(完整版)浅析英语体育新闻词汇的特点及翻译策略毕业设计

本科生毕业论文

浅析英语体育新闻词汇的特点及翻译策

略

院系：外国语学院

专业：英语

A Brief Analysis of the Features and Translation of English Sports News

Vocabulary

摘要

体育是社会文明的标志。2008年北京奥运会的举办，大大激起了民众的体育热情，体育新闻报道成为人们了解体育赛事，关注世界体育发展的重要渠道。英语体育新闻除具有一般新闻的特点外，自身有其独特的语言特色及文体特征。

本文主要通过分析著名的英语体育新闻报纸或杂志来研究其词汇。英语体育新闻的词汇错综复杂，种类繁多。本文主要分析了英语体育新闻词汇的四个特征,即体育专业术语、缩略语、修辞和俚语的使用。然而,不同种类的词汇其翻译方法也各有不同，本文根据“功能对等”理论，简要介绍了两种翻译方法：直译，即按照词汇的字面意思直接翻译,这种方法主要适用于体育专业术语、缩略语以及部分使用修辞的词汇的翻译；意译，即将词汇的隐含意义翻译出来，不拘泥于其表面形式,大多数修辞性词汇，如:隐喻、转喻的词汇,以及俚语的翻译应使用意译。本文旨在通过浅析英语体育新闻的词汇特点及其翻译方法，使读者对英语体育新闻有更深的认识，减少阅读中的障碍，准确理解新闻所要传递的信息，进而促进不同国家民族之间体育信息的交流与发展。

关键词：英语体育新闻；词汇特点；直译；意译

Abstract

Sport is the sign of social civilization. The hosting of the famous 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has greatly aroused people's enthusiasm to sports. Sports news becomes an important way for people to understand the sports events and pay more attention to the development of world sports. In addition to the general features of news, English sports news has its own unique language characteristics and stylistic features.

The thesis mainly studies the words by taking famous newspapers and magazines as examples. The vocabulary in English sports news is quite complex and full of various types. The thesis analyses its four lexical features: sports terminology, abbreviations, rhetoric and slang. However, different types of words have their own translation methods . In the thesis, the author briefly introduces two kinds of translation methods based on the theory of “functional e quivalence”: literal translation, namely we can literally translate the vocabulary, so the method is mainly used for the translation of sports terminology, abbreviations and some rhetorical

words; free translation, which means we must accurately express the words' implied meaning, but not focus on its forms. Therefore, free translation is frequently applied

in the translation of most rhetorical vocabulary that using rhetoric such as metaphor

and metonymy, and slang. The thesis briefly analyses the lexical features and its translation methods in English sports news, which aims at making readers have a deeper understanding of English sports news, reducing the barriers in reading, comprehending the sports message that the news intends to convey, and finally promoting the exchange and development of sports events among different nations.

Key words: English Sports News; Lexical Features; Literal Translation; Free Translation

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ I 摘要 ............................................................................................................................................... II Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... I II Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ IV Chapter1 Introduction .. (1)

1.1 Research Background (1)

1.2 Aim and Significance of Research (1)

1.3 Organization of the Thesis (2)

Chapter2 Literature Review (3)

2.1 English Sports News (3)

2.1.1 The Definition of News (3)

2.1.2 The Introduction of English Sports News (4)

2.2 The Theory of “Functional Equivalence” (4)

2.2.1 Definition of “Functional Equivalence” (4)

2.2.2 Main Contents of “Functional Equivalence” (5)

2.2.3 The Links between “Functional Equivalence” and English Sports News

Vocabulary (5)

2.3 Researches at Home and Abroad (6)

Chapter3 Lexical Features of English Sports News (8)

3.1 Sports Terminology (8)

3.2 Abbreviations (9)

3.3 Rhetoric (10)

3.3.1 Metaphor (10)

3.3.2 Metonymy (10)

3.4 Slang (11)

3.5 Summary (13)

Chapter4 Lexical Translation of English Sports News (14)

4.1 Literal Translation (14)

4.2 Free Translation (15)

Chapter 5 Conclusion (17)

5.1 Major Findings (17)

5.2 Suggestions for Further Research (18)

5.3 Summary (18)

Bibliography (19)

Chapter1 Introduction

The study of English sports news has a long history, which has expanded from stylistics to linguistics. The thesis focuses on the word level. This chapter is made up of three parts: the research background, the aim and significance of research and the organization of the thesis.

