生态翻译学视角下文化负载词英译研究-以《活着》为例

.IntroductionUnderthecurrentbackgroundofglobalization,China’scultural“goglobal”strategyhighlightsliterarytranslationasvitalforcross-culturalunderstanding.Duetotheirsemanticconnotations,thetranslationofculture-loadedwordsisdifficultinEnglish.ToLivebyYuHuaisanovelthatcontainsmanywordsthatdepicttheChinesesocietyandculture,makingitagoodexample.Hence,thisthesis,basedontheprinciplesofEco-translatology,exploresthetranslationproceduresofculture-loadedwordsinToLive,withthehelpofthethree-dimensionaltransformations.Therefore,thetwoquestionsstudiedinthethesisareasfollows:Inthetranslation,howdotranslatorscontinuouslyadjustandmakedecisionstoachievethetransformationofculture-loadedwordsacrosslinguistic,cultural,andcommunicativedimensionsinecologicalenvironment?Whatstrategiesdotranslatorsadopttoaccomplishthetransformationofculture-loadedwordsintermsoflinguistic,cultural,andcommunicativedimensions?Thepaperadoptscaseanalysisandcomparativeanalysisasresearchmethodstoprovidemorereliablesupportforthestudyoftranslator’stranslationtransformationinlinguistic,cultural,andcommunicativedimensions.Thefirstresearchmethodiscomparativeanalysis.Fromtheperspectiveofecologicaltranslationstudies,thispaperundertakesacomparativeanalysisofculture-loadedwordsinboththeoriginaltextanditstranslation,exploringwhetherthetranslatorhasaccuratelyconveyedtheculturalconnotationofthetargettext.Thesecondresearchmethodiscaseanalysis.Inordertodemonstratethetranslator’sadaptabilityanddecision-makingprocess,theauthorneedtoselectsrepresentativeexamples.ThisstudyemploysEco-translatologytoinvestigateculture-loadedwordsinToLive.Theanalysisfocusesonhowtranslatorsbalanceculturalauthenticityandreaderaccessibility.Thisbalanceoperatesacrossthreedimensions:linguisticdimension,culturaldimension,andcommunicativedimension.Findingsrevealtwocriticalrequirements.Firstly,translatorsmustadaptnuancedelementsofthesourcetext.Secondly,theymustaligntheseadaptationswithtarget-audienceexpectations.TheseinsightsprovidepracticalguidancefortranslatingChineseliteratureinglobalizedcontexts.2.LiteratureReviewTobetterstudytheEnglishtranslationofculture-loadedwords,aprecisedefinitionofculture-loadedwordsisessential.Culture-loadedwordsaredefinedbyNida(1964)as“lexicalitemswithspecificculturalreferences,whosesemanticfieldmaybepartiallyabsentorentirelymissinginanotherlanguage”.Therefore,high-qualitytranslationofculture-loadedwordsrequiresadeepunderstandingofbothrelatedculturesandahighproficiencyinthetargetlanguage(Liu&Chen,2018).2.1PreviousStudiesonEnglishTranslationofCulture-loadedWordsatHomeTheEnglishtranslationofculture-loadedwordshasachievedconsiderableresultsindomesticresearch,whichwillbeelaboratedfromthefollowingaspects.SunandHan(2021)exploredthetranslationofsuchterms,emphasizingtheimportanceofconsideringtheecologicaltranslationenvironmentintheprocess.Pan(2021),fromaSkopostheoryperspective,pointedoutthatecologicalculturalloadedwordsmostoftenreflectthecoherenceprinciple,whilematerialculturalloadedwordsusuallyfollowthepurposivenessandfidelityprinciples,andsocialandlinguisticculturalloadedwordstypicallydemonstratetheapplicationofboththecoherenceandpurposivenessprinciples.Xu(2021)suggestedthatthetheoryoffunctionalequivalencecanbeusedtodeterminewhethertheculture-loadedwordssoundnaturalinthetargetlanguageandprovidesatheoreticalframeworkfortestingthetranslationofculture-loadedwords.Shan(2023)inhisstudyonthebasisofSkopostheoryfoundthatwhiletranslatinglinguisticallyculture-loadedwords,thetranslatorsgivemoreimportancetothesub-strategyofacceptability.Incontrast,fortheotherfourtypesofculture-loadedwords,theyrefertothespecificculture.Thisapproachhelpstranslatorstoachievethisbalancebetweenthetwosub-goals,thusmaintainingthecoherenceprinciple.LiuandWu(2024),fromthestandpointofculturalback-translationtheory,highlightedthattheprimaryfocusintranslatingculture-loadedwordsshouldbeonaccuratelyconveyingthecommunicativeintentandstylisticelementsoftheoriginaltext.Duringthetranslationprocess,itiscrucialtoensurethatthetranslationisbothreadableandfluent.LvandYao(2024),fromtheperspectiveoftranslatorbehaviorcriticism,proposedadual-centeredevaluationsystemof“behavior-socialdimension”inculture-loadedwordtranslation,basedontheexistingresearchinthebehaviorandtextdomains.Zhou(2021)addressedtheissueofhowtomaintaintheculturalmeaningandemotionalconnotationoftheoriginaltextinthetranslationofculture-loadedwordsincross-culturalcommunication.Zhouarguedthatthetranslationofculture-loadedwordsshouldfocusonfunctionalequivalenceanddynamicequivalence,andthatmoreattentionshouldbepaidtotheculturalbackgroundofthetargetlanguagereadersduringthetranslationprocess,usingastrategythatcombinesbothdomesticationandforeignization.Li(2019)discussedthechallengeoftranslatingculture-loadedwordsthatcannotbedirectlytranslatedorhavenocorrespondingterms.Libelievedthattranslatorsshouldchoosetheappropriatetranslationmethodbasedonthecontext,suchasexplanatorytranslationortransliterationwithannotation,toconveytheconnotationoftheculture-loadedwordsfromthesourcelanguage.Huang(2022)addressedtheissueofavoidingculturalconflictsintheEnglishtranslationofculture-loadedwords,especiallyinliteraryworksandadvertisingtexts,wherethetransmissionofcultureoftenfacessignificantchallenges.Huangarguedthattraditionaltranslationmethodsoftenneglectthedepthofculturaldifferences.Sherecommendedusingadualstrategyof“culturaladaptation”and“contextualrestoration”whentranslatingculture-loadedwordstoensuretheaccuraterepresentationofthesourcecultureinthetargetlanguage,andemphasizedthattranslatorsshouldpaymoreattentiontotheemotionaltransmissionofculture.Gao(2020)pointedoutthatthetranslationofculture-loadedwordsnotonlyinvolvesdifficultiesatthelinguisticlevelbutalsoconcernsthechallengeoftranslatingimplicitculturalfactors.Gaoproposedthatwhentranslatingculture-loadedwords,attentionshouldbegiventothetransmissionofimplicitcultureanduse“supplementarytranslation”method,whichincludesprovidingbackgroundinformation,annotations,orfootnotes.Li(2020)focusedonhowtomakeappropriatetranslationchoicesbasedondifferentcontextsintheprocessoftranslatingculture-loadedwords,avoidingtheissueofoverlysimplifiedtranslations.Liarguedthattranslatorsshouldadoptdynamicequivalencetranslationmethodsbasedontheneedsofdifferentcontextsandadjusttranslationstrategiesaccordingly.Sheemphasizedthatthetranslationofculture-loadedwordsisnotjustaboutlanguageconversionbutalsoaboutconveyingthecontextandadaptingtheculture.Zhao(2023)discussedtheissueofculturalequivalencebetweenthesourcecultureandthetargetculturewhentranslatingChineseculture-loadedwords.Zhaoarguedthatthetranslationofculture-loadedwordsshouldadheretotheprincipleofculturalequivalence,meaningthatthetargetcultureshouldbeabletounderstandandaccepttheconnotationofthesourceculture.Sheemphasizedthattranslatorsshouldincorporateculturalbackgroundinformationtohelpreadersunderstandtheuniquenessandsignificanceofthesourceculture.Liu(2021)identifiedamajorissueinthetranslationofculture-loadedwords:culturalbarriers,whichrefertohowculturaldifferencesbetweenthesourceandtargetlanguagesaffectthetransmissionofwords.Liubelievedthatthemosteffectivewaytotranslateculture-loadedwordsistofollowtheprincipleofculturalequivalence,ensuringthatthetargetlanguageconveystheculturalemotionsofthesourcelanguage.Shesuggestedusingtransliterationwithexplanationwhennodirectequivalentwordsareavailabletohelptargetlanguagereadersbetterunderstandtheculturalconnotationsofthesourcelanguage.2.2PreviousStudiesonEnglishTranslationofCulture-loadedWordsatAbroadTheEnglishtranslationofculture-loadedwordshasachievedsignificantprogressininternationalresearch,whichwillbesystematicallyanalyzedfromthefollowingperspectives.Xia(2010)alsostudiedthetranslationofculture-loadedwordsrelatedtotheChinesebureaucracyinDreamoftheRedChamberandproposedthenotionofculture-loadedwords.Inthesameway,Adelnia&Dastjerdi(2011)discussedthetranslationstrategiesofculture-loadedwordsinDreamoftheRedChamberandtheauthorrecommendedthattranslatorsshouldtrytofindidiomaticequivalenttonon-idiomaticonesandattempttofindthesamerelationshipastheoriginaltext.AccordingtoLiu(2016)whousedrelevancetheory,thefollowingarethetranslationstrategiesforculture-loadedwords:predictivestrategies,context-buildingstrategies,andvaguetranslationstrategies.Inhispaper,Zhou(2017)pointedoutthattranslationofculture-loadedwordsshouldaimattheecologicalenvironmentoftranslatingChineseculturaltermsandthequalityofthetranslator.Marco（2019）usedbothqualitativeandquantitativeanalysistoanalyzeculture-loadedwords.Hisresearchshowedthattheuseofneutralizationapproachintranslatingthesewordsismoreprevalentthantheuseofdomesticationorforeignizationapproach.ZhouandHua(2021)pointedoutthatinlinewiththetheoryoffunctionalequivalence,thetranslationofculture-loadedwordsshouldbedonewithsomedegreeoffreedom.Theyrecommendedusingsuchapproachesasliteraltranslation,freetranslation,andparaphrasinginordertomaintaintheculturalconnotationsofthesetermstothemaximumextentpossible.Studiesontranslatingculture-loadedwordshaveprovidedimportantfindingsforseveraldecades.However,somechallengesremainunresolved.Forinstance,westilldonothaveeffectivemeansforquantifyingthelevelofadaptationintheprocessoftranslatingbetweenculturalandcommunicativeadequacy.Thesemulti-dimensionalconflictscannotbeeffectivelyhandledbytheexistingframeworks.Thesecondproblematicareaisthatoftranslatorethics.Underthesemulti-dimensionalconflicts,itisdifficulttomeasurethemoralleveloftranslators.ItwillbemoreeffectivetoaddressthesefactorsinordertomeettheecologicalneedsoftheglobalizingChineseculture.Therefore,ourstudyisbasedonthegapsthatarerelatedtoEco-translatology’sthree-dimensionaltransformations.Inthefollowingsections,wewilldiscusshowlinguistic,cultural,andcommunicativedimensionscansystematicallyaddresstranslationissueswithculture-loadedwords.3.Eco-translatologyThissectionpresentsthemaintheoreticalbackgroundoftheresearch:Eco-translatology.Inparticular,wewilldiscussthree-dimensionaltransformationsofEco-translatology.Theselinguistic