work creatively.In addition, as neologisms Come from wide-ranging sources,a translator should also be knowledgeable and intelligent enough to grasp the meaning accurately.Moreover,the text type and target readership should be taken into account.In literary translation,the focus is placed on rendering the original message and artistic taste.For the translating of legal or technical documents,the pendulum swings to the side of unequivocal meaning,precise use of jargons,water-tight logic and stylistic brevity.When it comes to press neologisms,a translator should pay attention to the features of journalistic English and make the translation more readable and readily understandable,in addition to accurate rendition of meaning.To measure with Yan Fu's "three-character principles",accuracy reflects "faithfulness",understandability implies "expressiveness" and readability or conformity with features of journalistic English brings into life "gracefulness".In general,the following three points are particularly noteworthy in translating press neologisms.1.Watch against word-for-word or literal translationWe may apply the old tool of Five W's model to the new task of translation analysis. Harold Lassewell,an American vanguard in communication studies,developed a much quoted Five W's formulation of the main elements of communication,"who says what in which channel to whom with what effect".In this model,what Lassewell emphasizes is that there must be an "effect" if communication is to take place.It is self-explanatory that translating press neologisms can only be successful when the intended effect is achieved.It is widely acknowledged that language is a system of arbitrary symbols.Although modern cognitive linguistics has emphasized the iconic aspect of language,we hold it to be self-evident that iconic motivation itself is overridden by the arbitrary nature of language. A simple example will suffice to justify this point,it is generally assumed that the English word "wrist watch" is so-called because it is motivated by the fact that the watch is worn on the wrist.A contrast of it with the Chinese correspondent word:"手表" will reveal the inadequacy of such an assumption.The iconic view of language cannot answer why the Chinese have selected "hand" rather than "wrist".The same is true with the English choice. The gaping discrepancies between languages and this very nature of arbitrariness determine that it is impossible for English and Chinese to share the same ways of expression in many cases.In connection with the arbitrary and iconic natures of language, there is also academic debate concerning linguistic universals and linguistic peculiarities. In Chomsky's terminology,all languages share universal properties on the level of principles and differ from one another in terms of parameters.As translation practice involves specific individual linguistic items,we are actually dealing with language at the level of parameters.The differences between the two languages are broadly reflected in the dichotomies of "synthetic vs.analytic","compact vs.diffusive","hypotactic vs.parataetic", "complex vs.simplex","impersonal vs.personal","passive vs.active","static vs. dynamic","abstract vs.concrete","indirect vs.direct","substitutive vs.reiterative",etc. (Lian Shuneng,1993)Linguistic differences exist because different language systems have formulated different principles for selectional restrictions and different ways of organizing syntactic structures.Language rules impose vertical and sequential requirements on the arrangement of sentence structures.Collocation studies show that sentences can be constructed on the basis of free collocations,restricted collocations and fixed collocations.Free combinations are largely convertible from one linguistic system to another,but rarely so when restricted and fixed collocations are involved.Literal translation should be avoided in the latter two cases.To take set phrases and expressions for example,the four-character structure is obviously peculiar to the Chinese linguistic culture.More often than not,even the so-called equivalents in the two languages only share overlapping,rather than identical,meanings to varying degrees.Therefore,it would be ridiculous to adopt a word-for-word translation approach,particularly for those culturally loaded words.In many cases,literal translation with no regard to meaning leads to serious distortion of content and even communication breakdown. 2.Give priority to clarity of meaningIt is generally acknowledged that translation first and foremost means translating meanings.Meanings,however,can fall into different categories with reference to different criteria.Geoffrey Leech(1981:10 - 27),for example,distinguishes three major categories of meaning:conceptual meaning,associative meaning and thematic meaning.If translation means translating meanings,then the translator needs to take all these meanings into consideration.Many press neologisms related to China-specific political system,policies and social phenomena are jargons or abbreviations and often contain precise concepts or subtle meanings foreign readers are not familiar with.To achieve desired communication effect, the translator should rise above formal constraints and go directly for the meaning.By doing so,the translator may come up with somewhat lengthy versions.However,brevity should