A STUDY ON THE METHODS OF TRANSLATING THAI UNIVERSITY NAMES INTO CHINESE
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Abstract
With the increasingly close exchanges between China and Thailand in the fields of education, culture, and economy, the translation of the Chinese names of Thai colleges and universities has become an important link in cross-cultural communication. Taking the names of Thai colleges and universities as the object of study, this study explored the translation strategies of their Chinese names and the linguistic and cultural factors behind them in light of translation theories. By categorizing and statistically analyzing the three main translation strategies of Thai university names, including phonetic translation, Italian translation, and phonetic-meaning combination, the study found that phonetic translation is mostly used for geographical names and proper nouns, while Italian translation tends to convey semantic information about the names, and phonetic-meaning combination is more common in names with cultural or historical significance. The choice of translation strategies is not only influenced by linguistic and cultural differences, but also closely related to the communication function of translation. This study provides theoretical support for the practice of university name translation, as well as new perspectives for Chinese-Thai cultural communication.
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