A Study of English Literature Translation from the Perspective of New Media and Cultural Communication

Introduction

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Due to the growing globalization, which has made the world a global village, people from different cultures have to interact freely. These people speak different languages hence the necessity of a common interface that will allow for efficient communication. As a result, many translators have emerged to help people speaking different languages to communicate. China, as one of the major economies in the world, has people from different cultures, with most of them speaking the English language (Lin et al., 2016). It is, therefore, attracted many translators who can translate Chinese to English languages. The translators have enhanced easy interactions in the business sector, enhancing the economic development of the country. For one to master the art of translation, both the perspective of the new media and cultural communication must be taken into consideration (Daliot-Bul, 2019). Most communications are culturally constrained, creating the need to understand the culture of both the source language and the target language (Zhang, 2012). Even though a lot of improvements have been made in the Chinese-English translation, there are still certain problems the translators' experience. According to Bao 2019, the problems are grouped into four categories, which include; wrong nominal or pronominal reference, subject and predicate disagreement, finite verb form overuse, and wrong temporal references.

Research Questions

What are the cultural differences between Chinese and English language?

What efforts are being made to improve Chinese- English translation?

What are the effects of Chinese- English language translation?

Does the use of an electronic dictionary help in the translation?

Research Objectives

To investigate the influence of culture in Chinese- English translation

To determine the efforts made both by the government and private sectors in improving and promoting Chinese- English translation

To assess the impacts of Chinese- English language translation in the economy and social interactions between people from different cultures

To investigate the contributions of using an electronic dictionary in the translation process

Statement of Problems

Chinese- English translation has been on the rise for the recent past, and the trend will continue for several years to come. Despite the achievements made in the sector, several drawbacks have stalled the process making many potential translators shy off. The result is that communication between Chinese speakers and English speakers is affected, leading to many business opportunities being abandoned in the preliminary stages. The social interaction between the two cultures is also affected due to a lack of communication (Wang, 2018). It is, therefore, important to understand the problems facing translation and address them effectively to improve both social and business interactions between the Chinese and English language speakers.

Literature Review

Chinese- English Translation Studies

Studying Chinese- English translation has been one of the major ways of improving translation. It has not been easy for the students, mostly non-English majors who require a lot of energy, time, and dedication to learn the English language (Liang & Xu, 2018). One of the first important stages in the process of understanding Chinese- English translation is to experience the history and culture of both languages. History and culture will greatly affect the outcomes of both verbal and non-verbal communication during the translation process (Duan & Wang, 2019). At the learning stage, the students' translation skills are weak, and only a small percentage of the student develop to be great translators (Xiang, 2006). The small percentage has been attributed to the lack of focus by the students in order to fully understand the complex components of translation. The students mostly experience two major challenges in their translation studies. One is the disagreement between the students' actual communication skills and the teaching contents. The other challenge is that most students at this stage, do not pay attention to improving their translation ability (Cui, 2019). Therefore, it is important for English translation teachers to develop effective teaching methods that also incorporate cultural differences in teaching.

Culture and Translation

Understanding culture is very crucial in the process of translation. It will help a person understand the context in which a word or phrase is used, therefore, giving it the appropriate meaning during the translation (Jia, 2020). The differences in history and cultural backgrounds between the two languages have led to a difference in the meaning of certain words. For example, in western culture, the dragon is used to represent viciousness, while for the Chinese, it is used to represent aristocrats. Another example is the dog, which is used to represent loyalty in the western culture while in China, it has a curse meaning such as "jittering" and "doglegs" (Jian-zhong, 2001). Understanding these differences will facilitate proper translation of words giving them the intended meaning the speaker is referring to. The sentence structure in both languages also differ greatly and is always determined by the history and culture of the nation (Fagong, 2002). Translating the words directly without incorporating the differences in meaning brought about by cultural and historical backgrounds will lead to miscommunication between the two speakers.

Relationship Between Translation and Economy

Economic growth is dependent on proper communication, which will enhance efficient negotiation between the two parties (Nikolaeva et al., 2017). Language barrier has affected business as people are unable to transact due to the lack of common knowledge. To reduce the language barrier challenge, some people have learned foreign languages to enhance their communication (Chuang, 2011). However, this has not been enough, as many more people cannot afford the classes for foreign languages. Translation has, therefore, become the easiest and most affordable way to promote economic growth between people speaking different languages. The growing number of Chinese- English translators have enhanced business between China and the English-speaking countries (Jun, 2002). As a result of the business interactions, many investors have ventured into the China economy, and many Chinese have invested overseas. As a result, the China economy has grown rapidly into one of the major economies in the world. Chinese- English translation has, therefore, boosted the economic development of China (Jun, 2002).

Significance of The Study

The study of Chinese- English translation from the new media and cultural communication perspective is very important in the modern world. It allows for a better understanding of the core concepts in translation; hence better services are offered. The study is, therefore, important in improving Chinese- English translation and further contributing to economic development.

Research Methodology

For proper examination of the subject, interviews, questionnaires, and library research will be used to collect data. The interviews will be with professional Chinese- English translators. The aim of the interviews will be to understand the experience of the translators with a keen interest in the challenges of the job and key points to consider in translation. The questionnaires will have questions focusing on the experience of the translators and how they deal with cultural differences between the two languages. Comprehensive research will also be done by reviewing the works done by other scholars on the same topic. All the data received will be evaluated and statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

References

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