On Illustrative Examples And Their Translation In Bilingual Dictionaries

Illustrative examples, an indispensable part in most bilingual linguistic dictionaries, have been the focus of attention of lexicographers and dictionary users. In a sense, entries without illustrative examples are useless to the readers, for illustrative examples can assist the entry in expounding its definition and clarifying its usage and the translation of the examples can help dictionary users in their writing and translating practice. In terms of the illustrative examples in Chinese-English dictionaries, on the one hand, they can help Chinese dictionary users comprehend and command the meaning and usage of the Chinese entry in question and on the other assist the users in their writing and translation.Since illustrative examples play a very important part in bilingual dictionaries, Chinese-English dictionaries in particular, this thesis aims to investigate into this particular aspect, probing into their definition, classification, and function, specifying the major problems, and discussing their translation, in an effort to boost the compilation of Chinese-English dictionaries in China.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction, stating the background and significance of this study and reviewing briefly the literature in this field of study. Chapter Two explores the definition, classification, arrangement and functions of illustrative examples in bilingual dictionaries. Chapter Three specifies the six major problems existing in the illustrative examples of current Chinese-English dictionaries. Chapter Four mainly discusses illustrative example translation in Chinese-English dictionaries. First, the difficulties of illustration example translation are pointed out, based on which, the author works out several guiding principles and useful techniques for the translation of illustrative examples in Chinese-English dictionaries, in the hope of improving relevant work in this field. Chapter Five is a conclusion, summarizing the important points in the thesis and pointing out its limitations.