-
Ethnopoetic Analysis of the Dagbamba Song Riddles
Mohammed Abubakari Rashid
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
59-67
Received:
17 April 2020
Accepted:
19 May 2020
Published:
8 June 2020
Abstract: This paper discusses the song riddle (Tuya duɣibu) among the Dagbamba in the Northern Region of Ghana. Data for this study were taken from recordings of interviews as well as native speaker intuition and analyzed within the theoretical framework of Jacobson’s Ethnopoetic Theory. The paper shows that the Dagbamba song riddle has the antecedent and a response as its parts. I show in the paper that the Dagbamba song riddles have alliteration and pilling as a repetitive pattern. Again, the paper shows that the dominant ratio of the number of elements (elements pattern) employed in the Dagbamba song riddle performance of both the antecedents and the responses is 2:2. It is also shown in the paper that there is no syllabic equivalence in the Dagbamba song riddle, but short and open syllables are most prominently employed in both the song riddle antecedents and responses. Also shown in this paper is the opening formula. The song riddle is peculiar because, apart from it being sang as a song, it is also accompanied with gestures and dance during its enactment. As a relationship, the Dagbamba song riddle cautions the Dagbamba society against divorce didactically. The paper serves as a way of documenting the knowledge of literature and augmenting the existing knowledge of literature among the Dagbamba since modernity is seen as a threat to Dagbamba folklore.
Abstract: This paper discusses the song riddle (Tuya duɣibu) among the Dagbamba in the Northern Region of Ghana. Data for this study were taken from recordings of interviews as well as native speaker intuition and analyzed within the theoretical framework of Jacobson’s Ethnopoetic Theory. The paper shows that the Dagbamba song riddle has the antecedent and a...
Show More
-
"What Makes You Beautiful"--Analysis of Translation Strategies on Cosmetic Brands from Perspective of Marketing
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
68-74
Received:
11 June 2020
Accepted:
2 July 2020
Published:
6 July 2020
Abstract: As a result of the economic globalization, as meanwhile, the development of Chinese economy and the improvement of people’s living standards, skincare products have become necessity. A large amount of skincare products from all over the world poured into our market, which is the communicative tool among different languages as well as the key to the market, instructions of skin-care products has become more crucial, thus much attention is also attached to their translations. A powerful brand identity of a cosmetic product is critical, because it can determine whether the product can survive the competition or be knocked out. Foreign skincare merchants have cudgeled their brains for earning money here. Obviously, translation of the brands should be a priority. The study attempts to explore the translation strategies of European and American cosmetic brands through case study, which aims to help cosmetic products achieve successful marketing in Chinese market. As meanwhile, the translation strategies also be discussed the cosmetic products’ special efficacy and conclude principles of translating European and American cosmetic brands to realize successful marketing in China.
Abstract: As a result of the economic globalization, as meanwhile, the development of Chinese economy and the improvement of people’s living standards, skincare products have become necessity. A large amount of skincare products from all over the world poured into our market, which is the communicative tool among different languages as well as the key to the...
Show More
-
Ideological Manipulation in English Translation of Chinese Children’s Literature: Case Studies
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
75-78
Received:
7 August 2020
Accepted:
17 August 2020
Published:
25 August 2020
Abstract: It is widely accepted that translation is a form of rewriting and it is also true for children’s literature. Translation reflects a certain degree of ideological manipulation of the source text in order to either conform to the norms of the target culture or serve some ideological purposes. Since children's literature usually performs both didactic and pedagogical functions, ideological manipulation on children's literature translation is even more significant. Drawing on two English translations of Chinese children’s literature works, this article shows how ideology, cultural ideology to be specific, drives the adaptation and rewriting in translation. In source and target cultures, different norms of adult-child co-sleeping lead to the cover substitution for the picture book A New Year’s Reunion and different norms of father-daughter bond triggers plot adaptation for the adolescent fiction Bronze and Sunflower. The article further points out that conforming to target culture and considering target readers’ tolerance are principal contributors to the success of these two books in western world. Under the background of Chinese children's literature going global, this article attempts to shed some light on Chinese-to-English translation practice of children’s literature.
Abstract: It is widely accepted that translation is a form of rewriting and it is also true for children’s literature. Translation reflects a certain degree of ideological manipulation of the source text in order to either conform to the norms of the target culture or serve some ideological purposes. Since children's literature usually performs both didactic...
Show More
-
Risks and Strategies of News Translation: A Case Study of Qingting English APP
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
79-84
Received:
8 August 2020
Accepted:
20 August 2020
Published:
27 August 2020
Abstract: English learning platforms in China are increasingly popular among students. More features are developed and a wide range of contents are included to serve the diverse need of English learners. Despite the increasing amount and diversity of contents, its quality varies. This research discusses some problems and strategies of news translation from English to Chinese. Samples are all taken from one English learning platform, Qingting English APP, with source text from news media such as VOA, CNN and BBC, and target text provided by the platform. These major problems emerged during our study: 1) Some contents involving ideological differences are not treated properly in translation; 2) Many complex informative sentences are poorly translated; 3) Source news are sometimes incorrectly transcribed, leading to mistaken translation. By analyzing some possible risks of the existing problems, this study, in light of the risk management framework, provided some applicable strategies to achieve better translation for learners using Qingting APP. Firstly, it is advisable to avoid the potential risks by omitting/ rewriting some extremely controversial content, or to transfer the risk to other sources than the platform by marking/labeling the strongly biased report. Secondly, domestication strategy is preferable in translating English complex sentences into Chinese since it minimizes the communication risk between translators and target learners. Thirdly, a responsible translator is advised to fix errors of the source audio/text to exactly comprehend the original news so as to reduce the uncertainty risk.
