A Socio-semiotic Approach to the Translation of

Chinese Idioms

By Pai Mengdi

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B.A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

May，2016

Acknowledgements

I would like to express sincere thanks to my supervisor, my parents and my friends who gave me much help for this study.

First of all, my earnest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Mr. Zhang Jinwei, for his continuous advice on my paper. My supervisor gives me much support for the selection of topic, the resources collection, modification to the final version of this paper. Without his consistent instruction, I couldn’t complete my paper to its present form. I am also particularly grateful to him for the quality of persistence that he teaches me.

Special thanks should also go to my friends who have offered their comments on the draft and helped me perfect my paper format.

Last I am deeply grateful to my parents for their support. Their supports are always my driving force to forge ahead.

Contents

Abstract 1

1.Introduction 3

2. Literature Review 3

3.Theoretical Basis of Socio-semiotics Approach 4

3.1 Semiotics and Socio-semiotics 4

3.2 Criteria of the Socio-semiotics Approach to Translation 6

3.2.1 Correspondence in Meaning 6

3.2.2 Similarity in Function 7

3.3 The Advantages of Socio-semiotics Approach to Translation 7

4.Application of Socio-semiotics Approach to the Translation of Chinese Idioms 8

4.1 Translation of Referential Meaning 8

4.2 Translation of Linguistic Meaning 10

4.2.1 Linguistic Meaning on Lexical Level 10

4.2.2 Linguistic Meaning on Syntactic Level 11

4.3 Translation of Pragmatic Meaning 12

4.3.1 Associative Meaning 12

4.3.2 Connotation Meaning 13

5.Conclusion 13

Reference..........................................................................................................................................15

A Socio-semiotic Approach to the Translation of

Chinese Idioms

By Pai Mengdi

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

May, 2016

Abstract: Idiom is an independent and fixed component of language. It is intensive reflection of the national characteristics, the crystal of national culture and human wisdom. The translation of idioms is not only the language shift, but also the transformation of two distinctive cultures. The criterion of “correspondence in meaning” refers to the conformity of referential meaning, linguistic meaning and pragmatic meaning.

This paper discussed the translation of Chinese idioms under the principle of correspondence in meaning and similarity in function from the perspective of socio-semiotics. It is focused on analyzing the translation of referential meaning, linguistic meaning and pragmatic meaning of Chinese idioms. To discuss and analyze the translation of Chinese idioms from socio-semiotics perspective will tightly combine the translation with the social culture and maximally reproduce the main meanings and functions of Chinese idioms. Moreover, socio-semiotics approach analyses translation not only on the level of language, but on such factors as culture, context, register and so on, which will improve the translation research of Chinese idioms on the level of culture and offer a theoretical guidance for the idiom translation.

Key words: Chinese idiom translation, socio-semiotics, referential meaning, linguistic meaning, pragmatic meaning

摘要：习语是某一语言中固定且独立的一部分，是民族特色的主要体现，是民族文化和人类智慧的结晶。翻译汉语习语不仅是语言转换，更是反映不同社会特征的文化转换过程。我们所说的意义相符就是汉英两种语言之间转换时指称意义，言内意义和语用意义的相符。

本文从社会符号学的角度，探讨了在“意义相符，功能相似”的翻译标准下的汉语习语的英译，主要分析了汉语习语的指称意义，言内意义和语用意义翻译。从社会符号学角度下，分析汉语习语的翻译，将翻译和社会文化融为一体，能最大限度的再现习语翻译中的主要意义和功能。它超越了单纯的语言层次上的研究，关注文化，语境等因素，这样可以提高汉语习语的深层文化研究，并且给习语的翻译研究提供了理论方法和支撑。

关键词：汉语习语翻译；社会符号学；指称意义；言内意义；语用意义

1.Introduction

President Xi cited many Chinese idioms in his speeches this year, which produced various English versions in foreign major news media sites. Every English version shows its own understanding of Chinese idioms. As idioms are usually full of distinct images and intensively reflect the figures of speech, we should better translate idioms as accurately as possible in order to avoid misunderstanding. Moreover, with the high pace of globalization, if we want to expand the influence of Chinese culture and let it go globally, we need give great attach to the translation of the fixed expressions to convey the essence and their implied Chinese ancient culture of language.

As idioms belongs to the language sign and are the production of the social environment, socio-semiotics theory is useful for the translation of idioms, and with the guidance of this theory, we can connect the Chinese idioms with the particular social environment and make the translation version with Chinese characteristics. Therefore, I want to research the translation of Chinese idioms from the socio-semiotics perspective in this paper. The structure of my paper is as follows.

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