Abstract: Catchwords refer to those widely and quickly spread words and expressions in a certain period and area of group, which, from certain point of view, express people’s values, ideas and states of mind and reflect social phenomena. The contemporary catchwords are those most popular and fashionable part of catchwords. To track the popular words used in a society is very important and valuable. Firstly it can reflect the development track and direction of the society, since their socio-cultural features. Secondly catchwords are part of the language, that is to say they have great value for lexical study of modern Chinese. This paper discusses the translation of catchwords into English in two main sections. Firstly, this paper presents some mistranslations made by translators due to their culture background, range of knowledge and other factors. Second, focusing on translation theory as well as cross-cultural language differences, the paper analyzes translation tactics for rendering catchwords into English and discusses how these tactics offer ways of minimizing or avoiding possible translation errors with sufficient latest examples. Lexical comprehension, translation tactics and flexibility in expression are central to the proper rendering of catchwords into English.
Key words: Catchwords; Translation tactics; Lexical Comprehension; Mistranslation
汉语流行语的社会语用英译
摘 要: 流行语是在某一时期，某一地域出现，通过传播，在全国范围内广为流行，使用人数多，频率高、范围广的词汇。当代流行语即是流行语中时代性最强、最新的流行语。当代流行语是现代汉语词汇体系中较为特殊的组成部分。流行语的研究具有很高的社会文化价值和语言学价值。一方面，流行语之所以能流行，具有深刻的社会属性，是社会心理的表征，是社会文化的反映，也是社会习尚与道德评价的体现，涉及社会文化和个体、社会心理的研究。另一方面，流行语毕竟是语言层面的东西。其构造、使用与传播，必然体现了汉语词汇体系自身的特点与发展趋势，具有极高的词汇学研究价值。本文着重讨论的是汉语流行语社会语用的英译问题。以翻译理论和实物为基础,从翻译效果和语言文化差异的角度,用丰富的第一手实例深入论述,分析了汉语新词汇的英译特色、对策以及在翻译中容易犯的错误。本文旨在提高翻译的实际操作水平，指导译者在没有先例可循的情况下更好地将流行语准确无误地翻译成地道的英语，减少或者避免误译。
关键词:流行语； 英译对策；词义理解； 误译现象
Introduction
The development of science; the enhancement of productivity; the reforming of society; the advancement of culture and the adjustment of human’s relation; all these are reflected into the language, especially into the catchwords. The faster the society moves ahead, the more catchwords come out. Chinese, used by a quarter of the population worldwide, is enriched by catchwords. These newly used words have become a problem for people to understand each other. The catchwords of Chinese refer to those recently created words which occurred after the adoption of the policy of reforming and opening-up in China, and some other words which have existed are given new meanings by this era. As international cooperation is becoming more and more frequent, the communication between peoples should be promoted, too. It is the duty of translators to realize the connection of different languages. It will not only promote the mutual understanding, but also help further cooperation. The present paper is devoted to the subject of translation of Chinese catchwords into English. Firstly, it will present some different mistranslations and figure out measures to solve them in the next section.
1 Definition and Development of Catchwords
Nowadays, most of the new words in Chinese are catchwords. For example, 给力、团购、腹黑、富二代、卖萌、折翼的天使，the form of some words is old, but they have new meanings in the modern period of time. It’s so called “new wine in old bottles”. The new meanings of these words make them become the items which are high-frequency in use at that period of time.
1.1 Definition of catchwords
Referred to catchwords, which is included new content, new form, not existed in old glossary system, or does but has new content. Catchword is a mirror of society, it can intuitively and rapidly reflect the development of society, catchwords has been born in the course of the development of society in the history.
1.2 Development of catchwords
First of all, with the introduction of different kinds of foreign advanced science and technology, the name of foreign companies and factories are introduced to China, which become words of “making foreign things serve China”. Such as索尼、松下、丰田、凯迪拉克、别克and so on.
Secondly, the borrowed words used in political, economic, scientific and serving lines of business are also increasing gradually. For example：欧佩克、朋克、电脑、外星人、宇航员 and so on.
