科幻小说中新造词的翻译策略_英语论文

On Translating Strategies of Coinage in Science Fiction

摘要

科幻小说是一种起源于近代西方的文学体裁，是随着近代科学技术的蓬勃发展为产生的一种文学样式。它以幻想的形式，表现人类在未来世界的物质精神文化生活和科学技术远景。科幻小说的新奇使得之得到广大读者的喜爱。而科幻小说中与现实迥然不同的科幻元素的构建离不开新造词的使用。它为小说营造了神秘奇幻的氛围，可以说，新造词的大量使用已经成为科幻小说的特点之一。

由于目前国内的科幻小说创作并不乐观，当今的科幻小说主要是以国外小说的译制作品为主。因此，为读者提供科幻小说高质量的翻译读本的重要性日益凸显，然而，国内科幻小说的翻译尚未成研究体系，而新造词作为科幻小说的重要组成部分，其专业性强，虚构程度高，权威性词典少，这给新造词的翻译带来了更大的难度。在当前的翻译作品中，新造词的翻译良莠不齐，有的翻译甚至误导读者。因此，本文将对科幻电影的新造词翻译作为主要研究对象，探讨在新造词翻译时所要参考的策略。

根据新造词的构词方式，科幻新造词可分为新义旧词，词素新词和音节新词三大类。根据新词的构词方式与其意义间的关系，由于各类型新造词本身所具有的特点，不同类型的新造词需要应用不同的翻译策略。本文将通过一系列的案例和例子对诸如直译，意译和音译等翻译策略进行解释分析，从而更好的将翻译技巧运用于科幻小说的新造词翻译中，为读者提供高品质的翻译佳作。

关键词：科幻小说；科幻新造词翻译；音译

Abstract 

Science fiction (SF) is a kind of literary genre originated from the modern west due to the prosperous development of science technology. It presents the human being’s spiritual life and prospect of science technology in the future world, and its novelty makes it popular among readers. However, the usage of coinage is indispensable for science fiction, which helps to form alienated scientific factors from reality and create mysterious atmosphere. To some extent, coinage has become one of characters of science fiction.

At present, the literary work of science fiction is not so satisfying at home, and the translated version of SF from foreign countries takes the large portion of the market. Therefore, it is becoming more and more significant to provide high quality translation of SF for us Chinese reader. However the fact is that such research has not been systematically formed. What is more, coinage is always professional, highly fictitious and there are few authoritative dictionaries to refer to. All these factors mentioned above caused great difficulty in translating. What is worried is that some inappropriate translated coinages are intermingled, and some even mislead the readers. Hence, regarding coinage is SF as object, this thesis will discuss some strategies applied in coinage translation.

According to word-formation of coinage, coinage in SF could be classified as old words with new meaning, words formed by morphemes, and words formed by syllables. Based on the relationship between the form and the sense, different translation strategies are supposed to apply according to their different features. These translation strategies, such as literal translation, free translation, and transliteration, would be   illustrated through a series of case study. It is hoped that these translation strategies will be better applied in coinage translation of SF so as to offer high-quality translated work to readers.

Keywords: science fiction; translation of coinage; transliteration

Contents

Chapter1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Significance of the research 1

1.3 Organization of the paper 2

Chapter2 Literature Review 3

2.1 The history of science fiction translation in China 3

2.2 Related researches on science fiction translation 4

Chapter3 Study of Coinage 5

3.1 The definition of coinage 5

3.2 The category of coinage 5

3.2.1 Old words with new meaning 5

3.2.2 Words formed by morphemes 6

3.2.3 Words formed by syllables 6

3.3 Relationship between the form and the sense 7

Chapter4 Strategies applied in coinage translation in Science Fiction 8

4.1 Difficulty in coinage translation 8

4.1.1 Lack of authoritative reference 8

4.1.2 Professional terms related to scientific knowledge 8

4.2 Strategies for old words with new meaning 8

4.2.1 Figuring out the source of the old words 8

4.2.2 Context related 9

4.3 Strategies for words formed by morphemes 10

4.3.1 Literal translation 10

4.3.2 Free translation 10

4.4 Strategies for words formed by syllables 12

4.4.1 Transliteration 12

4.4.2 Explanatory translation 13

4.4.3 Notes 14

Chapter5 Conclusion 15

5.1 Major findings 15

5.2 Suggestions while translating coinage in SF 15

References 16