1.1 Research Background

With the rapid development of information industry, the widespread cooperation and communication among countries are becoming closer and closer. The world is gradually turning into a global village, in which all kinds of news are provided and shared fast, efficiently and conveniently. As one kind of news, sports news plays an important role in social and cultural life. Sport is the symbol of social civilization. At the same time, it is international, so we need to deliver the latest sports news to meet the demands of fans across the world. On the occasion, more and more English sports news appears on newspapers, magazines, TVs and Internet every day. English sports news is a type of news, having its unique language features and writing styles, therefore, many scholars have studied various aspects of English sports news. However, scholars mainly regard sports news as a whole entity to study its linguistic aspects such as foregrounding and whole features, such as the stylistic features or language characteristics. Few have paid attention to the study of specific details, including the words, tone and so on. Based on previous studies on English sports news, the thesis mainly focuses on the lexical features and its translation.

1.2 Aim and Significance of Research

Today, sport has become an indispensable part of people's life, and the whole world is paying more and more attention to the development and transmission of sports. Therefore, in the newspaper or magazine, the sports news section occupies a

large section. Sports information is interactional all over the world. English is referred to as a universal language, so the best way to know the latest and precise sports news is to read English sports news. As a type of news, English sports news aims to transfer information, so it must be easy to understand. However, English sports news has its unique styles and language features. The thesis selects the vocabulary to study, because it is the basis to understand the news.

The thesis specifically analyses the lexical features and translation methods through the examples of famous newspaper and magazine, which aims to help readers learn some professional words and presentation skills, and finally understand the sports news properly.

1.3 Organization of the Thesis

The thesis briefly analyses the lexical features and its translation in English sports news. It consists of five chapters.

The first chapter is the introduction, indicating the research background and its aim and significance. The second chapter is literature review, including three parts: the meaning of English sports news, including the definition of news and sports news, the introduction of the theory of “functional equivalence” and research at home and abroad, The third chapter is devoted to the lexical features of English sports news, consisting of four features: use of sports terminology, abbreviations, rhetoric and slang. The forth chapter briefly introduces two kinds of translation skills of English sports news vocabulary based on the theory of “functional equivalence”: literal translation and free translation. The fifth chapter draws a conclusion, summarizing the major findings of the thesis and making suggestions for future research.

Chapter2 Literature Review

In this chapter, the author first introduces the meaning of English sports news,

including the definition of news, some features of sports news and English sports news. Then the author precisely expresses one theory of translation, “functional e quivalence”. Finally, the author states the previous research on features of English sports news at home and abroad, and some theories about its translation.

2.1 English Sports News

In the part, we will introduce what news is, then give a brief definition of sports news and English sports news.

2.1.1 The Definition of News

We have to admit it is easier to identify the news than make the definition of news. Many definitions have been given to “news”, among which there is a well-known saying: it is not news when a dog bites a man, but absolutely news when you find a man bites a dog. The man-bites-dog definition, though sounds absurd, fully illustrates one of the widely accepted news value, the unusual, bizarre nature of a recently happened event.

Different definitions have been given to “news” at different times and in distinct places. In for the emperor and his subordinates, news was things happening to and around the emperor.

According to Modern Chinese Dictionary (2002), news is: A: the domestic and foreign information reported from the newspapers or broadcasting stations; B: the latest news events happening in our society. The definition of news from Chinese Words Encyclopedia (Lu Dingyi, 2002) says that: A: current political or social events reported by the newspapers, news agencies, broadcasting stations or TV stations, which calls for the requirements of being speedy, timely, true, succinct and based on facts. It has many forms: information, correspondence, features, survey reports, news photos, television news etc; B: something talked by people which is interesting and

novel. The definition accepted in Chinese academic circles as standard is that news is the reporting of recent events.

From all the definitions above, we can summarize the definition of news as follow: news is the reporting of recent events which have certain social values and can arouse people's interests widely.