Thirdly, the borrowed words in Chinese dialects, especially the borrowed words of Cantonese apparently penetrate and get into the Chinese vocabulary glossary. The most typical example is the word “的士”and “大巴”and“小巴”derived from “巴士” 。
Fourthly, many borrowed words transit from transliteration to free translation，and then the free translation words gradually took the place of the transliteration words. for example“青霉素”replaced the“盘尼西林”，“电话”replaced “德律风”and so on. But, some borrowed words have always been in a situation where transliteration and free translation words used at the same time. Such as “麦克风”and “扩音器”，“引擎”and“发动机”， “拜拜”and“再见”and so on. In addition，because of homophones in Chinese, a borrowed word often has two or more different ways in writing. This phenomenon is common occurrence in translation of foreign names of persons and places, such as：“茄克”and “夹克”，“巧克力”and “朱古力”and so on. [1]
Finally, some old borrowed words were used for another purpose because of change in situation, and were endowed with new meanings. For example, this word“沙龙”originally refers to the social gatherings held in celebrities’ house on a regular basis in Western societies. It is generally artistic. However, Now people call the science and technology information exchange or seminars, which will are held on a regular basis "science and technology Salon". It has made a foreign word on brink of disuse “resurrection” and at the same time , it was endowed with new meanings. The absorption of these new words will not only help us learn excellent experience and advanced technology from foreign countries and other peoples, but also greatly enrich the treasure-house of Chinese Vocabulary.
2 Misinterpretation of catchwords
Troubles are unavoidable in translation, especially in the catchwords. As they are recently created, there are no existing examples to follow. How to make our translation correct and how to follow the English custom have become a problem for every translator. Translators did make some misinterpretation. However, smart analyze their mistakes and find out some rules from previous experience in order to reduce or even avoid misinterpretation. From the author’s point of view, the common misinterpretations could be categorized in the following ways.
2.1 Incomplete lexical comprehension
Translators begin to translate without full understanding of the source language. As this paper mentioned before, complete understanding of the source language is essential to good translation. American writer and poet Bayard Taylor said: “There is no mathematics without plus or minus, which holds good for translation.” Conclusion can be drawn from this statement that adding some words to supplement the meaning of a sentence or omitting some words to avoid repetition is a must to good translation. English and Chinese adopt different rules in selecting words and organizing sentences. Thus, translators need adding some words and phrases to supplement the meaning and make the translation more understandable and acceptable. Supplement here is trying to emerge the hidden meaning of the source language into the translation. And these hidden parts are always reflected in semantic, political or cultural background. Making supplement will not be against the faith to the source language but help to fluency the translation and complete the meaning of it. Without the supplement, readers will be confused about or even misunderstand the translation. There are a lot of examples that show the lack of supplements and the disadvantage of them are clearly shown here.
As an oft-quoted jargon, “推动经济”appears in newspaper, magazines or TV programs, but could it be translated literally as “push economy”? It is broadly known that “推动经济”actually means “推动经济增长”.Therefore, it will be more proper to add one word “growth”, that’s “push economic growth”. Such kinds of examples are too many to show here. Since cultures and the situations of different counties are different, translators should consider more about the foreign readers in order to make the translation acceptable. For instance, in Chinese “两岸关系”particularly means the relationship between Taiwan and mainland. It is better to add “the Taiwan Strait” in the translation, or it may puzzle the foreign readers. Another example can be found in the translation of China Daily for “发展两岸关系,促进祖国和平统一进程” “develop relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and promote the peaceful reunification of the motherland”. As proved above, supplement does not only mean the increase of some words, it also show the whole meaning of the source language by using these added words and phrases so as to follow the way of English.
