Translation and scientific terminology
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Meng Ji
Abstract
The establishment of a working scientific language was instrumental in the construction of China’s early modern scientific identity, as a result of its increasing engagement with Western scientific concepts and idea sets. The current study aims to offer a corpus-based investigation of representative early Chinese scientific translations from a range of Western languages including English, French and Dutch. This corpus-based study examines the complex historical process of the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic scientific exchange between China, Japan and the West in the late nineteenth century. Through the quantitative corpus analysis, this study identified important patterns in the development of key linguistic features of an emerging scientific language system in modern Chinese, for example, token length and functional particles. The insights gained through the use of exploratory statistical techniques point to useful directions for future research in corpus-based translation studies.
Abstract
The establishment of a working scientific language was instrumental in the construction of China’s early modern scientific identity, as a result of its increasing engagement with Western scientific concepts and idea sets. The current study aims to offer a corpus-based investigation of representative early Chinese scientific translations from a range of Western languages including English, French and Dutch. This corpus-based study examines the complex historical process of the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic scientific exchange between China, Japan and the West in the late nineteenth century. Through the quantitative corpus analysis, this study identified important patterns in the development of key linguistic features of an emerging scientific language system in modern Chinese, for example, token length and functional particles. The insights gained through the use of exploratory statistical techniques point to useful directions for future research in corpus-based translation studies.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- List of contributors ix
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Part I. Theoretical exploration
- Explicit and tacit 3
- Regression analysis in translation studies 35
- Hypothesis testing in corpus-based literary translation studies 53
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Part II. Essential corpus statistics
- Compiling a Norwegian-Spanish parallel corpus 75
- Describing a translational corpus 115
- Clustering a translational corpus 149
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Part III. Quantitative exploration of literary translation
- A Corpus study of early English translations of Cao Xueqin’s Hongloumeng 177
- Determining translation invariant characteristics of James Joyce’s Dubliners 209
- The great mystery of the (almost) invisible translator 231
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Part IV. Quantitative exploration of translation lexis
- Translation and scientific terminology 251
- The games translators play 275
- Multivariate analyses of affix productivity in translated English 301
- Lexical lectometry in corpus-based translation studies 325
- Appendices 347
- Index 357
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- List of contributors ix
-
Part I. Theoretical exploration
- Explicit and tacit 3
- Regression analysis in translation studies 35
- Hypothesis testing in corpus-based literary translation studies 53
-
Part II. Essential corpus statistics
- Compiling a Norwegian-Spanish parallel corpus 75
- Describing a translational corpus 115
- Clustering a translational corpus 149
-
Part III. Quantitative exploration of literary translation
- A Corpus study of early English translations of Cao Xueqin’s Hongloumeng 177
- Determining translation invariant characteristics of James Joyce’s Dubliners 209
- The great mystery of the (almost) invisible translator 231
-
Part IV. Quantitative exploration of translation lexis
- Translation and scientific terminology 251
- The games translators play 275
- Multivariate analyses of affix productivity in translated English 301
- Lexical lectometry in corpus-based translation studies 325
- Appendices 347
- Index 357