2.1.2 The Introduction of English Sports News

After making clear of what news is, we can comprehend the meaning of sports news easily. Sports news is a type of news, transmitting related information about sports games and fitness activities. It also represents a kind of spirit, that is, challenging ourselves, surpassing ourselves, defeating ourselves and finally pursuing perfect. Sports news mainly report competitive sports games, and it focuses on entertainment and leisure. Moreover, sports news is international. Thus, as English is used around the world, English sports news tends to be more and more important.

However, English sports news is different from the other kinds of news. It has its own lexical features and stylistics features, and the thesis will analyze its lexical features in chapter 3.

2.2 The Theory of “Functional Equivalence”

In 1964, Nida put forward the concept of “dynamic equiv a lence”in his book Toward a Science of Translation. Later at the end of 1980, he rendered his “dynamic equivale nce” into“functional equivalence” and interpreted that the meaning of these two concepts are just the same. However, he prefers the concept of “functional e quivalence” for the convenience of describing the degrees of adequacy of a translation.

2.2.1 Definition of “Functional Equivalence”

Functional equivalence implies different degrees of adequacy from minimal to

maximal effectiveness. A minimal realistic definition and a maximal ideal definition could be stated respectively as follow:

“The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and apprec iated it.”

“The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did.” (Nida, 1998: 118)

2.2.2 Main Contents of “Functional Equivalence”

In his book Language, Culture, and Translating, Nida has distinguished degrees of his “functional equivalence”from the aspects of cognitive and experiential factors, namely, the minimal, realistic “functional equivalence”and the maximal, ideal “functional equivalence”that we have discussed above. Nida stresses that anything less than that minimal degree of equivalence should be unacceptable, while that “maximal level of equivalence is rarely, it never achieved except for texts have little or no aesthetic value and involving only routine information” (ibid.).

“Functional equivalence”is the soul of Nida's overall theory of “principle of equivalence.” From early 1960s to 1990s, Nida didn't stop studying and perfecting his theory and tried to make it more scientific and useful. The improvement lies in two aspects: first, the degree of functional equivalence has been clearly divided into two scales, which makes the principle more practicable; secondly, Nida's minimal, realistic definition of “functional equivalence” is more definite, concrete and understandable.

According to Nida's theory, the fundamental principle of translation is equivalence. I n order to have a better understanding of Nida's “functional equivalence”, one must bear his following words in mind.“In general it is best to s peak of …functional equivalence? in terms of a range of adequacy, since no translation

is ever completely equivalent. A number of different translations can in fact represent varying degrees of equivalence. The means that …equivalence? cannot be understood in its mathematical meaning of identity, but only in terms of proximity, i.e. on the basis of degrees of closeness to functional identity”(Nida,1993:117).

2.2.3 The Links between “Functional Equivalence”and English Sports News Vocabulary

English sports news has its own unique language style, stylistic features and special vocabulary, which may be different from the receptor language, so we cannot just translate literally without considering its influence and the culture of target language. The function of sports news is to deliver latest sports information to readers, so its aim is to make sure the readers grasp the implied meaning of the information. When translating, we need not to pursue the complete equivalence of the forms, what we should focus on is its implied message or its function to the readers. That is just what the theory of “functional equivalence” advocates.

English sports news vocabulary is the main part of the whole piece of news, only if we interpret the vocabulary accurately can we ensure the achievement of the news?function. Because of the features of English sports news vocabulary, it is necessary to apply the theory of “functional equivalence” to its translation.

2.3 Researches at Home and Abroad

Nowadays, with the development of sports and the increased link among countries, more and more people pay attention to sports. Various kinds of mass media as newspapers, magazine, and TVs constantly introduce the development of world sports to people. On the occasion, English sports news appears, which is a bridge linking the world sports and culture. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze and comprehend the language features and translation skills of English sports news, which has the

significant meaning to the development of sports in our country and the cross-culture communication with the world.

For the lexical features of English sports news, there are various sayings according to different measures. The study of lexical features of English sports news is a hot topic for scholars. Many researchers have analyzed its lexical features by investigating the language phenomenon in English sports news. Bruce Garrison(2002) gave a detailed introduction of the sports news vocabulary, and pointed out the problems in translation. Xiong Wei (2008) concluded the lexical features from the aspect of application and mainly mentioned six features. Fu Rong (2009) studied the lexical features from lexicology aspect, and Wang Lili (2008) studied the topic from the aspect of linguistics.

