Towards English Translations Of Chinese Expressions In Public Use

The research topics of this thesis focus on Chinese expressions in public use andtranslating them into English. Altogether, the thesis consists of five parts. The first part is the general introduction ofthe thesis, including the current situation of Chinese expressions in public use, the purposeand significance of research on them, the necessity and urgency to translate them into English,and methodology in this thesis. The second part is the overall introduction of the Chinese publicly used expression, onits definition, classification, characteristics of unique structures, figures of speech, and thesimilarities and differences between Chinese and English expressions. In the third part, the author sums up some common errors and causes existing in theprocess of translating Chinese expressions into English, from the perspective of language aswell as culture. Errors in linguistic aspects may be divided into three groups: using improperwords; using Chinglish expressions; obscure translation. Errors in cultural aspects, morepotentially neglected in translation, are more likely to result in misunderstanding andannoyance among foreigners. The fourth part deals with translating Chinese expressions in public use into English.Besides translation processes, suggested principles for general guidance are put forward:understandability, receptors centered, and similarity. On the basis of abundant examples, theauthor suggests three techniques of translating Chinese expressions into English, namely,literal translation, addition and omission, conversion and restructuring, including how to dealwith the words and expressions with Chinese characteristics and figures of speech. The fifth part concludes the thesis.