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On The Translation Of Four-character Chinese Idioms In New Age Chinese-english Dictionary

Posted on:2013-01-02Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y R ZhangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2215330374461993Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Four-character Chinese idioms are an important component in Chinese-English dictionaries. Whether they are properly translated will affect the quality of the dictionary and users'understanding of idioms. This paper studies the translation of four-character Chinese idioms in New Age Chinese-English Dictionary from perspectives of translation methods and principles. Research questions are as follows:1. What are the characteristics of four-character Chinese idioms? Which of the characteristics should be considered in establishing the principles for translating them in a bilingual dictionary?2. What are the main translation methods of four-character Chinese idioms at present? What is the situation about the application of these methods in the translation of four-character Chinese idioms in bilingual dictionaries?3. Is there any relationship among translation principles, translation methods, and translated versions?Characteristics of four-character idioms and establishment of translation principles. Through the methods of inductive summary and examples of analysis, the characteristics of Chinese idioms and four-character idioms are listed. Then based on lexicographical scholars'opinions on the principles of headwords translation, the author attempts to raise the suggested translation principles especially for four-character Chinese idioms:embodiment of double-level meanings; stylistic approximation; emotional agreement.The empirical investigation for the using situation of main translation methods of four-character Chinese idioms. Through the method of random sampling, sampling idioms are selected from New Age Chinese-English Dictionary. Then the author evaluates the sampling idioms'versions and gets the conclusion that:free translation is the most common method applied in the translation of four-character Chinese idioms and literal translation is used less than free translation. The other methods are also used, but much less. But literal translation is used a little more than free translation in the first version.The relationship of translation principles, translation methods and translated versions. Through the analysis of specific examples, the relationship of translation principles, translation methods, and translated versions are discussed. The realization of some translation principles needs the help of certain translation methods, but it is more important to study and judge the source and target language. Translation principles are the standard to evaluate the quality of the versions. Translation methods are the ways to translated versions and can be thought as bridges between the source language and the target language. Translation principles, translation methods and translated versions are a unified whole and they cannot be separated. Although the using frequency of translation methods is different greatly, the methods themselves are more or less. In order to make the translated versions accurate and applicable, proper methods should be chosen according to the features of different idioms and the translation principles. At last, some suggestions are given for the translation of four-character Chinese idioms in bilingual dictionaries. Furthermore, the limitation of the paper and the suggestions for future study are also given.
Keywords/Search Tags:Chinese-English dictionary, four-character Chinese idioms, translationprinciples, translation methods, translated versions
PDF Full Text Request
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