On The E-C Neologism Translation(1998-2008): A Cultural Approach

Against the backdrop of globalization and popularization of the Internet in the past decade, more and more Chinese neologisms translated from English spring up in all walks of our life. However, it is traditionally believed that the position occupied by the translated text is often marginal and subordinate to the original one, resulting from the originality and creativity of the latter. It leads to the ignorance of the function operated by translation.In the late 1980s, Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere advocated the cultural turn of translation studies. It highlights the constructing function of the translating practice and translations. Based on this theoretical foundation, the thesis focuses on E-C neologisms from 1998 to 2008 and attempts to expound the great contributions of E-C neologism translation to Chinese cultural construction.Firstly, the thesis introduces the characteristics of E-C neologisms and major translation strategies of E-C neologisms in the past decade. And then it turns to the contributions of E-C neologism translation to constructing Chinese culture from four aspects: Chinese language, economy and politics, science and technology, and social life of people. The concept of CULTURE in this thesis is the same as Snell-Hornby adopted, that is, it should be interpreted in an ethnographic sense.The intake of E-C neologisms is not only the simple importing and borrowing of English vocabularies but also the symbolic signs of transplanting foreign cultures into their Chinese counterpart. Multiple strange cultures not only enrich Chinese culture but make it more colorful. Meanwhile, they can facilitate the modernization of China. Moreover, their intake even evolves or improves some Chinese systems and regulations in terms of economy, science, life styles of Chinese people and so on.Finally, the thesis proposes a more dialectic attitude towards the function of E-C neologism translation in terms of Chinese cultural construction. On the one hand, the significance of E-C neologism translation should be acknowledged. On the other hand, it is necessary to keep sober-minded, and warn of the potential overshadowing or even loss of Chinese cultural identity due to English cultural hegemony. Focusing on E-C neologism translation, a relatively microscopic researching object, this thesis attempts to study the function of E-C neologism translation in terms of constructing contemporary Chinese culture. It is hoped that this thesis can help have a better understanding of the function operated by E-C neologism translation.