On C-E Translation Of Chinese Neologism In Light Of Domestication And Foreignization

Since the beginning of China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, the development of society, science and technology has brought unprecedented changes to this country. All these changes can also be reflected in neologisms. In recent years, the translation of neologisms has drawn a lot of attention. There has been heated discussion about translation of Chinese neologisms in reputed journal Chinese Translation and the website of China Daily. But problems still exist in neologism translation. Mistranslations that ignore the cultural differences and readers are very common to be seen. So it is necessary to do more research about the translation of Chinese neologism to promote the spread of Chinese culture.In this study, definition and characteristics of neologisms are introduced at first, and then the studies on neologisms and their translations are reviewed. Generally speaking, the study has two main findings.(1) Foreignization can be adopted to translate neologisms with specific Chinese culture. In this case, translation methods such as literal translation, literal translation plus annotation, transliteration and transliteration plus annotation are used.(2) Domestication is mainly adopted to translate neologisms that have similar expressions in English and neologisms whose image can cause misunderstandings in target culture. In this case, translation methods such as free translation and substitution are frequently used. In addition, the thesis also finds that some hot neologisms are transliterated even if they have similar expressions in target language. And transliterations of this kind have been recognized by foreigners. This reflects the increasing influence of Chinese language.Both domestication and foreignization have advantages and disadvantages. They are complementary in the translation of Chinese neologisms. Domestication and foreignization should be adopted to spread Chinese culture and increase the intelligibility of translation. The translation examples of this thesis are mainly from famous publicity-oriented media. Translations of Chinese neologism in these media should make a balance between spreading Chinese culture and providing natural readings for target readers. When translators translate Chinese neologisms, different strategies should be properly chosen, and then different methods under the guidance of different strategies can be adopted.