On the Translation of English Loan Words

1、on the translation of english loan words abstract: loan words, are also known as foreign words, or borrowed words. many scholars have done researches on the translation of loan words, but there are still some confusion phenomenon about it. based on the summary of former reseachers, this paper analyz

2、es the translation of loan words from three aspects: background, principles, and techniques of translation. in chapter 1, this paper analyses background of the translation of loan words, in order to make the reader get an general idea about it. in chapter 2, it demonstrates principles of the transla

3、tion of loan words to make the translation more standard. in chapter 3, it introduces techniques which can be applied in translating new loan words, namely: transliteration, free translation, partial tone, transliteration and paraphrase, and participation of foreign words. the study of these three a

4、spects aims to standardize the translation of loan words, accordingly to promote the development of chinese language.key words: loan words, principle, translationintroduction: with the development of science and technology, there are more and more culture exchanges between different nations, especia

5、lly language mergence. language is the carrier of culture, and vocabulary is the most active part of language, so borrowing words is an inevitable linguistic phenomenon in communication between different cultures. loan words, also called foreign words, or borrowed words, have existed in chinese for

6、a long time. in chinese there are a large number of loan words borrowed from english, which concern almost any field of the social life. there are many ways to classify loan words from many aspects. in this thesis, the writer classifies loan words, in accordance with the fields in which they are use

7、d, into four types: 1.loan words concerning science and technology; 2.loan words concerning literature, sports and arts; 3.loan words concerning polities and economy; 4.loan words concerning peoples daily life. loan words have greatly enriches chinese vocabulary, promoting the development of chinese

8、 language. they also provided native speakers of chinese language with new information and broadened their vision. loan words are introduced into chinese from foreign languages. during the process of this introduction, translation is the only channel. good translation of loan words is very significa

9、nt, so the study of the translation of loan words is of great significance in both theory and practice. in theory, it is an indispensable part of the translation theory and lexicology, and can facilitate the study of sociology and cultural psychology. in practice, such research can help us understan

10、d what theoretical principles we should observe and what techniques we can employ according to specific contexts and situations in translating loan words. although the practice of translation has existed for a long time, its translation theory is still a new field for us to probe into. therefore, re

11、cently the translation of loan words has always been the problem that receives great attention from translators, linguists and experts in many subjects. in this paper, the author studies the techniques of translation of loan words, which are respectively, transliteration, free translation, partial t

12、one, transliteration and paraphrase, and participation of foreign words, in order to find a reliable and operable standard and direction for the translation of new loan words.1 introduction of loan words before going into the loan word translation, it is essential for us to make a clear definition o

13、f loan word, and have a review on previous literatures concerning loan words, so as to get an overall idea of this field.1.1 definition of loan words according to the dictionary, “loan words” can be defined as “words of one language taken into another and naturalized” (websters new world college dic

14、tionary, the third edition: 1995). however, on the definition of loan words, linguists differ from one another. there are mainly two groups of opinions:some linguists in one group (such as gao mingkai，wang li) hold that, strictly speaking, words whose sound and meaning are borrowed from another nati

15、on namely phonetic loan are loan words. that is, only phonetic loans are regarded as loan words.however, others (such as deng dian, lu shuxiang, pan yunzhong) agree that, there was once a time when we adopted a number of new words from foreign languages through language transplantation, these new wo

16、rds are known as loan words or borrowings. loan words refer to the words which are borrowed from another nation (both at home and abroad). in another way, both phonetic loans and translated loans are loan words.“languages, like culture, are rarely sufficient unto themselves.”(sapir 1921:205)1. so do

17、 words. the writer prefers shi youweis idea, loan words which are“foreign”, borrowed into chinese from other languages and denoting things of different cultures. they are first invented and connected with conceptions and meanings by other nations people. and it is that they who give the special form

18、s, speech form or grapheme form or both, to these words. after borrowed into chinese, they undergo changes of various degrees in both speech and grapheme form, and are assimilated into chinese language, and finally become chinese words. (shi youwei, 1991:1)2.1.2 types of loan wordsthere are a large

19、number of loan words borrowed from english into chinese, which concern almost every field of social life. they are quite familiar to people, and people could speak or write with them freely. since loan words concern almost every field of social life, they can be classified from different viewpoints.

