A Study on the English Translation of Culture-loaded Words in The Colors of the Tang Dynasty: A Panorama of Tri-Colored Glazed Pottery Based on Functional Equivalence Theory
Aug 2026· Scientific Journal Of Humanities and Social Sciences· 0 citations· 3 references
Abstract
Tang Tri-colored Glazed Pottery represents a pinnacle of ancient Chinese ceramic art. Its specialized terminology poses significant challenges for English translation due to its deep cultural and historical connotations. This paper applies Eugene Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory to analyze the translation strategies employed for Tang Tri-colored Glazed Pottery terminology. Through a comparative examination of existing translations in museum catalogues, academic publications, and official documents, the study identifies four major strategies—transliteration, literal translation, free translation, and transliteration plus annotation—and evaluates their effectiveness in achieving communicative and functional equivalence. The findings suggest that a flexible, multi-strategy approach, guided by the target audience and communicative purpose, best serves the cross-cultural transmission of Tang Tri-colored Glazed Pottery.
Literary translation involves more than linguistic conversion; it also entails the reconstruction and re-encoding of cultural meanings. From the perspective of cultural translation theory, this study takes Liu Cixin’s original Chinese novel The Three-Body Problem and its Spanish translation El problema de los tres cuerpos by Javier Altayó as the objects of analysis. Drawing on Nida’s framework of cultural classification, culturally embedded elements in the source text are grouped into five categories: ecological, material, social, religious-philosophical, and linguistic. Through a comparative reading of the Chinese and Spanish versions, the paper examines the translator’s shifting strategies among foreignization, domestication, and cultural negotiation. The analysis suggests that the translation does not rely on a single or fixed strategy. When dealing with culture-specific elements that carry strong historical or regional specificity, the translator is more likely to preserve foreignness through transliteration, literal translation, or brief explanatory additions. In contrast, for expressions that may hinder comprehension or lead to cultural misinterpretation, freer rendering, generalization, or contextual adjustment tend to be adopted in order to reduce the cognitive burden on target readers. Overall, the Spanish translation of The Three-Body Problem reveals a flexible negotiation process, in which cultural difference is retained to varying degrees while comprehension is facilitated and narrative flow is maintained. This case offers a useful reference for the Spanish dissemination of Chinese science fiction and more broadly for the cross-cultural transmission of heterogenous cultural elements.
Yueyang Zhang· Journal of Language, Culture...· 0 citations
— This paper compares Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang’s 1953 translation and Julia Lovell’s 2009 translation of The True Story of Ah Q to examine how translators construct Chinese cultural identity in cross-cultural communication. Drawing on the cultural perspective in translation studies and narrative construction theory, this study examines how translators’ identities and historical contexts inform their strategic choices. Findings show that Yangs ’ version employs cultural amplification and foreignization, emphasizing the depth and scholarly value of Chinese culture, in line with the nation’s early cultural diplomacy. Lovell’s version favors reduction and domestication, prioritizing readability and literary appeal within a globalized market. The study demonstrates that translation is not merely linguistic transfer but a vital practice of cultural identity reconstruction.
Yi-Wen Li· International Journal of Lan...· 0 citations
Domestication and foreignization are two common strategies for translators to deal with cultural differences. Based on Berman’s translation ethics and twelve deformations, this paper takes Bai Juyi’s the Everlasting Regret (selected sentences) as the object of study, adopts close reading and comparative analysis, and selects the English versions of Xu Yuanchong, Xu Zhongjie and W. J. B. Fletcher for comparative analysis, focusing on the different degrees of domestication and foreignization in the aspects of word choice, syntax, rhetorical organization, cultural transmission and so on, as well as the effects caused by these differences. The study found that in the English translation of classical Chinese poetry, in addition to the necessary domestication adjustment, the translator should retain the cultural background and aesthetic logic of the original poem as much as possible, so that the translation can achieve the purpose of conveying the cultural nature of this special literary genre. Therefore, in the English translation, foreignization enjoys ethical priority.
Chenfan Wang· English Language Teaching an...· 0 citations
— With the global dissemination of Chinese palace dramas, the honorifics employed in these series reflect the hierarchical social structures of imperial China. To ensure target audiences comprehend the hierarchical relationships and plot developments embedded in these linguistic forms, the translation of honorifics has become a critical concern. The American version of Empresses in the Palace features a well-defined honorific system, making its official English subtitles particularly representative for examining interpersonal meaning transmission. This study employs a combined methodology of literature review and case study, establishing an integrated theoretical framework drawing on Halliday ’ s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Brown & Levinson ’ s Face Theory. Using the official American subtitles as corpus data, this research analyzes translation strategies for honorifics and the cross-cultural transmission of interpersonal meaning, investigating how translators reconstruct comprehensible “ face mechanisms ” for target audiences. This framework offers analytical support for honorific translation in palace dramas, while the summarized strategies provide practical guidance for similar subtitle translation projects.
Peiying Deng· International Journal of Lan...· 0 citations
In the current context of accelerating the spread of Chinese traditional culture, the translation of culture-loaded terms has become a key issue in the study of translation and intercultural communication. Based on the analysis framework of translation compensation theory, this study takes the column of “24 Solar Terms” in China Daily as the corpus, and systematically explores the translation methods of culture-loaded words in this column. According to the four categories of ecology, material, society and language, this study examines how translators compensate for cultural loss and information loss in translation. The results show that the translator widely adopts compensation techniques such as free translation, amplification, transliteration and annotation, and logical explicitation, which effectively improves the understanding smoothness and text acceptance of the target readers while maintaining the cultural connotation of the source language. These strategies not only ensure the faithful transmission of cultural information, but also effectively promote the overseas dissemination of Chinese excellent traditional culture. It is expected that the research results can provide useful reference for the Chinese-English translation practice of culture-loaded words in similar publicity texts in the future.
Zhiming Jiang, Mengyu Wang· Scientific Journal Of Humani...· 0 citations
This study demonstrates that the primary challenge in translating Indonesian literary works into Arabic lies in the cultural elements embedded in metaphors, proverbs, and local expressions. Employing a qualitative textual analysis of Hamka’s Di Bawah Lindungan Kaʿbah, the research reveals that differences in worldview between Indonesian and Arab societies influence lexical choices and stylistic expressions, making literal translation insufficient. The findings highlight the necessity for translators to grasp the cultural context of the source text to ensure comprehensive meaning transfer. The study contributes to translation studies by formulating strategies that integrate semantic and stylistic approaches, including transliteration with explanatory notes, functional equivalence in the target culture, and the preservation of social metaphors. These strategies prove effective in maintaining cultural authenticity while ensuring readability for Arabic audiences. Overall, the research reinforces the view that literary translation is an act of intercultural mediation, synthesizing linguistic, semantic, and cultural dimensions to preserve meaning, aesthetic nuance, and cultural resonance in the target language.
