A Discussion on the Translation Methods Employed in the English-Chinese Bilingual News in The Lianhe Bao

• Main Authors: Yang Hui, 楊惠如
• Other Authors: Ruey-shan Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/91873854390963368278

碩士 === 國立高雄第一科技大學 === 應用英語所 === 98 === Abstract In the wake of globalization, there is an increasing amount of news paper readers in Taiwan eager to obtain updated international news for a great variety of purposes. In this regard, the leading Chinese-language news publishers in Taiwan, The Lianhe bao, The Ziyou shibao, and The Gongshang shibao, have begun to put more weight on international events by offering English-Chinese bilingual news to cater to the needs of local readers. In addition, English-Chinese bilingual news is also available in the English-language news papers, including China Post, Taipei Times, and Taiwan News. However, their Chinese translations of news seem to focus more on the function of bilingual language-acquisition than the professional journalistic writing style required in the Chinese language; as a result, “transaltioneseness” is often found in their Chinese news translations. The function of being informative is one of the foundations of the media; therefore, Chinese translations in the bilingual news should be as precise, clear, concrete, and readable as if they were originally written in Chinese. Once the quality of Chinese translations is enhanced, they would gain more readers longing for updated global information, other than those studying for language-acquisition. As The Lianhe bao is currently affiliated with The New York Times for its weekly publication of the English-Chinese bilingual news, The Lianhe bao’s English-Chinese bilingual news is chosen as the subject for my study. Currently in Taiwan, there are limited research sources discussing bilingual news translation, and most of them are on various technical problems in news translation, being short of the application of translation theoretical perspectives. In my thesis, in addition to these translation techniques used in The Lianhe bao, I apply the theoretical framework, such as “text type theory,” “translatorial action theory,” and “skopos theory” in translation studies, to the evaluation of bilingual renderings, with the cultural and syntactical aspects being the foci. For the cultural aspect, I examine the appropriateness of their methodologies in light of cross-cultural transfer, such as the free translation, the transliteral translation, the literal translation, the method of replacement, and the combination of different methods, with which the translators deal with neologisms and idioms found in this bilingual news section. For the syntactical aspect, I examine how the translators tackle the difference in positioning modifying clauses between the English and the Chinese languages, and the methods applicable for converting the English passive voice to the Chinese idiomatic usage of the active and passive voices. It is hoped that my thesis can make a modest contribution to applied translation studies, especially in the area of the English-Chinese bilingual news.