20、 if they are grouped in the light of the donor languages, there are loan words translated from english, french, japanese, russian, etc. according to whether they come into chinese directly or via other languages, they can also be classified into two typesloan words directly borrowed into chinese and

21、 loan words indirectly into chinese. moreover, not all the loan words are borrowed into chinese at the same time. so we can classify them according to the time when they are borrowed in, though, for various reasons, it is quite difficult to decide the exact time when those words began to be used in

22、chinese. here, the writer classifies them into four types: 1. loan words concerning science and technology, such as: 硅谷(silicon valley)、克隆(clone)、试管婴儿(test-tube baby)、dna (脱氧核糖核酸) etc. 2. loan words concerning literature, sports and arts，such as: 安琪儿(angel)、拉力赛(rally)、探戈(tango)、卡通(cartoon)、爵士乐(jazz)

23、、浪漫(romance)、保龄球(bowling)、局点(game point) etc . 3. loan words concerning politics and economy, such as: 白宫(white house)、有色人种(colored people)、信用卡( credit card )、opec (organization of petroleum exporting countries) etc. loan words concerning peoples daily life, such as: 沙发 (sofa)、色拉油(salad oil)、霓虹灯(neo

24、n)、超市(super market)、比基尼(bikini)、 芒果(mango)、可口可乐( coca-cola)、 mtv (music tv) etc.1.3 history of translation of loan word in the history of chinese language development, the entering of loan words into chinese language on a large scale started as early as han dynasty when buddhism was introduced into

25、china. at the end of the 16th century, li zhizao and xu guangqi started to translate and edit books on western science and technology from european language into chinese. since the 19th century, many words which are borrowed in from english into chinese continuously merged when a large number of wes

26、tern books on natural science and social science have been translated into chinese. because there were many revolutions in china, such as the may 4th movement, more and more loan words came from english into chinese, along with the flourish of translation activities and journalism.since chinas refor

27、m and opening up to the world and its entrance of wto, the number of loan words from english into chinese tremendously increased. many books which concern loan words appeared, such as the first dictionary ,exclusively devoted to loan words-外来词词典，was compiled by hu xingzhi(胡行之) in 1936.then in 1958,

28、gao mingkai(高名凯) and liu zhengyan(刘正琰) studied the significance of loan words in intercultural communication, in the book a research in the loan words in modern chinese现代汉语外来词研究.shi youwei(史有为) in his book loan wordsthe carrier of foreign culture makes a cultural study of loan words in chinese and a

29、ttempts to identify the source language from which loan words are borrowed, and so on.2 principles of translation of loan words all translators, whether consciously or unconsciously, base their work on certain principles of translation. so do the translation of loan words. however, principles of tra

30、nslation are of different types which are formulated from different standpoints. when translating loan words from english into chinese, we must follow some principles.2.1 in accordance with chinese language habitsthe development and changes of loan words are restricted to the inner regular pattern o

31、f language system. at first, loan words from english into chinese must follow the characters of chinese pronunciation and rules of chinese word-formation. modern chinese tends to disyllable words, it is better to avoid using polysyllabic words when translate. a convey shows that, there are 100 disyl

32、lables, in the 120 famous trademarks, covering 78 percent; monosyllables are 7, covering 5.5 percent; polysyllables are 21, covering 16.5 percent. so if the translated nouns are too long, they should be shortened. such as, “巴勒斯坦解放阵线”，shortened into “巴解”.what is more, we should make the translation a

33、s accurate as possible, and try to use the same characters which have been translated in other fields, especially those english proper nouns. for example, fast food “ kentucky”, whose translation must be the same as the place of “肯塔基” in america. only in this way, can we avoid the disordered phenome

34、non.at last, when translate foreign things or concepts, we should not use uncommon chinese characters, just as “stock” ,whose translation is “斯多克”, should be replaced by “股票”.2.2 established things by usageevery people has its certain custom or usage which are widely accepted, especially some people

35、s names and place names. though some loan words which have been translated from english into chinese did not follow the rules of translation, they have been accepted by chinese. in order to avoid the disorder of translation names, we should keep them in chinese, though they are not accurate. for ins

36、tance, the capital of russia ，“莫斯科”(“moscow”) is translated from english, if we translate it from russian language, it should be“莫斯克娃”(“mockba”). however , the former“莫斯科” is established by common usage. so if we speak or write with“莫斯克娃”, people will be confused, and it will make the translation of

37、 loan words more complicated. the same as “福尔摩斯”, which is originated from“holmes”. almost every chinese know that it is the hero of conan doyles fiction, but if it is“霍姆斯”, few people will know, though its chinese pronunciation is similar with its english pronunciation.2.3 adaptation to original na

38、mesadaptation to original names means that the translation of loan words from different languages should follow the source languages rules. for instance, “catherine”, if it is a russian, it should be translated into “叶卡捷琳娜”；if it is a french, it should be “卡特琳”. a british, it should be“凯瑟琳”. another

39、 example,“elizabeth”, if it is a russian, it should be“叶利扎维塔”. a british, it should be“伊丽莎白”.2.4 in accordance with chinese cultural psychologycultural psychology can not be ignored when we are translating loan words. the “life” of loan words is depended on its level of “chinesization”, however, in

40、the process of “chinesization”, they not only should follow the rules of chinese cultural psychology. chinese people advocates harmony and stability, they believe in fortune. for instance, “aids” is the acronym of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. when the word was borrowed into chinese in 1980s,

