Keywords: transliteration and loan translation of loanwords
English is the most widely used language in the world today. With the increasing frequency of China's foreign exchanges, there are more and more loanwords from English, especially in the new period of China's reform and opening up. The multi-level and multi-channel communication between Chinese and foreign cultures provides various conditions for vocabulary borrowing. The success of China's entry into WTO has also prompted more English words to enter our lives. As Sapir, a famous American linguist, said, "The simplest influence of one language on another is to borrow words. As long as there is cultural lending, it is possible to borrow relevant vocabulary. "
I. Contents of English Loanwords
Many English loanwords absorbed by Chinese are words closely related to daily life. The pace of modern life is accelerating, new things and products are constantly emerging, and the absorption of foreign words can be clearly reflected.
1. 1 Diet: Green food, KFC, McDonald's, buffet, milkshake, hot dogs, cheese, toast, salmon. Sardines, sauce, sirloin steak, bacon, instant coffee, a can of beer, Sprite, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, soft drinks.
1.2 Wear: jeans, miniskirt, bikini, sports jacket (double pendulum). Daily necessities: contact lenses, shampoo, Simmons, lacquerware, mosaics, Teflon.
1.3 means of transportation: turbo train, airbus, ATV (open space vehicles can travel on all terrain), etc. In addition, there are saunas, sunbathing, shops, supermarkets, SOS children's villages, Viagra, AIDS and so on, all of which are closely related to modern life.
1.4 Art, entertainment and sports: jazz music, soap opera, acid rock, big beat, jazz rock, disco, break dance, The Beatles, spice girls' group, party, MTV (music video), background music, Disney Land, yo-yo, NBA, hula hoop, bowling, golf, assembly and water ballet.
Second, the Chinese translation methods of loanwords
In order to enter the Chinese vocabulary system, loanwords must be reformed in pronunciation, grammar and word formation rules to conform to Chinese pronunciation habits, grammar and vocabulary rules. Monosyllabic and hieroglyphics in Chinese make the transformation of loanwords in Chinese more complicated, unique and creative than loanwords between western languages. To sum up, there are several ways to use loanwords in Chinese:
2. 1 transliteration: Translate loanwords with Chinese characters with similar pronunciations. This Chinese character used for transliteration no longer has its own original intention, but only retains its pronunciation and writing form. Punks such as: Cool, Disco, OPEC, TOEFL, Yuppie, Teflon, Bikini, Eureka, Beatles, Lacquerware, Mummy.
2.2 Half-tone and half-meaning: This method is mainly used to synthesize loanwords, which are divided into two categories. First of all, transliteration is used in the first half and free translation is used in the second half, such as hula hoop, ice cream, Internet, Dowling paper and Downing Street. The other is free translation in the first half and transliteration in the second half, such as: culture shock, water ballet, milkshake and so on.
2.3 transliteration with Chinese morphemes: monosyllabic and disyllabic translation words with Chinese morphemes are most commonly used: one is transliteration with Chinese morphemes, such as Carnival (Carnival+Club), Golf (Golf+Ball), Bowling (Bowling+Ball), Sauna+Bath, Rally (Rally+Game). The other is Chinese morphemes plus transliteration morphemes, such as taxi, minibus, CMB, and bar. Some transliteration morphemes represent an English word, while others represent some morphemes. Some Chinese morphemes are root morphemes and some are affix morphemes.
2.4 Both sound and meaning: that is, choose Chinese characters with similar meanings to foreign words for transliteration. There are many homophones in Chinese, which provides convenience for translation and word selection. Part or all of sound and meaning are considered. Such as: Xerox, shampoo, absinthe, shopping malls, etc. As an ideographic character, Chinese has a strong aesthetic significance, and the selected Chinese characters can often arouse people's association. In the United States, there is a kind of cosmetics called Revlon, which is skillfully translated as "Revlon". The word "Revlon" is taken from a sentence in the famous poem "Three Chapters of Qingpingdiao" by the poet Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty, which describes Yang Guifei's beauty and beauty: "Clouds want to dress and flowers, and spring breeze blows Revlon. If it weren't for Yushantou, I would meet Yaotai under the moon. " This translation method can be called domestication with both sound and meaning, and it can be called the best of both worlds, which embodies the unique sinicization processing function of Chinese absorbing foreign words.
2.5 Borrowing translation: Literal translation according to the morphological structure and word formation principle of loanwords. For example: Superman, superstar, supermarket, nanotechnology, millennium bug, hotline, cold war, green card, emotional intelligence, etc.
2.6 English letters with Chinese characters: CT examination, BP machine, T-shirt, IC card, PHS telephone, SOS children's village, 3s seminar, ABC principle, OA disease, BB baby, 5A office, ABC revolution, ZTZF study, etc.
2.7 English abbreviations or words: CD, VCD, DVD, DOS, TV, MTV, PC, BOT, CD-ROM, DNA, GRE, Windows98, cute, etc.
From the examples listed above, it is not difficult to see that the number of loanwords is increasing in the new period, and the borrowing forms of loanwords have also made some breakthroughs, which are mainly manifested in the six or seven forms mentioned above, that is, the combination of English letters and Chinese characters or English words and even the whole world are directly moved into Chinese and put into circulation in one step. On the one hand, the appearance of these two borrowing forms shows that the contact between Chinese and English has reached the state of "you have me and I have you", which shows that the English level of China people has generally improved and the tolerance of Chinese for foreign words is strengthening; On the other hand, it also shows that some foreign words are really difficult to translate into concise Chinese. This new form of loanwords is concise and lively, full of exotic customs, which can greatly shorten the process of foreign language information entering Chinese. The emergence and existence of these two new forms of lending is very necessary and has certain positive significance, and we should take a compromise and tolerant attitude towards this.
Thirdly, the borrowing direction of loanwords and its influence on the cultural psychology of contemporary China people.
Judging from the flow of loanwords in recent ten years, many new loanwords in Chinese were introduced from the most open areas such as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and then gradually entered the vocabulary system of Putonghua. For example, "talk show" is a TV talk show, which was first popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan. At present, we often see this kind of translation in newspapers and periodicals. The original meaning of "shopping center" is "shopping center in large pedestrian area" Some big shopping malls in Shanghai began to apply this name. The English definition of "mortgage" is "loan agreement, especially". So as to buy a house, so as to mortgage the house or land to the lender until the money is paid off ",meaning" house mortgage loan ". "Mortgage" is a transliteration of Cantonese. The transliteration of the word "mortgage" is simpler than the free translation, which is quite innovative, has advertising effect and is internationally used, so the mainland follows the example of Taiwan Province Province. Our traditional national cultural psychology always shows a tendency when absorbing foreign words, that is, rejecting simple transliteration words and being willing to accept free translation or partial free translation. However, under the new historical conditions, people's traditional concepts are increasingly updated, and they are more inclined to accept purely transliterated words, so the number of transliterated words has increased rapidly.
To sum up, the frequent use of English loanwords reflects the rapid and comprehensive intervention of western culture, which has penetrated into every corner of China's cities and villages. In the new period of reform and opening up, loanwords in English have not only changed quantitatively, but also made a qualitative leap. In the past, it was unthinkable for Chinese to borrow foreign words intact, which shows that the inherent psychology of word formation has undergone some gratifying changes in the absorption of foreign words. People are actively absorbing and digesting foreign new words with a more open mind and global village consciousness. "Neologisms are the product of society, and which is better or worse should be tested by society. It takes time to decide whether to stay or not. Over time, some will be short-lived, and some will enter the common core of language.
References:
Sapir. E. language New york: Hackett Blaise, 1927.
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