not be achieved at the cost of clarity.The most important point is to digest the meaning accurately and express it in a readily understandable way.Such an interpretive or explanatory translation approach is well-grounded,as the interpretation is firmly rooted in the original meaning,rather than the imposition of the translator's personal opinions.As we know,a key function of mass media is to inform.It is imaginable that unclear translation would fail to deliver that function,or more seriously,play a misleading function. Given that readers often casually browse through newspapers and magazines in leisure or in a hurry,they tend to skip phrases or expressions with unclear information.3.Be aware of the cultural background of foreign readersLanguage is a carrier of culture and no natural language can be culture independent. People speaking different languages are,therefore bound to be exposed to different cultures,their thoughts being shaped and determined by the cultures they live in.Being an all-embracing term,culture is defined by P.Newmark(1988) as "the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression".E.Tylor(1871) points out,"Culture...is that complex whole which includes knowledge,belief,art,morals,law,customs,and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society." Due to rapidly increasing cross-cultural communication and heightened awareness of cultural barriers,translation studies have witnessed a paradigm shift from a linguistic approach to a cultural approach over the past years.As a result,translation is now widely seen as a form of intercultural communication.Due to cultural gaps,it is sometimes necessary for a translator to provide background information.Underestimating readers' intelligence is stupid whereas overestimating foreigners' understanding of China is unwise.To be specific,the translator should supplement relevant information when translation involves historical events,geographical locations,feudal dynasties,historical figures,institutions,folklore,festivals,customs and vogue phrases in China.The word "liberation" serves as a good case in point,as few foreigners know that it refers to the founding of new China in 1949.Similarly,it is not surprising that most foreign readers are confused with the "Qin Dynasty" and the "Qing Dynasty","Shanxi" and "Shaanxi","the May 4th Movement","Xinhai Revolution","Li Bai" or "Lu Xun","Niu Lang" or "Zhinv","Dragon Boat Festival","young pioneers", "democratic parties","neighborhood committee" and "peaceful evolution",when necessary background information is not provided.If the reality being represented is not familiar to the audience,the translation stumbles and becomes difficult to read.As long as background information is based on facts and can help foreigners better understand the message,the supplementation of information shall not be accused of overstepping the limits of translation.The above discussion is somewhat related to the debates on alienation and adaptation approaches represented by L.Venuti and E.Nida respectively.Venuti argues for alienation, the retention of SL culture in the TL text,to "resist dominant target-language cultural values so as to signify the linguistic and cultural difference of the text"(1991).Nida,on the other hand,advocates the closest natural equivalent in terms of content and style.In his opinion,a translation of dynamic/functional equivalence aims at complete naturalness of expression.However,the translator should be able to see the flipside of the coin.If alienation goes too far,the alienated becomes dead translation;and if adaptation goes too far,the adapted becomes unfaithful.Faced with this dilemma,it is essential that the translator puts the translation in context and selects the right approach based on his or her textual understanding and cultural awareness.Requirements for the translatorTranslation aims at overcoming linguistic and cultural hurdles to facilitate communication and exchanges between people with different social,geographical and cultural backgrounds.The ideas thus generated are indispensable for fuelling social changes and cultural progress.As the world has been reduced to a global village,the importance of translation cannot be overemphasized.Translating press neologisms is part of China's global communication efforts.To be a qualified translator in this regard,one should possess the following qualities:1.Adequate political awarenessAs many press neologisms are closely related to sensitive political issues,national policies and party ideology,a translator must develop adequate political awareness to be correctly positioned.Without such awareness,a translator may fail to gain a full understanding of the terms and come up with grammatically correct,yet unacceptable versions.Typical examples of this sort include "peaceful unification" and "mainland China".2.High proficiency in both languagesIt is self-evident that a translator should be highly proficient in both languages. Without a sound language ability,studying translation theories and techniques would not go far.To translate Chinese neologisms,one should first understand those terms accurately, which is not necessarily an easy job.Being proficient in the source language means understanding the intended meaning of a linguistic utterance,and being proficient in the target language requires the translator to