Abstract: English learning platforms in China are increasingly popular among students. More features are developed and a wide range of contents are included to serve the diverse need of English learners. Despite the increasing amount and diversity of contents, its quality varies. This research discusses some problems and strategies of news translation from E...
Show More
-
Review on Domestic Lin Shu’s Translation Studies in the First Decade of New Century
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
85-88
Received:
31 July 2020
Accepted:
17 August 2020
Published:
3 September 2020
Abstract: As one of the most representative translators on foreign literature in late Qing China, Lin Shu and his foreign novel translations have attracted much attention in the academic field even in nowadays. With the special social background in the late Qing, Lin Shu gradually shifted his focus from western political and historical works to novels in order to express his opinions better. In this study, it will be generalized the domestic research on Lin’s translation activity in the first decade of 21thcentury, which research can be divided into at least four categories, such as the study of Lin’s translation ontology problem, discussion of cultural factors of his translations, influential phenomenon of his novel translations and the comparative study on Lin’s foreign literature translations. Therefore, the typical case study which points out the various research paradigms as while as further possible avenues of researchon domestic Lin Shu’s translation studies in the future.
Abstract: As one of the most representative translators on foreign literature in late Qing China, Lin Shu and his foreign novel translations have attracted much attention in the academic field even in nowadays. With the special social background in the late Qing, Lin Shu gradually shifted his focus from western political and historical works to novels in ord...
Show More
-
Cognitive-Pragmatic Strategies for English Translation of Colloquial Metaphors in Political Discourse
Chen Yulian,
Zhang Yingxian
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
89-95
Received:
21 August 2020
Accepted:
1 September 2020
Published:
25 September 2020
Abstract: The colloquial metaphor is a distinguishing feature of Chinese political discourse. Relevance theory of cognitive pragmatics is instructive and significant for the English translation of colloquial metaphors in political discourse, according to which, in the process of metaphor translation, the translator is supposed to take into consideration the cognitive context and pragmatic-communicative intention of the author, and also the cognitive environment of the target readers. Taking the Chinese an
Abstract: The colloquial metaphor is a distinguishing feature of Chinese political discourse. Relevance theory of cognitive pragmatics is instructive and significant for the English translation of colloquial metaphors in political discourse, according to which, in the process of metaphor translation, the translator is supposed to take into consideration the ...
Show More
-
The Dominant Cognitive Processing Route in Literary and Subtitle Translation: A Case Study of Wolf Totem
Xiaodong Liu,
Xiangyan Zhou
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
96-102
Received:
8 September 2020
Accepted:
19 September 2020
Published:
30 September 2020
Abstract: This article draws on a neurofunctional theory of bilingual processing and its application to translation to investigate the dominant cognitive processing route in the literary and subtitle translation and also differences of the dominant patterns between the two translation modes, specifically those involving Chinese-English language pairs. This general investigation has two specific aims: 1) to extract the translation strategy patterns at the textual level and 2) to determine the dominant processing route at the cognitive level by linking the strategies to processing routes. Building on naturalistic translational data, a bilingual corpus was self-built; the linguistic features of the translated products were analyzed. The current study analyzes the renderings of Chinese culture-specific items into English. The results suggest that the dominant processing pattern can be identified in both the literary and subtitle translation. Moreover, based on the empirical evidence, it is found that the meaning-based processing route dominates both literary and subtitle translation. This article concludes that the contextual-intentional-conceptual system handles culture-specific concepts through conceptual mediation, which is required in the translation process due to contextual and pragmatic factors. The issue of cognitive processing routes that may take place in the translator’s brain is of significance to translation process research specifically and translation studies in general.
Abstract: This article draws on a neurofunctional theory of bilingual processing and its application to translation to investigate the dominant cognitive processing route in the literary and subtitle translation and also differences of the dominant patterns between the two translation modes, specifically those involving Chinese-English language pairs. This g...
Show More
-
Metaphor Translation in the English Version of Bronze and Sunflower
Issue:
Volume 6, Issue 3, September 2020
Pages:
103-108
Received:
14 September 2020
Accepted:
27 September 2020
Published:
30 September 2020
Abstract: Metaphor, which is ubiquitous in children’s literature, has always been a difficult point in understanding and translating. Therefore, the choice of metaphor translation strategies varies much for person to person. This article explores metaphor translation in Wang’s version of Bronze and Sunflower, which aims to provide reference for the future translating Chinese children’s literature through the analysis of metaphor translation strategies in excellent award-winning translation. In order to retain to the greatest extent the unique conceptions, designs, styles, techniques, flavors and cultural implications of the original metaphors, Wang gives priority to metaphor foreignization by which transplantation of images and mapping modes from source domain to target domain can be successfully achieved on the basis of the overlap zone of understanding between the source text (ST) readers and the target text (TT) readers. However, due to the great differences between the two languages and cultures as well as the consideration for child readers, metaphor domestication and partial even complete metaphor omission should be resorted to in order to make the sense and functions of the original metaphors accessible to TT readers. At the same time, it is also worthy of attention that the abandonment of metaphors, caused by the translator’s misunderstanding of some local culture, customs or/and shortage of the relevant knowledge about the connotations of the original metaphors, leads to the loss of unique thinking style, emotional characteristics and aesthetic implication behind the original language. It is concluded that high-quality translation reflects in the choice of the strategies of metaphor translation which depends on the translator’s comprehensive understanding of the source text, translation objectives, the manipulation on the basis of the translator’s own views on children’s literature translation.
Abstract: Metaphor, which is ubiquitous in children’s literature, has always been a difficult point in understanding and translating. Therefore, the choice of metaphor translation strategies varies much for person to person. This article explores metaphor translation in Wang’s version of Bronze and Sunflower, which aims to provide reference for the future tr...
Show More