41、 there are several forms corresponding to it, such as“爱之病”,“爱滋病”, and “艾滋病”，among which the most influential one is“爱滋病”. but in chinese character “爱”means love; “滋”,develop, thus the form“爱滋病”,by implication, may be taken to mean that the disease is caused by love. obviously, it is misleading, beca

42、use the disease is actually caused by the infection of the virus called htlv-3, which may be infected through many routes, such as blood transfusion, saliva, sweet and sexual relation, etc. in order to avoid misunderstanding, the ministry of public health of china decrees that the formal form of the

43、 loan word be“艾滋病” and abolishes other forms.another example, there are many chinese characters express the meaning of happiness, such as “命”，“灵”，“宁”and“定” in the translation of medicine. they are all the result of chinese people psychology of seeking safety and happiness. for instance,“维他命”，“可乐宁”an

44、d“宝宝一贴灵”. even the american exam which is hold every year , toefl, is translated into“托福”. many teenagers hold that, to go abroad, they have to pass the toefl, which is important for them. they lay their wishes on it , hoping that their future will be bright , so the character “福” appears.according

45、with chinese cultural psychology in translation is the most important one in business. it is said that ,“gold lion ”, the original translation was “金狮”，but the products sold not very well. managers could not find out the reason. later ,they found that “金狮” (pronounced as “jn sh”) is similar with chi

46、nese “尽失”(pronounced as “jn sh”), so it became “金利来” in the technique of the transliteration and paraphrase, and its literal meaning was that profits came into the company constantly. from then on, the products sold well. so whatever the loan words are, to some extent, translators should consider th

47、at translated words should be in accordance with the psychology of seeking good luck and happiness.3. techniques of translation of loan wordssince there are so many loan words borrowed from english into chinese, translation is necessary. but if something has been translated and represented in proper

48、 words in our chinese language, it is not necessary to borrow words from other languages. so when we translate loan words from english into chinese, we should pay more attention to this problem. when it is really necessary, here the writer introduces five techniques of translation: 1.transliteration

49、, 2.free translation, 3.partial tone, 4.transliteration and paraphrase, 5.participation of foreign words. they must be correctly and flexibly applied according to different contexts and situations and they are complementary.3.1 transliterationtransliteration technique means translating by writing a

50、foreign word in the characters of the chinese language. this technique is usually applied in translating some special nouns, including peoples names and place names. such as: “阿尔卑斯山脉”(originated from“the alps”)、奥林匹克(originated from“olympic”)、克林顿(originated from“clinton”)and so on. moreover, when new

51、 things or ideas are introduced into china, it is better to translate them in transliteration technique. for there is no similar things or ideas with other countries in china, it is much easier to accept the new things. for instance:“沙发”(originated from“sofa”,a kind of furniture).when “沙发”was first

52、invented, people could easily understand what it is, the same as: “布丁” (originated from “pudding”, a kind of dessert) and “摩登” (originated from“modern”, meaning “fashionable”) etc.as we all know, chinese and english have great differences in the phonological systems, and homophonic characters and wo

53、rds. therefore, it is impossible to make the pronunciations of the transliteration chinese loan words completely identical with those of their english originals, and an english word is quite likely to be transliterated into more than one chinese loan words. in addition, there are much more morphemes

54、 than syllables in chinese, and a chinese character is the combination of pronunciation, form and meaning. it is difficult to decide to select which character to express the same loan word borrowed from english. such as, “clone”could be translated into“克隆”、“刻龙”、“渴龙”。according to english-chinese dict

55、ionary: “clone, n.无性(繁殖)系”. here, the writer hold that“克隆”.what is more, chinese language is very complicated, for china is a large country, and there are so many dialects that people in different areas speak different chinese. however, the differences among different dialect phoneme systems will ca

56、use different transliteration loan words from english into chinese. for example,“sofa”is translated into“沙发”in mainland china, however, in hong kong, it is“梳化”.“talk show”in mainland china, is“脱口秀”,while“脱口骚”in hong kong. people in mainland china will feel confused by “荷里活”and“沙律” when they see them

57、. actually they are just “好莱坞”and “沙拉”in putonghua .in order to avoid the disorder in translation and make the loan words from english into chinese in transliteration more standard, we should translate them in the following ways:firstly, it is flexible in selecting proper chinese characters in trans

58、literation. we should translate loan words from english referring to some dictionaries or tables strictly, so that the translated loan words could be more accurate. 英汉译音表which is published by xinhua press is a good choice. for instance,“oxford”is translated into“牛津”without any argument.secondly, tra

59、nslators should avoid uncommon characters with the technique of transliteration. for example, “suez” was translated into “苏彝士”，however,“彝” was rarely written in peoples daily life, even many never knew it ,so it was changed into “苏伊士”，and has been used up till now.thirdly, omit unobvious syllables in english. / t /、/d /、/ k / are usually omitted when they are at the end of a word, they. for example,“chocolate ”is translated into (“巧克力”), / t / is not p