A Comparison Of Translation Of Chinese-specific Words In English And Russian News Reports

Chinese-specific words describe things or phenomena that only exist in China. As communication and exchanges between China and other countries become more frequent, these words are attracting much attention from media home and abroad. For China’s foreign-language media, whose task is to introduce China to the international community, it is important to properly translate Chinese-specific words, so that foreign readers and audience will better understand the Chinese society. In addition, international exchanges nowadays involve various cultures, making it essential to develop news translation in languages other than English.This thesis selects translations of Chinese-specific words from Chinese, English and Russian news reports from Chinese and foreign media. Through comparison of different translations from media, this thesis studies how cultural backgrounds and media ideologies affect translation strategies. The thesis goes on to study the domestication and foreignization strategies used for translating Chinese-specific words, and concludes into following principles that China’s foreign-language media may apply in translating these words in news reports.Domestication can be applied when similar things can be found in the target language culture; when there are sensitive elements in the original words, which may cause misunderstanding among foreign readers; when there’s no particular cultural connotation in the original Chinese-specific words.Foreignization can be applied when there is rich culture load in the words, such as words with use of metaphor, or those that refer to Chinese social or political systems. In such cases, translators should also provide cultural background to help readers understand. This will ensure the accuracy of translation and help promote Chinese culture to the outside world.