A Diachronic Analysis Of Translation Strategy Of China English Lexis

With the advent of the 21 st Century,the increasingly rapid English globalization has brought about a great range of English varieties with distinct native cultural features.And China English is being widely recognized as an irreversible English variety with the rise of China.In recent years,China's ever-growing international say and cultural confidence promote it to proactively spread traditional culture in external communication.Moreover,in order to build cultural identity and maintain national dignity,translators tend to favor those language forms highlighting Chinese features.Then China English lexis,labeled as the most significant level of English interacting with Chinese,is particularly appropriate to demonstrate this translation preference.This paper attempts to explore the diachronic change of translation strategy of China English lexis and its overseas acceptance by combining literature review and case study.Taking all the China English lexis reported by China Today in last decade(2008-2017)as research object,the author infers the orientation of China Today towards translation strategy through analyzing its application frequency of various translation methods(including transliteration,transliteration with annotation,literal translation,literal translation with annotation,transliteration plus literal translation and free translation).And based on the research result of previous related study(2001-2007),the author summarizes the diachronic change of the translation strategy of China Today.Furthermore,the Corpus of Contemporary American English(COCA)is chosen as the test tool.By comparing the similarities and differences of translation methods and forms used by them both to render Chinese specific items,the author observes the overseas acceptance of China English lexis.The results show that China Today has continued its orientation towards foreignization and more frequently employed transliteration and literal translation over the past ten years.Meanwhile,COCA mainly adopted literal translation for China English lexis and largely increased the use of Chinese Pinyin words.Altogether the high consistency of China Today and COCA in translation strategy proves thatChina English lexis addressed by foreignization strategy is likely to be or being recognized and accepted by readers.So the author believes that in the process of Chinese-English translation for external publicity,we may consider embracing foreignization as the main strategy to deal with Chinese specific items.And it can serve as an effective means for China to gain more say in international affairs.