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The Types and Functions of Contexts in Understanding the Chinese Translation

Having taken into scrupulous consideration a number of preliminary factors such as the nature, structure and style of the source text, the direction of Chinese translation, and the potential target audience, in-depth comprehension of the source text constitutes the first and foremost prerequisite of Chinese translation. Then, when it comes to the understanding of the source text, its meaning should be analyzed on the basis of concepts rather than the specific meanings of particular in that the concepts or contexts are the unit that must form the basis for finding equivalent expressions in the receptor language.

In order to understand various source texts of multifarious styles and features, a ready awareness of the types and functions of contexts is of paramount importance.

According to Eugene A. Nida, nine types of contexts in understanding source texts should be taken into serious consideration, namely, syntagmatic contexts, paradigmatic contexts, contexts involving cultural values, contexts that favor radical shifts in meaning so as to attract attention, the context of a source text, the audience of a discourse as context, different characters and circumstances in a discourse as contexts for different language registers, the imprecise content of a text as the context for symbolic language, and the content of a text as a context for phonetic symbolism.

Among the nine types of contexts, the evaluation of syntagmatic contexts serves as the first step towards the comprehension of source texts. In determining the meanings of words, the role of context is maximized and the role of any focal element is minimized, which means that the context actually provides more distinctiveness of meaning than conceptual meaning of words. In other words, it is the context that determines how a word is to be understood. As a matter of fact, various types of syntagmatic contexts represent the principal means by which most people learn the meanings of at least 95 percent of their active and passive vocabulary.

In many instances, chances are that paradigmatic contexts generate contrasts and comparisons between meanings of related words within the same paradigmatic set, thus forming another basis for determining meanings of the linguistic units under analysis. It is common knowledge that the analysis of meaningful distinctions between words within the same discourse can be helpful and rewarding in finding precisely the right manner to represent the meaning of a source-language text.

Furthermore, Chinese translation is universally deemed as a cross-cultural event in that “language is not seen as an isolated phenomenon suspended in a vacuum but as an integral part of culture”. Therefore, disparities in cultural values are also vital factors in understanding a series of related terms. For example, butchers are often referred to as meat engineers in order to beautify the culturally associative meaning of the term. What’s more, the typical vocabulary of certain occupations and dialects also carry important information about status and behavior which are significant cultural indicators.

Contexts that favor radical shifts in meaning such as contexts consist of figurative meanings and most proverbs which could not be understood literally. Moreover, it goes without saying that five other types of contexts, however trivial, also constitute an indispensable indicator in understanding the source texts. The meaning of a text depend in large measure on those nine types and functions of contexts which in turn deserve detailed analysis so as to grasp a clear and sound understanding of the designative and associative meanings of the source text.

Jack Liu is a professional Chinese translator working for VERY TRANSLATION which provides Chinese translation . Here are some useful free Chinese translation tools Free Chinese Name Translation