transliterate; phonetic translation (vs. semantic translation)
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesverb
to transliterate; to translate phonetically (as opposed to semantic translation)
In linguistics and translation studies, this refers to the method of translating a foreign word by approximating its pronunciation in the target language rather than translating its meaning. It is commonly used for proper nouns, loanwords, and technical terms with no local equivalent.
“
Shā沙
fā发
”
shì是
Yīng英
yǔ语
“
sofas
deo
yīnf
yìa
”
的
音
译
。
“Shafa” is a transliteration of the English word “sofa.”
Hěn很
duō多
wài外
lái来
míng名
cí词
dōu都
cǎi采
yòng用
yīn音
yì译
de的
fāng方
fǎ法
。
Many foreign nouns adopt the method of transliteration.
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Yīn音
yì译
hé和
yì意
yì译
shì是
fān翻
yì译
zhōng中
chǔ处
lǐ理
wài外
lái来
cí词
de的
liǎng两
zhǒng种
zhǔ主
yào要
fāng方
shì式
。
Transliteration and free translation are the two main methods for handling loanwords in translation.