be able to express the intended messages in ways that are equally acceptable to prospective target audiences.For instance,faulty versions like "barbarous loading and unloading" and "grasp the big and release the small" show insufficient understanding of Chinese terms.To produce decent and pioneering translation, a good command of English is essential.3.Broad range of knowledgeIn addition to political awareness and sound language skills,a translator should be supported by a broad range of knowledge to cope with problems in the task.As press neologisms emerge from different fields,encyclopedic knowledge would come in handy.It is widely recognized that a lack of subject matter knowledge can be a serious stumbling block in translation.Given that press neologisms usually refer to the latest or current events or phenomena,a translator should be well-informed of current affairs,policy developments and public issues of wide concern.Besides the above essential qualities,a translator should also meet the following four preconditions to become qualified.1) Hardworking spirit and strong sense of responsibilityTranslation is full of hardships.This is particularly so when it comes to the translation of neologisms,as such terms have never been translated before.To meet the challenge,a translator must work hard,guard against rashness and develop a strong sense of responsibility.2.) Combination of theory and practiceA translator can only develop and refine a wide range of skills in translation through years of practice.But an over-emphasis on practice may lead to the neglect of translation theories.As explained by Nida(Mao Ronggui,2002:6),one important reason for skepticism about the need for theories of translation is that some people seem to have a special gift for interlingual communication,and without any formal training in interlingual communication they become first-rate translators.However,theories can cast insights on the nature,process and coping strategies of translation,which is helpful for guiding translation practice.Therefore,a translator should effectively combine theory and practice, which are complementary rather than contradictory.It is our belief that theories should be crystallization of practice,which in turn is the manifestation and realization of the value of theoretical configurations.Going to either extreme is not the right approach to translation.3).Deep understanding of cultural differencesA translator will by definition be bilingual.But the opposite is not necessarily true.To do a good job,a translator has to be well-versed in both source and target cultures to bridge the gap in communication,as cultural meanings are intricately woven into the texture of the language.Translation is therefore not simply a matter of seeking other words with similar meaning but of finding appropriate ways of saying things in another language. Without a deep understanding of the differences between source and target cultures,a translator is sure to fall into cultural traps.A case in point is the Chinese term "政治" is often hard to render into proper English. In most cases,politics would not convey the proper meaning,for one of its English connotations is "...political activities characterized by artful and often dishonest practices." Superficial linguistic similarities might cover up potentially culture-specific connotative differences.To choose a more appropriate English term,one should consider the Chinese meaning and context,and then decide whether to use political activities, political work,political study or some other terms.4) Effective use of resourcesIn an age of knowledge explosion,it is impossible for a translator to know everything. Therefore,a skillful translator should be adept at using dictionaries,encyclopedia,the interact and other resources.In spite of all the apparent linguistic and cultural hurdles,a translator can,in most cases,find a solution by judicious use of the above-mentioned resources.Types of wrong or inadequate translationGiven the complexities involved in translation,no translator is infallible and the demands for perfect translation by the omniscient translator are unrealistic.Nevertheless,a wise translator should analyze the causes of and learn from those unsuccessful examples. Wrong or inadequate translation of press neologisms can be attributable to a host of factors, such as mother tongue interference,insufficient understanding of source terms,lack of political awareness,etc.The types of wrong or inadequate translation can be roughly grouped together as follows:1.ChinglishChinglish seems to have become a fatal sin in Chinese-English translation.According to J.Pinkham(2000),Chinglish is that misshapen,hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but that might be described as "English with Chinese characteristics".In fact, she has provided a comprehensive analysis of Chinglish in her book entitled The Translator's Guide to Chinglish.Chinglish grows mainly out of word-for-word translation and imposition of Chinese structure onto the English version without sufficient regard to the intended meaning.As we know,the professional responsibility of the translator is not to trade English words for Chinese equivalents but to select those English words that convey to the reader the meaning of the original text.As pointed out by Nida(1992:3), "Each language has its own