On the Semantic Transliteration of Loan Words

張麗萍

Thesis statement：to seek a best strategy for the translation of loan words， this paper elaborate semantic transliteration from a number of different angles--history， feasibilities， advantages， achievements， difficulties， rules and reach a conclusion that semantic transliteration is the best way for translating loan words into Chinese.

Key words： semantic transliteration ， loan words

1.Introduction

Due to the influence of social， political， economic and cultural communication between China and foreign countries， Chinese has absorbed large quantities of loan words. Actually， provided Chinese exists， loan words are living with it simultaneously. Because if only there are not just one language and their speakers have to communicate with each other， they should obtain words from the other party. From the sides of both language and culture， the occurrence， existence and development of loan words are useful and necessary to each language and nation.

2.Loan words

2.1. Definition

Words taken from foreign languages are known as borrowed words or loan words or borrowings in simple terms， Chinese has borrowed and adopted words from all other major languages of the world， such as Russian， English， Japanese， French and so on. Among these loan words， English occupy the majority. These borrowings enlarged Chinese vocabulary in a tremendous scale. As they are vacant items when they come into Chinese culture people generally adopt five strategies to translate them------pure transliteration， pure semantic translation， semantic transliteration， transliteration with semantic translation at the end， and symbolical translation with a semantic explanation at the end. This is a general classification of the strategies for the translating of loan words. Each way has its unique translation rules and features. A plain elaboration of each strategy is as follows：

2.2. Classification of the strategies for translation of loan words

2.2.1. Pure transliteration. It is formed with some Chinese characters having the same or close pronunciation with the accurate original English pronunciation. Generally speaking， peoples names， technical terms and acroyms are transferred by transliteration. The most basic rule for this strategy is to emphasize the primary and most important syllables of borrowings. Let me take a persons name for example. James is transliterated into Chinese characters 詹姆斯. For this translation， Ja[d ei] becomes 詹[zhan]， 姆[mu] takes place me[m]， and 斯[si] is the same sound substitute for s[z].Some more examples for this are available， such as 克林頓 for Clinton，挪威for Norway，沙龍for salon etc.endprint

2.2.2. Pure semantic translation. With this method， borrowings are translated according to their meaning. Such as translation of names of magazines， newspapers， parties， countries are belonging to this kind. Generally， the advantage of the pure semantic translation is that it demonstrates the nature and features of the borrowings， and it is more rememberable. Take one example for this----Cape of Good Hope， its accepted translation in Chinese is 好望角. How does this translation come from？ Because good means of high qualities or good standards according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English， which equals to the Chinese character 好 in meaning； hope means desire for something to happen， it can be substituted with 望 ，and of course cape can be taken place by角. Evidently， pure semantic translation shows us the original meaning of borrowings， it makes them quite understandable.

2.2.3. Semantic transliteration. It refers to some terms， especially compounds， which are translated from both semantic and phonetic aspects. In this way， borrowings are not only easy to read and remember but also with clear meaning. So they can be regarded as the perfect translation and semantic transliteration also be considered as the best strategy for translating foreign words into Chinese. e.g.： Reebok is the name of a kind of sports shoes， the acceptable translated word for it is銳步. From phonetic angle，銳 is the substitute for the sound of ree [ri：] and bok [buk] is taken place with character步. From semantic aspect，銳步means running fast or with vigorous strides. Whats the use of sports shoes？ ------to walk or run. If we can run fast or vigorously when we put on a pair of these shoes， isnt it a good one？ So if this kind of shoes can be sold well in China， its translated name contributes a lot.

2.2.4. Transliteration with semantic translation at the end. It means you transliterate the word first then add its meaning or categorical word to make sure its meaning are clear. Take bowling for example， it is an indoor game in which we roll a large heavy ball along a wooden track in order to knock down a group of pins （=wooden objects shaped like bottles）， but what is its Chinese translation？------保齡球.ok， now， let us look at this Chinese word. Firstly，球is the categorical word which shows us its nature， of course， it belongs to game. Secondly，保齡means to keep you always young and robust. So 保齡球 means that it is a kind of ball by which you can always be young and healthy！ What a great and excellent translation， it adds an aesthetic effect to the word “bowling”.

3. Conclusion.

According to modern great Chinese translator Mr. Xu Yuanchongs three beauties theory---beautiful in sense， in sound， and in form， the translation of loan words should not only express the meaning and sound but also obtain or even create their aesthetic value. To fulfill this purpose， we can take the strategy of semantic transliteration. Among all the strategies for translation of loan words， though semantic transliteration has some difficulties and restrictions， it can create the best translation effect， with this strategy， we can produce more and more good translation of loan words！

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