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1、 English Translation of Chinese Neologisms from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence功能对等理论观照下的汉语新词英译摘 要词汇是语言各要素当中最活跃的成分，一切新事物的产生都有可能将新的词语带入语言当中，而通过新词我们能看到社会和文化的变化。汉语新词好像一面镜子，可以反映出整个中国的变化。随着中国逐步向世界接轨，中外的交流日益频繁，如何向世界传递中国的日新月异迫在眉睫，因此汉语新词的翻译在其中起着举足轻重的作用。 尽管已经有许多专家学者对汉语新词的英译作出了杰出的贡献，但从研究现状看来，情况并不乐观。
2、由于缺乏理论做支撑，许多翻译质量不高，存在许多问题。因此，本文引用奈达的功能对能理论为汉语新词的英译提供理论指导。论文首先探讨了汉语新词的定义和特点，通过对实际例证的翻译研究证实了功能对等理论对汉语新词的指导意义，并在此理论的指导下提出了实际翻译策略为译者指明方向。文中从权威报纸及期刊中引用了大量最新汉语新词的翻译实例，使论文提供的翻译策略更具实用性和科学性。 关键词：汉语新词；翻译；功能对等；翻译策略English Translation of Chinese Neologisms from the Perspective of Functional EquivalenceAbstractL
3、exicon is the most dynamic factor in language. Any new phenomenon is capable of bringing neologism into language, and through the neologism we are able to observe the changes of society and culture. Chinese neologisms are like a mirror, reflecting the dynamism of the nation as a whole. Since China i
4、s approaching closer to the outside, it is urgent to convey new changes to the world, thus translation of Chinese neologisms becomes an important issue. Though some studies have been dedicated to English translation of Chinese neologisms, the situation in this field is not optimistic. Owing to the a
5、bsence of a theoretical guidance, many translation versions are of low quality, and there are many other problems as well. This thesis aims at providing a theoretical guidance to guide the translation of Chinese neologisms. Thus the author employs Nidas Functional Equivalence as the theoretical basi
6、s for the English translation of Chinese neologisms. The thesis first discusses the definition and characteristics of Chinese neologisms. Then through the study of the translations of neologism samples, the thesis proves that the Functional Equivalence is an effective theory as guidance of the trans
7、lation, and under the guidance of this theory, six practical translation strategies have been proposed. The examples adopted by the thesis are the freshest Chinese neologisms, and the English versions are from authoritative newspapers and journals, which will help to prove the effectiveness and scie
8、ntificity of the strategies suggested by the thesis. Key Words: Chinese neologisms; translation; Functional Equivalence; translation strategiesAcknowledgementsI attribute the completion of my graduate study to many people who have helped me in different ways.To begin with, I would like to express my
9、 heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor for her strict supervision, insightful instructions and patient research guidance in the period of my study, and for her elaborate reading and correcting of the earlier versions of this manuscript. Without her enlightening instruction, this paper would have neve
10、r taken its present form. It is my great fortune to have her as my supervisor.Secondly, my cordial appreciation should be equally extended to all my teachers at College of Foreign Languages of Hunan University. They offered me valuable courses during my study. Their great expertise in translation an
11、d generous encouragement to me inspired me a lot. In the end, I dedicate my thanks to my father who helped me a lot in collecting the materials. Without his help, this study would not have been possible. ContentsPage摘 要IAbstractIIAcknowledgementsIIIList of TablesVIAbbreviationsVII1. Introduction12.
