A Study Of Europeanization In English-Chinese Translation And Its Influence On Modern Chinese

This thesis is a study of Europeanization of modern Chinese via translation and its influence on the formation of modern Chinese language. It attempts to answer two major questions. The first question concerns issues of Europeanization in English-Chinese translation. Why do we adopt Europeanization and how does it influence the Chinese language? Chapter Two and Three present an overview of Europeanization and illustrate the main types of Europeanization of Chinese language. There are at least two causes for Europeanization of Chinese:one being the need to enrich the Chinese language and the other being the thirst for western leanings. It is mainly reflected in the lexical, syntactic, stylistic, and other aspects of the Chinese language and linguistic culture. Due to Europeanization, numerous expressions and structures, which did not exist before, have come into Chinese. Some of the Europeanized constructions are widely used and have been accepted as part of the Chinese language. In other words, the introduction of Europeanized constructions has helped to build up a new linguistic-cultural identity characterized by increasing receptivity to foreign influences.The second question concerns the limitations and limits of Europeanization. In Chapter Four and Five, we look into the limitations of Europeanization and the constraints of the intrinsic laws of the Chinese language that limit the extent of Europeanization. The development of a language is the common effects of external influences and the internal mechanism of language. Europeanization has exerted a great impact on Chinese and contributed a lot to the reformation of Chinese linguistic-cultural identity. However, Europeanization is after all an external influence in the development of Chinese. It is conversely constrained by the present linguistic-cultural identity of Chinese. The dominant force which determines the extent of Europeanization in Chinese is the intrinsic laws of Chinese. In this process, the characteristics of Chinese language, the mental features of Chinese people and the Chinese culture work together to decide the limits of Europeanization.In short, although Europeanization, as a trend of translation, has contributed greatly to the reformation of modern Chinese language in the past, it is also constrained by the present linguistic-cultural identity.