An Investigation Into The Chinese Cultural Sign "龙" And Its Communicative Effects In The English-Speaking World

Up to date,there has been a huge bulk of discussion on the English translation or interpretation of Chinese cultural sign “龙”,with a seemingly strong tendency toward the belief that ‘dragon’ as an English version of “龙” may distort its original image and in turn defame China to varying degrees.However,most of these studies have arguably come up with speculative or even one-sided views of the issue under discussion in that they may not reflect the overall communicative effects of the Chinese sign in the English-speaking world.With this question in mind,the present study made recourse to the data recorded in COCA and BNC that are related to the Chinese sign “龙”,only to find that a majority of adjectives used to describe “龙” are neutral whereas purely positive or negative ones only take up a very small proportion.According to theories of Cognitive Communication,a piece of new information will be selected and reshaped into a piece of different information on the part of the receiver.The process,however,is influenced by a variety of internal and external factors.Thus,in the case of the Chinese cultural sign “龙”,any generalizations about its communicative effects would be hasty and risky unless these factors were taken into full consideration.In Western religious and literary works,the dragon is an evil creature with wings and blows fire,which may negatively impact English speakers’ impression of Chinese “ 龙 ”.But increased communication between China and the English-speaking countries,to some extent,may change such a stereotypical mode of thinking about the Chinese sign,particularly along with the “Going Global Initiative”,the extensive application of advanced communications technologies,and the attendant group communication.In group communication,the source of new information is unknown,which means that the information from group communication is not so credible.But with the help of interpersonal communication that makes the source of information clearer,the communicative effects of group communication can be magnified.Along this line of reasoning,this study proposes three basic arguments for realizing and enhancing the communicative effects of Chinese cultural signs(e.g.“龙”): in the target culture(1)the source of information should be positioned in terms of the general public in the Englishspeaking world so as to ensure its credibility;(2)recourse should be made to social networks on the internet,including Wechat,Douyin,and You Tube,to create a context of intercultural interpretation;and(3)efforts should be made to localize Chinese cultural signs so as to increase the chances of acceptability on the part of English speakers outside China...It can be concluded that the horizons of intercultural translation should be extended to include a gradual process of group communication or rather intra-group communication,which holds with the international communication of ‘龙’ and other Chinese cultural signs.