Dialect, Voice, and Identity in Chinese Translation is the first book-length attempt to undertake a descriptive investigation of how dialect in British and American novels and dramas is translated into Chinese. Dialect plays an essential role in creating a voice of difference for the regional, social, or ethnic Others in English fiction. Translating dialect involves not only the textual representation of a different voice with target linguistic resources but also the reconstruction of various cultural, social, and ethnic identities and relations on the target side. This book provides a descriptive study of 277 Chinese translations published from 1931 to 2020 for three fictions – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Pygmalion – with a special focus on how the Dorset dialect, African American Vernacular English, and cockney in them have been translated in the past century in China. It provides a comprehensive description of the techniques, strategies, tendencies, norms, and universals as well as diachronic changes and stylistic evolutions of the language used in dialect translation into Chinese. An interdisciplinary perspective is adopted to conduct three case studies of each fiction to explore the negotiation, reformulation, and reconstruction via dialect translation of the identities for Others and Us and their relations in the Chinese context. This book is intended to act as a useful reference for scholars, teachers, translators, and graduate students from disciplines such as translation, sociolinguistics, literary and cultural studies, and anyone who shows interest in dialect translation, the translation of American and British literature, Chinese language and literature, identity studies, and cross-cultural studies.

"Dialect, Voice, and Identity in Chinese Translation is the first book-length attempt to undertake a descriptive investigation of how dialect in British and American novels and dramas are translated into Chinese. Dialect plays an essential role in creating a voice of difference for the regional, social or ethnic Others in English fiction. Translating dialect involves not only the textual representation of a different voice with target linguistic resources, but also the reconstruction of various cultural, social, and ethnic identities and relations on the target side. This book provides a descriptive study of 277 Chinese translations published from 1931 to 2020 for three fictions-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and Pygmalion-with a special focus on how the Dorset dialect, African American Vernacular English, and cockney in them are translated in the past century in China. It provides a comprehensive description of the techniques, strategies, tendencies, norms and universals as well as diachronic changes and stylistic evolutions of the language used in dialect translation into Chinese. An interdisciplinary perspective is adopted to conduct three case studies of each fiction to explore the negotiation, reformulation, and reconstruction via dialect translation of the identities for Others and Us and their relations in the Chinese context. This book is intended to act as a useful reference for scholars, teachers, translators, and graduate students from disciplines such as translation, sociolinguistics, literary and cultural studies, and anyone who shows interest in dialect translation, the translation of American and British literature, Chinese language and literature, identity studies, and cross-cultural studies"--

These in-depth case studies provide novel insights in to the fast-changing language situation in multilingual China, and how it changes the meanings of language identity and language learning. This linguistic ethnographic study of language attitudes and identities in contemporary China in the era of multilingualism provides a comprehensive and critical review of the state of the art in the field of language-attitude research, and situates attitudes towards Chinese regional dialects in their social, historical as well as local contexts. The role of language policies and the links between the interactional phenomena and other contextual factors are investigated through the multi-level analysis of linguistic ethnographic data. This study captures the long-term language socialisation process and the moment-to-moment construction of language attitudes at a level of detail that is rarely seen. The narrative is presented in a highly readable style, without compromising the theoretical sophistication and sociolinguistic complexities.

Two English-Language Translators of Jin Ping Mei examines English translations of the Ming novel Jin Ping Mei by translators from different historical periods within the Anglophone world. Drawing upon theoretical insights from translation studies, literary criticism, and cultural studies, the book explores the treatment of salient features of the novel in translation, including cultural representation, narratological elements, gender-specific motifs, and (homo)sexual themes. Through literary re-imagining and artistic re-creation, Egerton transforms a complex and sprawling narrative into a popular modern middlebrow novel, making it readily accessible within Western genres. Roy’s interlinear and annotated translation transcends the mere retelling of a vivid story for its unwavering emphasis on every single detail of the original, becoming a portal to the Ming past. It stands as a testament to the significance of translation as a medium for understanding the legacy of the late Ming and the socio-cultural dynamics shaping that period in Chinese history. This book will be a useful reference for scholars and research students within the fields of literary translation studies and translated Chinese literature, particularly Ming- Qing fiction. The book will also appeal to students and researchers studying Jin Ping Mei’s translation and reception in the West.

A Deaf Take on Non-Equivalence in Written Chinese Translation examines the issue of lexical non-equivalence between written Chinese and Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) translation, describing its theoretical and practical implications. This research foregrounds the semiotic resources in the Deaf community of Hong Kong by analyzing translation strategies exhibited by Deaf Hongkongers when they were invited to translate written Chinese passages with specialized and culturally specific concepts in a monologic setting. With discourse analysis as a framework, the major findings of this research were that: (1) a taxonomy of strategies featured depiction, manual representations of Chinese characters and visual metonymy, writing and mouthing; (2) employment of multisemiotic and multimodal resources gave intended viewers access to different facets of meaning; and (3) repeated renditions of the same concepts gave rise to condensed, abbreviated occasionalisms. Observations from this research serve as a point of reference for interpreting scholars, practitioners and students as well as policymakers who formulate interpretation service provision and assessment.

Chinese Legal Translation analyses and investigates the Chinese translation of conditional clauses introduced by various introductory words in Hong Kong bilingual ordinances within the framework of descriptive translation studies and translation typology. This book explores the text typology of Hong Kong bilingual ordinances and highlights differences and similarities between different translations of conditional clauses in the Hong Kong context. Based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis of conditional clauses of the Companies Ordinance, the book summarises the frequency of introductory words of conditional clauses and generalises guiding patterns for writing conditional clauses and translating conditional clauses. The book is significant in providing both theoretical foundations for legal translation and practical guidance for translating legal conditional clauses. This book is primarily targeted for scholars and professionals who are interested in legal writing and legal translation, as well as for students and practitioners in legal translation.

This volume explores Chinese identity through the lens of both the Chinese and English languages. Until the twentieth century, English was a language associated with capitalists and "military aggressors" in China. However, the massive progression of globalisation in China following the 1980s has transformed the language into an important tool for China’s modernisation. Regardless of the role English plays in China, there has always been a fear there that the spread of culture(s) associated with English would lead to weakening of the Chinese identity. This fear resulted in the development of the ti-yong principle: "Chinese learning for essence (ti), Western learning for utility (yong)." Fong’s book aims to enhance understanding of the ti-yong dichotomy in relation to people’s sense of being Chinese in China, the penetration of English into non-English speaking societies, the resultant tensions in people’s sense of personal and national identity, and their place in the world. Using Q methodology, the book presents observations based on data collected from four participant groups, namely high school and university students, teachers and parents in China, to investigate their perspectives on the status and roles of English, as well as those of Chinese. Considering the growing international interest in China, this volume will appeal to readers interested in China’s contemporary society in general, its language, culture and identity. It will be a useful resource for academics, researchers and students in the field of applied linguistics, language education and Chinese cultural studies and can also be adopted as a reference book for undergraduate courses relating to language, identity and culture.