| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系 === 104 === This study examines how intelligible Taiwan Mandarin slang (TMS) expressions are to Chinese people, how TMS differs from corresponding English slang expressions, and what are the strategies used to translate TMS into English. To this end, a total of 120 Chinese students were recruited to complete questionnaires and ten of them were interviewed to further investigate their understanding of the TMS under examination. In addition, an American translator was also recruited to translate the TMS and provide corresponding English slang expressions for exploring the differences between TMS and English slang expressions. For the analysis of translation strategies, this study employed the translation taxonomy proposed by Pederson (2005).
The findings revealed that most of the TMS were intelligible to the Chinese participants. However, some of them were not understandable to the Chinese participants. On the other hand, the differences between the TMS and the corresponding English slang expressions were categorized into were five aspects concerning: (1) attitudes, (2) stories, (3) celebrities, (4) the local Taiwanese language, and (5) metaphors. Regarding the English translation of the TMS, three strategies used by the American translator were found, including cultural substitution, paraphrase, and annotation,.
The results concerning the intelligibility of the TMS to the Chinese were further interpreted from cultural differences between China and Taiwan. First, some of the TMS were originated from Taiwanese; second, they were associated with Taiwanese culture and background, and third, they were replaced by other expressions more common to Chinese students. This study may be helpful to English teachers, translators, those interested in Taiwanese culture, and those who would like to share TMS expressions in intercultural communication with foreigners.
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