Idiom Translation From Semiotic Perspective

Idiom is a special language form in Chinese, its translation has always beenfocused by translation theorists. This dissertation studies idiom translation from theEnglish version of Wei Cheng from a semiotic view point.It is Saussure who first regarded semiotics as a branch of science and since then,it was focused by many scholars. With the development of semiotic theories,semiotics was involved in many interdisciplinary studies among which there wassemiotic approach to translation.Idiom translation is believed as one of the toughest translation in Chinese asidiom is equipped with special form and rich connotation. Previous studies on idiomtranslation usually paid attention to cultural elements, comparison between Englishand Chinese, translatability and so on. To analyze idiom translation from semioticview point not only takes semantic element into consideration but also pragmatic andgrammatical elements as well, which may obtain a better result.This dissertation introduces theories and concepts of semiotics in great detail andsorts out studies of translation from semiotic view point. Meanwhile, it uses concreteexamples of idiom translation from the English version of Wei Cheng attempting todemonstrate how to use semiotic approach to guide Chinese idiom translation.