12、Definitions, Origins and Characteristics of Chinese Neologisms32.1 Definitions of Neologism32.2 Origins of Chinese Neologisms42.2.1 Loanwords from Other Languages42.2.2 Coinage52.2.3 Old Forms Acquire New Senses52.2.4 Transferred from Dialects62.2.5 Resumed Old Words and Expressions62.3 The Characte
13、ristics of Chinese Neologisms72.3.1 More Polysyllabic Words72.3.2 Clipping Occurs Frequently72.3.3 Calques Bring More Similar Neologisms82.3.4 More Foreign Acronyms Appear in Chinese Neologisms82.3.5 Culture Loaded83. Nidas Functional Equivalence and Chinese Neologisms Translation103.1 Theoretical B
14、ackgrounds for Functional Equivalence103.2 Functional Equivalence103.2.1 Functional Equivalence in China103.2.2 Functional Equivalence113.2.3 Principles of Achieving Functional Equivalence133.2.4 Functional Equivalence in Chinese Neologisms Translation134. Strategies for Translating Chinese Neologis
15、ms154.1 Literal Translation with Annotation154.2 Adaptations164.3 Interpretative Translation174.4 Back Translation184.5 Analogy194.6 Diversified Translation205. Problems in the Translation of Chinese Neologisms and Their Solutions215.1 Problems in the Translation of Chinese Neologisms215.1.1 Culture
16、 Loss215.1.2 Misunderstanding215.1.3 Ignorance of False Friends225.2 Solutions226. Conclusion24References25Appendix: Selected Chinese Neologisms and Their Translations From 2006-200927List of TablesTable 1: Chinese Neologisms Borrowed from English-4Table 2: Chinese Neologisms Borrowed from Japanese
17、-5Table 3: Chinese Neologisms Borrowed from other languages-5Abbreviations C-E: Chinese to English SL: source languageTL: target languageTT: target textST: source text1. IntroductionLanguage is dynamic. Every day there are new words coming into use in languages and there are many others fading away
18、from lexicon. Chinese, one of the oldest languages in the world, still possesses this dynamism. Language serves as a tool of communication and interaction, thus it reflects the social changes, and meanwhile social changes find their expressions in language, which leads to the advent of neologisms. T
19、he appearances of new inventions, new technologies, new ideas and new social phenomena are capable of bringing neologisms into languages.In the twentieth century, Chinese neologism has undergone three stages: the first stage was from 1919, after the May 4th Movement; the second stage was from the es
20、tablishment of Peoples Republic of China to 1978; the third stage began with the policy of reform and opening-up. Entering into the new century, the development of society has hasted their paces and the communication between centuries becomes more frequent. Language is witnessing the changes. During
21、 recent years, an increasing number of new words has been adopted into Chinese. Therefore, as the translator, he or she shoulders the responsibility of translating the new words properly in order to convey the Chinese culture to other countries, and this has proved to be a great challenge. Though th
22、ere are many dictionaries and handbooks which study Chinese neologisms and the translation of Chinese neologisms, the study of neologism translation is far from enough. This thesis will discuss the translation strategies in order to accomplish the translation of Chinese neologisms efficiently by ado
23、pting the theoretical foundation of Eugene A. Nidas Functional Equivalence. The thesis is divided into six parts. The first part is introduction; the second part focuses on the origins and characteristics of Chinese neologism; the third part puts its emphasis on the theoretical basis-Functional Equi
24、valence, which was proposed by the famous American translation theorist Eugene A. Nida; the fourth part discusses the respective translation strategies under the guidance of the translation theory. The fifth part talks about the existing problems in neologism translation and how to solve these probl
25、ems. Last part is a conclusion of the whole thesis.Neologisms emerged in the new century especially new words of 2008 will be adopted as main examples, because they are endowed with fresher and richer contents and reflect the characteristics of new era more evidently. The examples and their translat
26、ions are quoted mainly from China Daily, Global Times and official translation versions of political documents. This thesis will not specify the respective source of each neologism. 2. Definitions, Origins and Characteristics of Chinese NeologismsAlong with the globalization, the development of soci
27、ety assumes much rapidness; meanwhile, the ubiquity of internet provides a convenient and quick access to exchange information and technology among countries and races. New phenomena and new changes take place every single minute. As what has been mentioned, language is a tool to record changes, whi
28、le lexicon is the most dynamic factor in language. That is why there are numerous new words and expressions being recorded by our language. 2.1 Definitions of NeologismThe increasing number of neologisms rushed into the lexicon, which arouses much interest from society and scholars, and many researc
29、hes have been done in this field. Then, what kind of words can be defined as neologism? As a matter of fact, there are many definitions of neologism from different aspects of view. Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary defines neologism as “newly invented word” (Sixth Edition, 2004); W
30、ebster New International Dictionary of English Language defines it as “the use of a new word or an old word in a new or different sense” (Second Edition, 1958). Peter Newmark, a famous British translation theorist, defined it in his book A Textbook of Translation as “newly coined lexical units or ex
