On Translating Chinese Political Neologisms Into English

Since China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, great changes have taken place in all fields of our society. New things and new concepts spring up in succession. As a result, a large number of Chinese neologisms reflecting them have come into existence. Chinese political neologisms are the latest demonstration of China’s political, economic, ideological, cultural and social development. Therefore, how to translate them correctly into English become a new issue of concern.Honestly speaking, some researches in this field are very useful in guiding translating political neologisms. However, they are inadequate to regulate translation in political neologisms. It is still in unsystematic situation. Under such circumstance, this thesis, based on the translation theory and a large number of first-hand examples as a supporting ground for the main arguments of the thesis, aims to make a scientific and systematic study on the English translation of Chinese political neologisms and establish some translating strategies to solve problems in the translation of Chinese political neologisms.This thesis consist of six chapters.Chapter One offers the background and research significance of the thesis.Chapter Two is a survey of the studies on and achievements in the translation of political neologisms through a large number of data interrelated to translating.Chapter Three is a general study of Chinese political neologisms, including definition, classification and their features. A definition given to the Chinese neologisms and its time limit in this thesis is followed by a classification according to their sources and contents. It ends with a summary of the features of Chinese political neologisms.Chapter Four is the theoretical background of this thesis. Nida’s theory of functional equivalence and the translation strategies of foreignization and domestication are introduced.Chapter Five is an application of the relevant theories in the translation of Chinese political neologisms. In addition, five strategies namely literal translation, literal translation plus explanation, back translation, equivalents and free translation are discussed as the effective translation strategies in this chapter.In the final chapter, a conclusion of translating political neologisms is given and suggestions for future research in this repect is made.