Punctuation Shift And Translation Strategy Of Double-dashes In English-chinese Translation

As a unique marker for parenthesis,double-dashes can be frequently found in both English and Chinese writing.When adopted within a sentence,dashes in pair serve to separate parenthesis from other clauses,allowing parenthesis an independent structure as one of the significant means for an author to express ideas and emotions.However,the functions of double-dashes are usually underestimated in translation,with their presences in English either simply copied or dropped in Chinese.Such "labor-saving behaviors"undermine the functions of double-dashes,create incoherent and awkward Chinese,and even risk semantic losses.The author of the present study approaches double-dashes in their various forms and analyzes their functions in English samples that are collected from the translation material.Based on the consensus among relevant scholars on the cohesion effect of punctuation,the present study attempts to classify the cohesion functions of double-dashes into seven types according to semantic relations that double-dashes embody in the English sentence.The study moves a step further by exploring the role of logical connectors in double-dashes shift during E-C translation,which is expected to inspire a new perspective in this regard for future practices.Meanwhile,the author summarizes five strategies for double-dashes shift in dealing with translation samples.All of the efforts could conceivably benefit double-dashes shift from English to Chinese.