31、isting lexical units that acquire a new sense” (Peter Newmark, 2001:140). In his opinion, “new objects and processes are continually created in technology. New ideas and variations on feelings come from the media. Terms from the social sciences, slang, dialect coming into the mainstream of language,
32、 transferred words, make up the rest” (Peter Newmark, 2001:140) .In China, there are also many scholars dedicated to the study of neologism. Among whom, Mr. Wang Dechun believes that neologism is a complex linguistic phenomenon, and there are many ways to produce neologisms, such as coinage, loanwor
33、ds, calques, the reuse of old words and expressions, neologisms used by writers, derivations, the change of parts of speech, affixes acquiring new meanings and potential words etc. (translated by the author) (Wang Dechun, 1983). Mr. Li Jianguo holds that neologisms are those words which are in accor
34、dance with native language rules and can clearly express the speakers ideas in communication. Although there are many different definitions towards neologisms, most of them discuss the definition of neologisms as a whole, and very few focuses on the definition of Chinese neologisms. In authors opini
35、on, Chinese neologism share most of the features of neologism, but since Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan family of language, it has neither inflectional changes nor affixes. Therefore Chinese neologism can be defined as “newly emerged words that used in Chinese language; they consist of newly invent
36、ed words, loanwords, calques, old lexical units acquiring new senses etc.” It is not easy to draw a definite conclusion of the definition new words, however, the freshness or newness are their common ground, which is, undoubtedly, one of the essential characteristics of neologism. The specific chara
37、cteristics of Chinese neologism will be discussed in latter part of this thesis. 2.2 Origins of Chinese Neologisms2.2.1 Loanwords from Other LanguagesIn 1950s, against a special political background, most of the borrowing words of Chinese were exclusively from Russian. During the recent decades, the
38、 situation has been dramatically altered. As the result of Reform and Opening-up Policy, China interacts with other nations frequently and the old-fashioned ideas towards language undergo evident changes gradually. Chinese assume a more tolerant and healthy attitude towards imported words. The numbe
39、r of borrowed neologisms was largely from English, and Japanese.Examples of new words borrowed from English:基因gene比基尼bikini香波shampoo蓝牙Bluetooth热线hot line猎头hunting headLoanwords from Japanese:人气ningki卡哇伊kawaii料理liyoli卡拉OKkaraokeThere are also many Chinese neologisms borrowed form other languages, suc
40、h as:香槟champagne (French)大厨chef (French)摩丝mousse (French)华氏Fahrenheit (German)2.2.2 Coinage Countless new inventions and new phenomena require specific words to demonstrate respectively, and new words are inevitably produced. These words or expressions often embrace the denotative meaning that peopl
41、e are unfamiliar with, as “入世”(join the WTO), “广交会” (Canton Fair), “网上银行”(electric bank),“福娃”(Fuwa), “拼车”(carpooling) etc. These Chinese neologisms are the result of social progress and scientific development, so the coinages involve not only language, but also social changes. 2.2.3 Old Forms Acquir
42、e New SensesThe society and the universe are relentless changing, but symbols of each language are limited, therefore it is easily observed that an old word endowed with a brand new meaning. The word may acquire new meaning through addition, conversion, narrowing, widening or employing rhetorical de
43、vices. For example, “打酱油” does not have the literal meaning to buy some soy sauce online, but means “passing-by”, it has the denotative meaning that one know something about a particular event, but he or she does not want to be involved in order to be an outsider. E.g. 这和我一点关系都没有，我只是来打酱油的！ (Its none
44、 of my business. I am just passing by. ) Old words with new meanings is a main source of Chinese neologisms. There are other examples, such as “触电”has a new sense which relates to the film circle; “感冒” transfers from “ to catch a cold” to “ to be sensitive to something or someone”; “红包” (red bag) is
45、 used to describe “a secret bribe, cover payment”; “撞” recently has been coordinating with “衫”, to describe the situation when two people wear the same look clothes, and “撞” here has withdrawn its original meaning of physically violent clash. 2.2.4 Transferred from DialectsChina is a nation with ric
46、h varieties of dialects, and each dialect has its particular features. Mandarin Chinese is the official language in China, which was established on the basis of northern dialect, Peking dialect in particular. The lexicon of Mandarin Chinese is in compliment with and closely related to other dialects
47、. By absorbing the words form dialects, standard Chinese becomes more diversified. Beijing is the capital of China, the centre of national politics, commerce and culture, therefore, Beijing dialect is easily transferred into Mandarin Chinese. For example:大款(moneybags), 托儿(decoy), 侃大山(shoot the bull)
48、, 栽面儿(lose face) etc. Cantonese and Shanghai dialects stay at a special status, for its popularity and because the regional economics achieved rapid development. There are many words from these regions being introduced into Mandarin Chinese. For instance, 买单(pay the bill), 入围(being included in some prize), 大排档(roadside stand), 劲歌金曲(hit songs), 派对(party), 打烊(put up the shutters of shop), 嗲(coquettish).Because of the return of Hong Kong and Macao and the cl
