Jul 2026· Journal of Applied Language Learning· Vol 03, pp. 01-10· 0 citations
Abstract
The translation of culture-specific items is difficult not merely because of lexical gaps, but because languages often
organize experience through different underlying cognitive categories. This study examines the Chinese core concept
qi (Gas), a radial category rooted in embodied experience and centered on the prototype of vital energy, and explains
why it is frequently fragmented in English translation. A bilingual database of 49 high-frequency qi-compounds was
built from the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education and checked
against the Modern Chinese Dictionary and Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. The static morphological comparison
was then supplemented by qualitative analysis of authentic translations from medical classics, philosophy, literary
theory, ethical discourse, and fiction. The results show a systematic mismatch: Chinese organizes the qi-word family
through a shared morpheme and modifier-head construction, with 34 of 49 items placing qi in final position and 37
of 49 exhibiting modifier-head structure. By contrast, English renders these items through morphologically unrelated
simplexes, derivatives, phrases, and one compound, thereby distributing a continuous Chinese category across discrete
lexical domains such as air, strength, anger, courage, integrity, and atmosphere. Translation examples further reveal
metaphorical rupture when the force, container, and flow schemas of qi are replaced by static English entities. To
address this problem, the study proposes a cognitive compensation framework consisting of category transplantation,
semantic compensation, category re-implantation, and context-sensitive modulation. The framework contributes to
cognitive translation studies and offers practical implications for translating and teaching culturally dense Chinese key
concepts in applied language-learning contexts.
The article examines the peculiarities of translating English psychological terminology into Ukrainian and identifies the most effective translation methods used to ensure semantic accuracy and communicative adequacy. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing popularity of psychological literature and the need for a consistent rendering of specialized terminology in Ukrainian. The research aims to analyze the main translation techniques applied to English psychological terms and to determine their frequency and effectiveness. The corpus of the study comprised 128 terms selected from English-language professional psychology texts and their Ukrainian translations. The findings indicate that the most frequently employed techniques are variant equivalent selection (33%), calque translation (25%), and dictionary equivalents (21%). Less common methods include concretization, generalization, contextual substitution, semantic development, descriptive translation, part-of-speech substitution, and transcoding. The study demonstrates that the choice of translation method depends on a term's semantic characteristics, its degree of standardization in the target language, and its use context.
N. Tymoshchuk, U. Shostak· Scientific Journal of Poloni...· 0 citations
The aim of this research was to identify the features of translating culture-specific units in literary translation between the Kazakh and Chinese languages, with an emphasis on semantic and pragmatic equivalence. The study applied a linguocultural and comparative methodology, qualitative content analysis, lexical-semantic analysis, pragmatic analysis, and interpretive comparison of annotated parallel fragments. A typology of cultural connotations in Kazakh and Chinese prose was developed, including four main groups: realities, ethnospecific terms, phraseological units, and metaphors. Kazakh texts predominantly contained units related to nomadic culture, social organization, and ceremonial practices, while Chinese texts mainly reflected Confucian values, symbolic imagery, and concepts of family hierarchy. Differences in the frequency and pragmatic functions of culture-specific units were identified. The analysis of translation strategies revealed the predominance of foreignization and descriptive translation when rendering Kazakh units into Chinese, whereas domestication was more common in translations from Chinese into Kazakh. Typical semantic transformations included meaning shifts, splitting, and partial loss of meaning. Pragmatic equivalence was often achieved through cultural explanation, contextual adaptation, and the use of connotative elements. The practical significance of this research lies in the development of a classification model for analyzing cultural connotations. This model may support translation decisions aimed at preserving semantic accuracy and pragmatic relevance when conveying nationally marked units. The novelty of this article lies in its comparative linguistic and cultural analysis of Kazakh and Chinese literary discourse, proposing a typology of cultural connotations and a two-way study of translation strategies that identifies asymmetries, semantic discrepancies, and compensatory mechanisms in translation.
Gulzhanar Haliolla, N. Abdurakyn, Samal Beisenkhan· The International Journal of...· 0 citations
Translation has long been recognized as a major site of language contact, yet the mechanisms through which translated texts influence the development of modern Chinese remain underexplored. Drawing on a synthesis of corpus-based translation studies over the past three decades, this paper examines how translation has shaped modern Chinese from the perspective of language contact. Evidence from parallel and comparable corpora reveals that translation-induced changes are observable at multiple linguistic levels: lexical (increased frequency and expanded functions of prepositions, adoption of new vocabulary), syntactic (longer attributive structures, more explicit clause connectors, rising dependency distances), and registeral (convergence between translated and original academic prose on some dimensions but divergence on others). Theoretically, the “shining-through” effect of source languages, the normalization tendency of translators, and the gradual replication of frequency patterns from translated to original texts explain the transmission of these features. However, the shaping effect operates within the constraints of the target language system: translation activates and enriches existing grammatical resources rather than fundamentally altering Chinese linguistic typology. The paper concludes that translation functions as a conservative yet cumulative agent of change, accelerating ongoing trends while respecting the structural boundaries and cultural preferences of modern Chinese.