As for the lexical translation of English Sports News, there are many kinds of translation strategies, while the author prefers to the common ones: literal translation and free translation. Ma Junting (2007)insisted that equivalence theory should be used in the translation of sports news. In the thesis, the author adopted the two translation skills based on Nida?s theory of “functional equivalence”.

Chapter3 Lexical Features of English Sports News This chapter will specifically introduce four lexical features of English sports news, including the use of sports terminology, abbreviations, rhetoric and slang.

3.1 Sports Terminology

Sport is a comprehensive science involving many aspects of knowledge. In the process of absorbing other subjects, it has formed some unique features, including the appearance of sports terminology. In Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics(2005:70), terminology is defined as “the special lexical items which occur in a particular discipline or subject matter”. Sports terminology is only

used in sports field, because they have their own audience group. If one cannot understand the specialty of those terminologies in sports news , it will be hard to understand the related reports and information.

Let's take “场地” as an example, there are different expressions in different kinds of sports events, court(网球场), ring(溜冰场), pitch(棒球场), arena(乒乓球场), rink(冰球场), track(竞赛场), golf links(高尔夫球场), football field(足球场). Another example is the expression of“教练”. Look at the fo llowing news:

(1)Next up for the Americans will be selecting a captain for the next Ryder Cup at the V alhallacourse in Louisville, Kentuchk in 2008. Whoever gets it will go up against six－times majors winner Nick Faldo who has already been named as Europe's next skipper. (China Daily, September 26, 2006)

Here, there are several meanings about the words “captain”and “skipper” in the dictionary. In order to determine the exact meaning, we should pay attention to the context. The piece of news talks about the topic that the person who is selected to be next leader of American team will go up against the leader of European team. Therefore, the words “captain”and “skipper”both mean“队长”. The kind of words has been collected in the professional sports dictionary.

However, there are still a large amount of common words, which can be deduced professional meanings in sports events. For instance, close-marking defense (盯人防守), slide tackle(铲球), fare charge(合理冲撞), lock tackle(正面抢截), place kick(定位球).

3.2 Abbreviations

Abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, Mass. is short for Massachusetts (马塞诸塞州);

USMC is short for United States Marine Corps（美国海军陆战队）. Abbreviations are justified to be wide-spread in English news because simplification is the universal trend in news writing. The application of abbreviations in English sports news can save time with higher speed of speaking and writing, what's more, it save the space of newspaper or magazine.

The main device of abbreviations commonly used in news style is clipping. Clipping is a method of shortening or cutting off some parts of a word to form a simpler word without changing its meaning (George,Y, 2000). According to Zhang Jian (1994), there are five types of clipping listed as follows:

ⅰFront clipping: the shortening occurs at the beginning of the word, like bus from omnibus.

ⅱBack clipping: the shortening occurs at the end of the word like photo from photograph.

ⅲFront and back clipping: the shortening occurs at both ends of the word, such as flu from influenza.

ⅳMiddle clipping: the shortening occurs at the middle of the word, for example, motel from motor hotel.

ⅴFree clipping: the shortening is not strictly in line with a certain rule, such as bike from bicycle.

For English sports news, most abbreviations are mainly short terms of sports associations or organizations, formed by selecting the fist letters of each main words, for example, NBA（National Basketball Association全美篮球协会), CUBA(Chinese University Basketball Association中国大学生篮球联赛), IOC(the International Olympic Committee国际奥委会), FIFA(Federation International Football Association 国际足联), CTA(Chinese Tennis Association 中国羽毛球协会); and short forms of

professional sports terms, formed by taking off its tail letters , for instance，GY(gymnastics体操), AT( Athletics 田径)，WR(Wrestling摔跤), VB(Volleyball 排球).

3.3 Rhetoric

Rhetoric refers to the art of speaking or writing so as to persuade people effectively. Sports news mainly reports the sports events and the changes in the sports area, so in order to show the fierce competition of players or the reporter's individual mood, the use of rhetoric is necessary. The use of rhetoric can make the news more vivid and effective. Here, we mainly introduce two rhetorical methods: metaphor and metonymy.

