On Terminology Translation of Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage under the Eco-translatology: Case Study of the English Translation of the Terms “Danjia” and “Xianshuige”

Weiyan Li

doi:10.6918/IJOSSER.202507_8(7).0019

Authors

Weiyan Li

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202507_8(7).0019

Keywords:

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Terminology Translation, Eco-Translatology, The Tanka (boat dwellers), salt water songs (the Tanka folk song).

Abstract

Guided by the Eco-translatology theory, this article attempts to explain the phonetic and semantic features, cultural connotations and ecological reasons of the terms “Xianshuige” (in Chinese pinyin) and “Danjia” (in Chinese pinyin) from linguistic, cultural and communicative dimensions. It takes a qualitative and descriptive approach in analyzing the existing English translations of the terms “Danjia” and “Xianshuige” with five databases at home and abroad as the data source before June 2022, and thereafter concludes that the term “Danjia” should be translated into “the Tanka (boat dwellers)” and “Xianshuige” into “salt water songs (the Tanka folk song)” from the perspective of Eco-translatology, respectively. Translation strategies such as dialect-based transliteration, transliteration with category words or annotation and back translation verification with computer-aided resources are advised in translation, and the Eco-translatology is recommended for intercultural communication, especially that of intangible cultural heritage to achieve the best translation with the highest degree “of holistic adaptation and selection” by selective adaptation and adaptive selection in the translation of China’s ICH items (Hu, 2013, p. 129).

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