Abstract:Due to differences in respects of cultural backgrounds, cognitive thinking and established usages that have become innate to each individual language, during the translation practice, translators often come across some problems of non-equivalence between source language and target language, among which, non-equivalence at word level comes first. Non-equivalence at word level means that language has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text. There are some common types of non-equivalence at word level, namely, culture-specific concepts; the source-language concept is not lexicalized in the target language; source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning; semantic non-correspondence; the target language lacks a superordinate or a specific term(hyponym). However, it is very important to guarantee the quality of translation by knowing exactly lexical meaning as well as using all kinds of translation skills to realize a better translation from source language to target language. This paper will analyze the phenomena of non- equivalence at word level, explore different linguistic and extra-linguistic factors which contribute to various phenomena of non-equivalence at word level and to come up with some related strategies. It aims to assist translators in acquiring a better knowledge of lexical meaning in a given context and set a solid foundation for sentence and discourse translation in order to promote the communication and cultural exchange between China and Western countries. 

Keywords: Chinese and English; non-equivalence; translation strategies

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter 1 Introduction-1

1.1 Background of the Research-1

1.2 Significance of the Research-1

1.3 An Overview of the Thesis-1

Chapter 2 Literature Review-3

2.1 The Analysis of Phenomena of Lexical Non-equivalence between Chinese and English-3

2.1.1 Research Status Quo of Lexical Non-equivalence between Chinese and English-3

2.1.2 Types of Lexical Non-equivalence under Research-3

2.2 Research on Causes of Lexical Non-equivalence between English and Chinese-5

Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework-7

3.1 Lexical Non-equivalence and Translation-7

3.2 Translation for Meaning and Communication-7

Chapter 4 Translation Techniques to Tackle Lexical Non-equivalence-9

4.1 Literal Translation﹠Free Translation-9

4.2 Translation by Transliteration-9

4.3 Translation by Cultural Substitution-10

4.4 Translation with Loan Words or Loan Words plus Explanation-10

4.5 Translation by Omission-11

Chapter 5 Conclusion-13

5.1 Summary-13

5.2 Contributions and Limitations of the Research-13

5.3 Suggestions for Further Research-13

References-15

Acknowledgements-16