genius...Rather than force the formal structure of one language upon another,the effective translator is quite prepared to make any and all formal changes necessary to reproduce the message in the distinctive structural forms of the receptor language." In addition,one of the most frequently mentioned sources of errors is "false friends",where some similarity between two words in a language pair dealt with look sufficiently alike to make translators render the source word by a target word that is semantically wrong in that context.It is not surprising that failure to realize the above points would result in abundant examples of Chinglish,such as "civilization achievements".2.Insensitivity to linguistic habits in English In some cases,the translation appears to be correct,yet is not idiomatic enough due to the translator's insensitivity to linguistic habits in English.For example,"tax-protection area" is an awkward substitution to "bonded area".Another manifestation of such insensitivity is the over-use of modifiers to emphasize a certain point or repetition of the same word.However,redundant modifiers and repetition would do nothing but weaken the meaning in its totality or even render the translation ridiculous.Still another type of insensitivity is the wrong word order in the target language due to mother tongue interference.Typical examples include "middle and primary schools","medium-sized and small enterprises","high and new technology" and "an international new economic order".As far as we can see,there are at least two sets of rules for language:one for language usage and the other for language use.Violations of linguistic habits also occur when a language item is not grammatically wrong but inappropriately used in a given context.3.Insufficient understanding of source termsMany people believe that comprehension is a problem in English-Chinese translation whereas the chief challenge in Chinese-English translation lies in expression.However, some mistakes just arise from incorrect understanding of source terms.Although a word generally conjures up concepts within a certain semantic sphere accepted by language users,it is a myth that the meaning of a word is fixed.As pointed out by British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein,the meaning of a word is its use in the language. Likewise,as an English saying goes,words do not have meaning;People have meaning for words.This highlights the nature of language as a system of symbols.A typical example in this regard is the translation of "debt chains",which is often mistaken as "triangular debts" by Chinese translators.Due to insufficient understanding,the wrong translation represents debt relations in a misleading way.4.Wrong registerRegister in linguistics refers to the patterns of communication used in particular settings and for specific purposes.It is often an indicator of the formality or official nature of an occasion,or a mark of authority and is marked by changes in syntax,accent or phonology and vocabulary.Based on the above understanding,a right word in a wrong place would result in communication problems.This suggests a stylistic requirement for translation.Many neologisms are highly colloquial and expressive.If translated into formal expressions,the flavor would regrettably be lost.In such situations,existing colloquial expressions or slangs in English,if available,can serve as better alternatives.The differences can be reflected in the following pairs:"find a very rich man vs.find a sugar daddy","chat for a long time on the phone vs.shoot the breeze on the phone","act as a speaker or an agent vs.act as a shill" and "be overcharged vs.be ripped off or fleeced".5.Failure in identifying the original equivalents for loan termsDue to China's closer exchanges with the outside world,an extensive list of Chinese lexical terms have been loaned from other languages,particurlarly from English.For instance,few people living in large Chinese cities are still unfamiliar with loan words in their daily lives such as maidanglao(McDonalds),kendeji(KFC) and xingbake (Starbucks).Meanwhile,loan terms other than proper names are even more common.They include heike(hacker),piliwu(break dance),liangfandian(bulk sale store), kuandaiwangluo(broadband net),yinqing(engine),to name just a few.Even the official Chinese-language newspapers are flush with English abbreviations such as WTO(world trade organization),CBD(central business district),GDP(gross domestic product) and CEO(chief executive officer).These loan words,through the filter of transliteration or free translation or a mixture of both,have been sinicized for public acceptance and enriched the Chinese vocabulary.To translate such terms,what a translator should do is to find out the original equivalent in English.It should be noted that the influence of lexical penetration is mutual,as a large number of Chinese words have also found their way into standard English dictionaries or reference books.6.Problematic handling of political termsThe most thorny problem in translating press neologisms is to handle political terms, for such terms abound,are frequently used,require precise rendition of meaning and contain concepts foreigners generally are not familiar with.Compared with empty slogans before the reform and opening policy wa...
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