Feiyang Sun· International Journal of Edu...· 0 citations
This paper explores the function and influence of L1 transfer in second language acquisition, with a specific focus on English learning within the Chinese context. Language transfer acts as a dual force in the learning process; while inter-lingual commonalities rooted in universal grammar can facilitate positive transfer and boost learner confidence, the structural and conceptual differences between languages often trigger negative transfer, leading to language errors and learning difficulties. Focusing on English writing instruction, this study demonstrates that the tracks of L1 negative transfer are highly conspicuous across vocabulary, grammar, and cultural thinking dimensions. Specifically, students frequently misapply word forms due to differences in plural concepts, omit necessary subjects because of the distinct subject-predicate relations in Chinese, and produce rigid “Chinglish” expressions by directly applying native thinking habits to English sentence building. To address these issues, the paper suggests that teachers should provide targeted guidance—such as analyzing typical mistakes, contrasting sentence patterns, and cultivating target-language thinking—to effectively minimize the negative interference of the mother tongue and progressively improve students’ comprehensive writing literacy.
Xiaoqi He· Journal of Contemporary Educ...· 0 citations
This study provides a systematic psycholinguistic analysis of the 3000 characters prescribed in the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education (CPGS). Drawing on the Dual-Route Model of reading and Cognitive Load Theory, it examines how character distribution and phonetic radical consistency influence the developmental trajectory of second language (L2) character acquisition. Characters were classified into phono-semantic compounds (PSCs) and non-phono-semantic characters (NPSCs), with phonetic transparency quantified via a 6-point scoring system. We further distinguished between external consistency (radical-to-character mapping) and internal consistency (regularity within radical families). Results indicate that PSCs constitute 65.9% of the corpus, with their density increasing markedly from approximately 35% at Level 1 to nearly 80% at Levels 7-9. This distribution reveals a "beginner bottleneck" where low sublexical support necessitates a reliance on the lexical route (rote memorization), imposing a high intrinsic cognitive load. Furthermore, nearly half of the NPSCs (46.97%) were found to function as latent phonetic radicals, providing critical scaffolding for later acquisition. The analysis identified 194 high-value phonetic radicals that support the non-lexical route through both direct mapping and orthographic analogy. These findings suggest that even when phonetic transparency is low, high internal consistency allows for analogical inference, effectively shifting cognitive resources toward germane load. This study offers a data-driven framework for an actionable pedagogical syllabus, prioritizing high-value radicals to bootstrap sublexical processing and optimize the cognitive rebalancing required for efficient L2 Chinese literacy development.
Translation plays an important role in transferring meaning across languages, particularly when translating idiomatic expressions whose meanings cannot be interpreted literally. This study aimed to identify the translation strategies employed by sixth-semester students in translating English idiomatic expressions into Indonesian and to investigate the translation difficulties they encountered. The study employed a descriptive quantitative design involving 24 sixth-semester students of the English Department at UIN Fatmawati Sukarno Bengkulu. The research instrument was a translation test consisting of 15 idiomatic expressions selected from Barack Obama's speech Ignorance is Not a Virtue. The students' translations were analyzed using Baker's (1992) translation strategies, while translation difficulties were classified based on Baker (1992) and Larson (1998). The findings revealed that Translation by Paraphrase was the dominant strategy, accounting for 345 translations (95.83%), followed by Using an Idiom of Similar Meaning but Dissimilar Form with 15 translations (4.17%). No data were categorized as Using an Idiom of Similar Meaning and Form or Translation by Omission. Regarding translation difficulties, Contextual Difficulty was the most dominant category with 161 cases (73.85%), followed by Linguistic Difficulty with 33 cases (15.14%) and Cultural Difficulty with 24 cases (11.01%). The findings indicate that students experienced greater difficulty in interpreting the intended meanings of idiomatic expressions within their communicative contexts than in understanding linguistic or cultural aspects. Furthermore, 218 translations (60.55%) were classified as less accurate and inaccurate, indicating that contextual interpretation substantially influenced translation quality. The study suggests that translation instruction should emphasize contextual interpretation alongside linguistic and cultural competence to improve students' ability to translate idiomatic expressions accurately