Meaning, Context And Functional Equivalent Translation Of Examples In English-Chinese Dictionaries

At the very beginning, the production of bilingual dictionary is out of the need of translation, and in turn, translation is the major means of compiling bilingual dictionary. The interaction between translation and bilingual dictionary leads us to a new way to explore the problem of translating examples in the bilingual dictionary. In comparison with monolingual dictionaries, illustrative example plays a more important role in bilingual dictionaries. But the complexity of example translation has been hidden behind the attempt to find equivalents, which sharply reflects the traditional equivalence concept. In view of the importance of examples in a bilingual dictionary and the deficiencies existing in example translation, the thesis aims to probe into the classifications and functions of examples, exploring the uniqueness of example translation and discussing the specific translation principles and strategies.The thesis consists of seven parts. Chapter one is an overview of dictionary translation study, reviewing some significant findings in this field and making it clear that example translation is the focus of the thesis. In chapter two, the author classifies relevant theories on example translation into three categories, namely context in example translation, types and functions of example translation and functional equivalence principle, revealing the unsolved problems of example translation and the main content of the thesis. Chapter three is devoted to a description of the relationship between translation and dictionary, stating the meaning issue that tightly links bilingual dictionary and translation, describing the main content of Meaning-Text Theory and its implication for example translation. Then it goes to illustrate the application of some meaning theories in translation. By comparing example translation respectively with literary translation and lemma translation, the thesis argues that context is the pivotal factor and the characteristics of example translation lie in the contextual insufficiency, the integrity and the headword-based functional equivalence. It also points out the deficiency of traditional concept of equivalence and rebuilds a more scientific one that we can only reach the approximation of object, which is a progress of constant construction. Chapter five probes into the example translation in terms of its types and functions, stressing that functional equivalence is the major principle without which other principles are impossible to come into play. Chapter six is an analysis of the deficiencies in the translation of illustrative example and an application of the guiding principles and strategies. The last part is a conclusion, summarizing the main points and distinctive features of the thesis and points out its limitations.