3.3.1 Metaphor

Metaphor is a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity. Just as Shu Dingfang said “as long as in a certain context, a kind of things is used to express another different kind of things, then they form a metaphor”. In English sports news, metaphor is usually related to the information of national culture, because language is the carrier of culture. The use of metaphor makes the news more lively and succinct. Let?s take a piece of VOA news as an example.

(2)He sacrifices a lot; plays physical, and tough inside, and he's been an excellent third down receive. He brings some fire to the game. (Sep. 05, 2007).

“Fire”literally means“火”. With fire, there must be light and heat and we can also have feelings of exuberant vitality. In the occasion, fire refers to the energy the player brings to the game.

3.3.2 Metonymy

Metonymy refers to the substitution of the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself. In metonymy, a replacement can be the attribute of the replaced thing or closely related to the replaced one. Sometimes, we use a part of a thing to mean the whole one in metonymy. Generally, names of sports organizations or teams are very long, for economic reasons, sports news English often uses people's name or pet name instead. For instance, we choose “Rockets” to represent the team Huston Rockets, because NASA control center is located in Houston. Michael Jordan has led Chicago Bulls gain the NBA championships for six times, so his name is replaced by “flying man (飞人).”

Sometimes, a unique feature of one place is used to represent the place. Look at the following example:

(3)The samba star, billed as the next big thing to come out of samba football, is an established star back in Brazil. (China Daily, February 14, 2005)

Here, samba(桑巴舞)substitutes Brazil or Brazil football, because samba is a kind of Brazil social dance originating from Africa, which is very popular in Brazil and has impressive national connotation. For the reason, samba has some attached links with Brazil, so it can be the replacement of Brazil.

3.4 Slang

Slang refers to informal language which consists of words and expressions that are not considered appropriate for formal occasions. Most sports enthusiasts are young people, and they are the main groups purchasing sports newspapers and magazines. In order to meet their needs, the sports news vocabulary tends to be more and more entertaining and colloquial. Since the mid 1960s, more and more slang or colloquial

words have appeared in English sports news.

With the increasing popularity of sports news in mass media, the news must link with the readers' living pace and reading ability. More and more slang is used in sports news to choose the slang's implied meaning in sports context. The following chart lists some frequently used sports slang.

Slang Sports context

benchwarmer 替补队员

clear the final hurdle 越过最后一道跨栏扫除最后障碍

jump the gun 抢跑

on the rope (拳击中被击倒在护绳上)完全无力回击

warm up 热身活动

Beat the pants off 取得大胜

Take lumps 出局,失败

Let?s take several pieces of news as examples:

(4)Manchester United beat Arsenal pants off in the first leg of European Cup. (China Daily, February 20, 2007)

In the sentence, “beat the pants off”is a colloquial and humorous expression, literally meaning “drag somebody?s pants off”, while in the context, it means “win and shame the opponent”.

(5)Houston Rockets will take their lumps soon because they have little experience of postseason. (China Daily, April 100, 2007)

Here “take lumps”is an American slang. It means “fail or be faced with difficulties”.

(6)Congratulations, Sammy. You just bought yourself a benchwarmer seat to the apocalypse. (21st Century ,May 17, 2009)

In the sentence, “benchwarmer” is slang, literally means “the person who always sits on the bench”, but we use its implied meaning “the substituting players in games”in sports context.

3.5 Summary

Vocabulary is the most important part in comprehending English sports news, because there are many sports terminology and other types of vocabulary, The chapter mainly introduces four lexical features of English sports news by analyzing many pieces of sports news, that is, sports terminology, abbreviations, rhetoric and slang.

Chapter4 Lexical Translation of English Sports News According to what we have analyzed in the previous chapter, there are various types of vocabulary in English sports news, so it is hard to give a specific and fixed translation method. Generally, according to Nida's theory of “functional equiv a lence”, the author introduces two translation methods which are commonly used: literal translation and free translation.

4.1 Literal Translation

Although different nations have different cultures and customs, humankind as a