,cultural,andcommunicativedimensionsassistinexplaininghowtotranslateculture-loadedwords.Thefollowingsub-sectionselaboratetheseideasinastep-by-stepmanner.Itwillalsoexplainhoweachofthepartsappliesintranslation.3.1IntroductiontoEco-translatologyEco-translatologywasproposedbyHu(2003).Thistheoryrepositionstranslationasaprocessthatisinaconstantstateofflux.Itstressesonecologicaladaptionintermsoflinguistic,culturalandcommunicativeinterfaces.Thisframeworkgoesfurtherthansimpletranslationinthelinguisticsense.Itiscomposedoftwofundamentalactivities:contextualizationandcross-culturalintermediation.Therearetwoissuesthattranslatorshavetosolvehere:culturalpermeabilityandcognitiveopenness.ScholarshavefurtheradvancedEco-translatologyfrompreviousresearchesconductedonthesubject.Nida’sdynamicequivalencetheory(1964)laidthegroundworkforasignificantone.Itmadeaudienceresponseasoneofitsguidingprinciples.Ecologicaltranslationbuildsonthisconceptintermsofasystemsapproach.Itdoesnotconsidertranslationasaseriesofdiscreteeventsbutasanetworkofinteractionswiththeenvironment.Venuti'sdomestication/foreignizationframework(1995)sharessimilarculturalnegotiationgoals.However,Eco-translatologydiffersbyfocusingonreciprocityinadaptation.Inthisregard,House’s(1997)ideaoftranslatorsasinterculturalintermediariesisinharmonywithHu’secologicalmodelwheretranslatorsareviewedasecosystemmaintainerswhomediatebetweensourceandtargetcultures.Eco-translatologypositsthattheeco-environmentencompasseslinguistic,cultural,andsocialelementsofbothsourceandtargetlanguages,aswellastheinteractivedynamicsamongthetranslationcommunity(translators,readers,publishers,etc.).Eco-translatologydescribestranslationasadynamicprocess.Inthisprocess,translatorsactivelyadapttotheeco-environment.Theymakestrategicchoicestoachievefunctionalequivalence.ThisframeworkbuildsonDarwin’s“adaptation/selection”principles.Itscoregoalisbalancingthesource-languageecologywiththetarget-languageecology.Takethetranslationof“道”asanexample.Translatorsareofferedadilemma:phonetictranscription(Dao)ormeaning(theWay).Thisisthedilemmabetweencultureandmulticulturalism.Thethree-dimensionaltransformationsofEco-translatologyarepracticalinnature.Thethree-dimensionaltransformationsareasfollows;Linguistic,Cultural,andCommunicative.However,thesedimensionsarenotfixedbutrelativeinthesensethattheyareconnected.3.2 Three-dimensionalTransformationsinEco-translatologyThree-dimensionaltransformationsareoneofthemaincomponentsofEco-translatology.Theyemphasizethattranslationisnotonlytheshiftfromonelanguagetoanotherbutfromonecultureandsocietytoanotheraswell.Theconceptisaboutthetransformationoftranslationwithreferencetotheecologicalperspective.Thisisachievedthroughlanguage,cultureandsociety.Thesedimensionsexpandthetheoryoftranslationandaddnewideastotheexistingonesinthefollowingways.Itsmainprinciplesandopinionsofscholarsinfavorofthetheorywillbeintroducedinthefollowingpart.3.2.1LinguisticDimensionThelinguisticdimensionfocusesontheprocessofconversionbetweenthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage.Translationshouldnotmerelybeasuperficialword-for-wordreplacementbutshouldfocusonthetransformationoflanguagestructures,grammar,vocabulary,andotheraspects.HuGengshenproposesthattranslationisaprocessoflanguageadaptation,whichmustpayattentiontothetargetlanguage’sacceptancerulesandmodesofexpression,ratherthansimplyre-presentingthesourcelanguagedirectly.Accordingtothetheoryofdynamicequivalence,EugeneNida(1964)alsointroducedtheconceptof“functionalequivalent”intranslation,wherethetranslatorshouldaimtoconveythesamefunction,meaning,andimpactoftheoriginaltextasfaraspossible,notmerelyatthelinguisticlevel.HuGengshenalsopointedoutthatthelinguisticdimensionoftranslationshouldbebothlinguisticallyandculturallyacceptable,andthatthelinguisticflexibilityismoreimportant.Thespecificmanifestationsinthelinguisticdimensionoftransformationareasfollows:1.Lexicalconversion:Lexicalconversionisaveryimportantaspectofthetransformationprocessoflanguage.Thisisbecausemanyculture-loadedwordsdonotretaintheiroriginalmeaningswhentranslateddirectly,whichiswhyculturalorexplanatorytranslationisoftenused.Hu(2001)notesthatsincelexicalunitsarethebasisoflanguage,translatorsneedtobefaithfultothesourcetextwhileatthesametimetakingintoconsiderationtheculturalunderstandingofthetargetaudience.Forexample,theChineseNewYearblessing“年年有余”istranslatedintoEnglishas“Everyyearhassurplus”whichmaynotmakemuchsensetotheEnglishreaders.Aculturallyequivalentphraselike“Mayyouhaveaprosperousnewyeareveryyear”maintainsthemeaningwhilemakingiteasierforpeopleofdifferentculturestounderstand.2.SyntacticConversion:Itisafactthattherearesomemajordifferencesinsyntacticstructuresofthesourceandthetargetlanguagesandthereforerequiresomesystematicchanges.Li(2020)pointsoutthatsyntacticconversionsdonotonlyincludethechangeofwordorderbutalsotherearrangementofinformationdistributioninaccordancewiththetargetlanguage.Forinstance,theEnglishsentence“Hegavemeabookyesterday”istranslatedintoChineseas“昨天他给了我一本书”,wherethetemporaladverb“昨天”ispositionedatthebeginningofthesentenceforfluency.Aliteraltranslationsuchas“他昨天给了我一本书”isstillcomprehensiblebutsoundsunnatural,whichshowsthatthesyntacticaspectshouldbeprioritized.Inotherwords,thelinguisticdimensionisnotonlytheconversionofthevocabularybutalsothechangesinthesyntacticpatterns.Intheprocessofthelinguistictransformation,thetranslatorscancreateacommunicativelinkbetweenthelanguagesandcultures,thusmakingsurethatthereadersofthetargetlanguagewillbeabletounderstandthemeaningofthetextwritteninthesourcelanguageaswellasfollowtherulesofthetargetlanguage.3.2.2CulturalDimensionTheculturaldimensionisakeypointinEco-translatology.HuGengshenemphasizesthattranslationisaformofcross-culturalcommunicationandadaptation.Thesourcecultureandthetargetcultureexhibitdistinctdifferences,andtranslatorsmustfullyrecognizethesedifferencesandstrivetoensurethatthetranslationretainsthedistinctivefeaturesofthesourceculturewhilealsobeingunderstandableandacceptabletothetargetculture'sreaders.Regardingculturaldifferences,scholarsoftheculturaltranslationschool,suchasAnthonyPym(2010),proposedthetheoryof"culturaladaptation."Hepointedoutthattheprocessoftranslationisnotonlyaconversionofthetextfromonelanguagetoanotherbutalsoaninterchangeandaccommodationbetweentwocultures.HuGengshen’sopinioncanbeconsideredastheexpansionofPym’stheory,ashestatesthatthetranslatorhastotakeintoaccountthevalues,historyandsocialcontextofthetargetcultureinordertocreateaharmonybetweenthetwoculturesintheprocessoftranslation.Thespecificmanifestationintheculturaldimensionoftransformationisasfollows:1.Adaptionofculture:Culture-loadedwordsarewordsthathaveculturalconnotations