Because of the distinctions of the two languages, Chinese usually make a lot of repetitions in a sentence without any sense of encumbrance. On the contrary, the repetitions even serve a better Chinese form. As to Chinese it is more elegant and can show a stress, While in English, things are different. If we translate all these Chinese repetitions and germinations into English every time, it would be cumbrous and ruin the flavor of the source language. So consideration should be taken into account whether we need to translate all these things or which parts we can omit. The aim of doing that is avoiding omission of the translation and the omitted parts should be unnecessarily translated. That is it say if these parts are omitted in the translation, the readers can still easily understand the article and it will not lose of the original meaning. Nowadays the phrase “参政议政”appears in the newspaper, TV program and our daily talk. As a matter of fact the character “政”in this phrase means “国家事务”(state affairs); “参”means “参与管理”. If we give it a second thought, we may find that “参政”includes the meaning of “议政”. We need not translate the “议政”as “discuss the state affairs”. It will be cumbrous to translate it as “participate in the management of state affairs and discuss the state affairs”. So the last five words should be omitted and the whole phase should be translated as “participate in the management of state affairs”. There is another example. “歪风邪气”turns up a lot in newspapers, and we all know that “歪风”has the same meaning of “邪气”. On this occasion we just need translate one phrase of the parallel structure. Some people translate it as “evil winds and noxious influences” which keeps a parallel pattern or it can be made easier by just translating as “evil winds” in an English paper “But success cannot be taken for granted, either. Along with growth, the reforms have produce some ‘evil winds’, as the Chinese call them.” [2]
Taking different expressing ways of the two languages into consideration, the translating techniques we mentioned above will not only suit for catchwords but also some typical Chinese idioms. The examples discussed were simple but they tell some truth in translation: full understanding of the original article lies in under standing of the semantics and the hidden meaning of the context.
Here are some examples for reader to follow.
AA制go Dutch
宅男 geek
我是来打酱油的 I just pop in and say hi.
什么都是浮云 Everything is nothing.
卖萌 act cut
九五攻关 State Key Task 95 [3]
2.2 Culture barrier
Language is a part of the culture; moreover, it also serves as a mirror reflecting all aspects of a nation’s culture. It is a window in which people could wit everything of this culture. While culture is the basic for the existing language and it provides stuff for language to develop and promote. From linguistic points of view, language is the reflection of the culture. So in order to master some language people must learn about the culture background of it and observe the distinction of their own culture and other’s. Culture difference, especially the difference between east and west, make people have different ideas on the same question or the same concept. Sometimes these different ideas could even result in misunderstanding. For instance, they have different opinions about some words’ concepts and their commendatory and derogatory sense. Because of that, we have to take culture into consideration and process it quite carefully. In order to handle the culture element in the Chinese catchwords, translators should lay particular stress on the acceptability of the translations. Translators should not ignore the English custom or the receptivity of the readers, and should not blench when there are lexical gaps. When they are translating Chinese catchwords, culture background should be an important gist and they should try to use the words and language pattern acceptable to foreign readers. “Acceptable” does not mean the words or language itself but the meaning carried by the language viz, the translation could be accepted by the readers psychologically. Linguists believe that people use some overstatement to make emphasize or stress, but there are differences between the east and west cultures. Literal translation of those overstatements in Chinese could be external description in the westerners’ eyes.
Another example in point is the expression “高考状元”which is a popular word among senior high school students. As we all know that “状元”is a typical Chinese word, we can hardly find a corresponding word for that in English. How can we translate it into English and make the readers fully understand it? “高考状元”is a phrase with metaphor, and some people translate it as “number one scholar in college entrance examination”. According to the dictionary that the word “scholar” could mean “进士”in ancient Chinese exam system, so “number one scholar” could mean “状元”, but is it proper to translate “高考状元”such a modern phrase like that? Will foreigners know the meaning of “number one scholar”? According to Mr. Zhang Jian’s suggestion we’d better translate it as “the best candidate for college entrance examination” or “the highest-ranking student in entrance examination for colleges and universities”, which are better than “number one scholar”. The latter translations are more direct and even those foreigner who know little about Chinese history and culture could easily understand. There is another example, from an introduction of a company. This is a big company in our province and it is called “国家二级企业”in Chinese. And the English version of the introduction was translated as “the state second-grade enterprise”. It may appear to be a correct translation as the first sight. However, when we give it a second thought we will find out that “second-grade/second-class” means something not very good. In fact “国家二级企业”is a praise foe the company, and should be translated into a commendatory way. “Best” could be a more proper word to solve problems of this kind. Therefore, it can be translated as “the state second best class enterprise”. [4]
