| Language is the most important tool in the communication of human beings. It is a special social phenomenon. Phonology, lexicon and grammar are the three basic elements of a language. As the most active factor of language, lexicon is very sensitive to the changes in social life. New words and expressions emerge once new things and new concepts appear in social life. Words and expressions will retire from the language if the things they represent cease to exist. To meet the needs of communication, some "dead" words and expressions may be reused.Language may change when changes take place in social life. Since the practice of reform and opening up to the outside world, tremendous changes have taken place in China in the fields ranging from economy, politics, science and technology, and education. New things and new concepts emerge like mushrooms. And large numbers of new words and expressions reflecting these new things are coming into the Chinese language in an endless stream. Furthermore, with China's increasing contacts with other countries in the world, many new things and new concepts have been introduced into China. As a result, large quantities of loan words have come into Chinese. Generally, Chinese neologisms result from the following five sources: (1) newly-coined words and expressions; (2) old words and expressions with new senses; (3) words and expressions borrowed from other languages; (4) words and expressions adopted from dialects; (5) old words and expressions reused.Chinese neologisms vividly reveal the changes China has undergone over the past two decades. It is of great significance to translate these neologisms into idiomatic English. Foreign readers can truly understand China through Chinese neologisms. However, neologism translation does not seem to have caught enough attention of Chinese translation theorists and translators. There are so far very few papers and books covering neologism translation at home. The present thesis attempts to make a study on the methods and principles in neologism translation. By making a detailed analysis of Chinese neologisms, the author sums up five methods in neologism translation:(1) Literal translation. Literal translation is a method that strives to render the meaning of Chinese neologisms with little change in their original images. Literal translation can efficiently keep the original images of the Chinese neologisms, which helps to introduce the Chinese culture to English readers.111(2) Literal translation plus annotation. Literal translation plus annotation means to add some proper explanation to the literally-translated neologisms so as to help the readers to understand the translation by offering some background knowledge of the source language.(3) Free translation. Free translation is a method that renders the connotative meaning and cultural meaning of the Chinese neologism without trying to keep its original image. Free translation is the most important and efficient technique in neologism translation.(4) Interpretation. Interpretation is a kind of explanative translation that tends to interpret the connotative meanings of Chinese neologisms.(5) Substitution. Substitution is a method to substitute English words and expressions for the Chinese neologisms with the same or similar connotative meanings. Substitution can make the translation idiomatic and smooth.In translating Chinese neologisms into English, the translator should keep to the criteria of "faithfulness", "expressiveness" and "closeness" no matter what method he adopts, so as to fully render the meaning of the neologisms. "Faithfulness" means to faithfully transfer the meaning of the original on the basis of correct comprehension of it; "expressiveness" means that die translation should be as smooth and easy to understand as the original; and "closeness" means the style of the translation should be as close as possible to that of the original, no matter it is elegant or vulgar.Successful translation relies on accurate comprehension of the original, hi...
|
PDF Full Text Request