.Theydonothavedirecttranslationsinotherlanguages.Translatorsmusthandlethesecarefully.Thesearetwoobjectives:semanticsimilarityandculturalcomprehensibility.Liu(2019)haspointedoutthatthereisaneedformoderationinthisregard.Therearethreeapproachesthatcanbeemployedbythetranslators:amplification,annotation,orsubstitution.Thesemethodsassistinmediatingbetweensourcetextandtargetcultureintermsofaccuracyandreadability.Forinstance,theChineseterm“龙”hasbeenusedtorefertothedragon.InChineseculture,itisassociatedwiththepowerandluck.However,intheWesternworld,theterm“dragon”isassociatedwithsomethingnegative.Abetterapproachcombines“Chinesedragon”withexplanations.Thisisinlinewiththeretentionstrategyofliteraltranslation/transliterationplusnotes.Itmaintainsculturalrepresentationwhileeradicatingculturaldifferencesbetweenpeoplefromdifferentculturalbackgrounds.Allinall,theculturaldimensioniscrucialinEco-translatology.Itsfocusistheadaptionofculture.Translatorscannotsimplytranslatetheliteralmeaningofwordsandphrasesinatext.Theyhavetopaymuchattentiontothedistinctionsbetweenthesourceandtargetculturewhenadapting.3.2.3CommunicativeDimensionHu(2005)clarifiescommunicativedimension’sessenceisintheprovisionofinformationaswellasinitsperceptionbytheaudience.Therefore,translatorshavedualresponsibilities.Thetranslatorshavetoensurethatthetranslationconveysthemeaningofthesourcetextandatthesametime,bearinmindthereader’slevelofunderstanding.Todothis,thetranslationsarealignedtothereaders.Thisinvolvesknowledgeofthreefactors,namelycultural,socialandcognitivefactorsoftheaudience.Xu(2007)addsanothercriticallayer.Itisnotonlythecommunicativechangethatistakingplacehere.Italsoincludestheprocessofadjustingthetranslationstothegoalsandpurposesofthecommunication.Thespecificmanifestationsinthecommunicativedimensionoftransformationareasfollows:1.TransmissionofSocialFunctions:Thecommunicativedimensionhastwopriorities.Firstofall,ithelpstoavoiddistortionofinformationduringitstransmission.Second,itmaintainssocialrolesinlanguage.Thesefunctionsareasfollows:Todisplaysocialroles,relationships,oremotions.Suchfunctionshavetobeexplainedtothetargetaudiencebythetranslators.AccordingtoLi(2015),oneofthechallengesisthesocio-communicativedifferencesbetweenlanguages.Forinstance,somelanguageshavehonorificstoexpressrespecttotheelderlyortothoseofahigherrank.Otherslackdirectequivalents.LetusconsiderChineseandEnglishasthetwolanguagesofcomparison.TheChinesepronoun“您”isusedtoshowrespecttotheeldersorpeopleofhigherstatus.Englishusesthesame“you”foreveryone.Translatorsneedcreativesolutionshere.Onestrategyisadjustingsentencestructures.Translating“您能否帮我一个忙？”as“Couldyoupleasehelpme?”addspolitemarkers.ThismatchesEnglishnormswhilekeepingtheoriginalrespectfultone.2.PragmaticTransformation:Pragmatictransformationmeansadjustinglanguagetofithowtargetreaderscommunicate.Itsaimisclear:toensurethatthetranslatedtextscorrespondtothereaders’languageuseandtheirexpectationsofinteraction.Thisincludeschangesinpolitenesslevel,inthechoiceofwords,andinthechoiceoftherightcontext.AsZhao(2023)haspointedout,thisprocessisnotanoption.Hedescribesitascrucialincrossculturalcommunication.Translatorsshouldnotbeconfinedtotheliteralsenseofthewords.Theiractualworkistoexplainthepurposeofthetextandatthesametimemaintaintheculturalandpracticalaspects.Forexample,theEnglishrequest“Couldyoupleasepassmethesalt?”directlytranslatedas“你能把盐递给我吗？”