The worst barrier in translation word is the processing of two different cultures, and it is a key to make conversion of two different languages in translation that is how to deal with the culture distinctions. If the Chinese catchwords include typical Chinese characteristics, translators should make more effort to keep the original flavor of the translation and make it acceptable. The default of culture cannot be avoided and there is no alternative. There is no need for us to purchase the literal parallel and make eisegesis. When we are doing our translation we should sufficiently consider the culture differences and the readers’ psychology. In order to avoid the mistranslation caused by the implied meaning of the original words we should select a proper English word or phrase. The “proper” means proper in cultural difference, social background and people’s opinions. Mr. Feng Yidai said “No matter how, translators face two languages and two cultures of two different countries. Each country has its own characteristics and each language has its own distinction. The duty of a translator is uniform these two stuffs. Let’s look at the following quotations from a modern Chinese-English dictionary. [5]
白马王子 Prince Charming
白雪公主 Snow White
不夜城 sleepless city, ever-bright city
唱高调 mouth high-sounding words
出风头 show off, in the limelight
发烧友 fancier, zealot, enthusiastic fan
蒙古大夫 quack
2.3 Chinglish
Faith, loyalty and elegancy are not so easy to be achieved in translation. The English translation of Chinese catchwords is always mostly depending on the Chinese origin too much, so the translation seems to be too literal. “打白条”is translated as “give a white slip”; “失足青年”is translated as “youth who has lost their footing” etc. What is even ridiculous is that “豆腐渣工程”was translated as “bean curd residue project”. [6] These translation did not transfer the metaphor of the expression “豆腐渣”. We Chinese will understand that “豆腐渣工程”means a construction project with poor quality, which is as frail as bean curd. We have to find an equivalent word in English, which will fit description. “Jerry built” is a proper English word which is also bears a derogatory sense. It means “quickly and cheaply built without concern for quality”. So “豆腐渣工程”should be translated as “jerrybuilt project”. Of course this is not the only translation. Some American paper has the following translation “Last month, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji devoted a chunk of his annual report to Parliament to corruption in the construction sector, promising to crack down on ‘bean curd projects’, so named because they fall apart easily. This translation keeps the metaphor of Chinese and gives brief interpretation, which helps readers to understand the expression. Both of the two above mentioned translations are correct and acceptable. They are not only bluntly translated but also take readers into account. At present “西部大开发”has become a hot issue in China. It is a great project to help the west of China to develop its economy, aiming at achieving the goal of massive prosperous of China. Some web site translates the expression as “the exploitation in the west of China”. We are not going to exploit any mind in west of China. What we really want to do is push the economic growth of that region. So we should fully retell the meaning carried by the Chinese characters and then we will know what English words are needed to translate them. In my opinion the following translation is acceptable in most cases; “to push the development of the West”. [7]
We can make some adjustment of the pattern or put some interpretation after the translation so that we could avoid the Chinese-style English and make the readers understand the translation completely. After the adjustment, the pattern of the translation may be different from the original one, but the context will be closer to it. American translator Eugene A. Nida once said “Each language has its own genius…Rather than force the formal structure of one language upon another, the effective translator is quite prepared to make any and all formal changes necessary to reproduce the message in the distinctive structure forms of the receptor language.” What Nida said is that translators should not merely translate a series of single words or characters. Representing the context of the original language is their duty and the pattern equivalent should not be the only goal. If we just talk about the conversion of language style, the transla, tion of Chinese catchwords should keep the Original style at arm’s length, otherwise the barrier of language and culture can hardly be overcome, and it will be impossible to achieve good translation.
2.4 Incorrect Word Order
Generally the word order always means that in a sentence. This paragraph is going to discuss the word order in expressions or sentences. As we all know that different peoples have different cultural backgrounds and thus different ways of thinking. Different languages have different ways of expressing and organizing regulations, so translators need adjusting the word order in the translation comparing with the source language. Both Chinese and English have their own certain regulations in word order during the longtime evolution. The word orders keep their own features so that translators must find out their separate feature to avoid "one word disorder, complete mistranslation". For example ''中小型企业" as once translated as "medium-sized and small enterprises" in some report. Actually "medium-sized" and "small" should change their position according to the word order of English, so "small and medium-sized enterprises" is more suitable. Such mistranslations are made a lot一One more example is“国际经济新秩序”，which was translated as "an international new economic order", but it should be "an new international economic order" indeed. Some people may consider that the word order is not a serious problem. But disordered translation does not fit the target language's use and will make the native speaker fills puzzled or uncomfortable. Suppose there is a foreigner, who calls himself as a Chinese-master, talking continuously. About