retainssemanticaccuracybutappearsoverlybluntinChinesediscourse.Apragmaticallynaturalizedtranslation,suchas“请把盐递给我，好吗？”betteralignswithChinesepolitenessconventions,effectivelyconveyingthecourteoustoneoftheoriginalrequest.Insummary,thecommunicativedimensionfocusesonmediatingtwokeyaspects:communicativefunctionsandsocialfunctionsintranslation.Translatorsmustusemultifacetedstrategiestoachievethreegoals.First,theyneedtoeffectivelytransferinformationalcontent.Second,theymustpreserveaffectiveelements.Third,theyshouldadaptsocioculturalfunction.Thisprocessmovesmeaningfromthesourcelanguagetothetargetlinguisticenvironment.Bydoingthis,translatorssuccessfullyreachcross-culturalcommunicativeobjectives.Fromtheaboveanalysis,itcanbeseenthatthree-dimensionaltransformationtheoryisanextensionanddeepeningoftraditionaltranslationtheory.Eco-translatologycanbeconsideredasawidetheoreticalframeworkfortranslationstudies.Itoffersamacroscopicviewoftranslationthatisbeneficialinthatitoffersabroadperspectiveoftheprocess.Italsooutlinesthree-dimensionaltransformationsthatareusedtodirectparticulartranslationpractices.Thisapproachdrawsfromthefieldsoflinguistics,culturalstudies,andsociology.Itimpliesthattranslationshouldnotbelimitedtowordforwordtranslation.Itshouldalsotakeintoaccountculturalaspectandsocialsetting.Thesefactorsmakeitpossibletoensurethattheprocessoftranslationisflexibleandefficient.4.AnalysisofEnglishTranslationofCulture-loadedWordsfromThree-dimensionalTransformationsInthesubsequentsections,wewillanalyzethetranslationofculture-loadedwordsinToLivethroughtheperspectiveofthree-dimensionaltransformations.Thiscomprehensiveanalysiswillhighlighttheroleofdifferenttranslationstrategiesinachievingabalanceacrossthesethree-dimensions.4.1EnglishTranslationofCulture-loadedWordsandTranslationStrategiesunderLinguisticDimensionThelinguisticdimensioninvolvestheconversionoflanguageformsduringtranslation.FromtheoriginalChinesetexttothetargetlanguageEnglish,bothvocabularychoicesandsentencestructuresundergoadjustments.Example1ST1TT1可是想想嫁出去的女儿就是泼出去的水，凤霞早就是二喜的人了，不能在家里待得太久。Iknewthatadaughtermarriedoffwasjustlikeapailofwaterthathadbeendumpedout.FengxiaalreadybelongedtoErxi,andIknewshewouldn’tbeabletostaytoolong.Comparingthesourcetextwiththetranslation,itispossibletoidentifysomesyntacticdifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglish.Chineseisknowntobealanguagethatfrequentlydropssubjects,asthecontextisusedtoprovidemeaningandcoherence.Ontheotherhand,Englishdemandsthesubjecttobeexpresseddirectlytoavoidconfusion.Thisdifferencerequirestheintroductionofpronouns.ThissyntacticconversionisinlinewiththelinguisticdimensionofEco-translatology.Itdemonstrateshowtranslatorsdealwithstructuraldifferencesinordertoachieveacomparablefunctionalityofthetranslatedtext.Thesourcetext,“嫁出去的女儿就是泼出去的水”isaproverbwhichbelongstothetraditionalChineseculture.Itimpliesthatonceadaughterismarried,sheisnolongeramemberofherparentalhomeaswaterthathasbeenpouredoutcannotbegatheredback.Thismetaphorisexpressedinthetranslationofthephrase“adaughtermarriedoffwasjustlikeapailofwaterthathadbeendumpedout”.Thephrase“pailofwater”isusedtodescribeanunmarrieddaughter,andthetranslation“hadbeendumpedout”vividlyshowsthiskindofrelationshipdetachment.Underthiscontext,lexicalconversioncanbesaidtofitthelingui