A Study on Proper Noun Translation from a Cross-Cultural Perspective — Taking Research on the Protection and Development of Zhangzhou Ancient City as an Example

Bihan Lin; Yuqing Wang

doi:10.63313/IJSSEH.9026

Authors

Bihan Lin Minnan Normal University, zhangzhou 363000, China Author
Yuqing Wang Minnan Normal University, zhangzhou 363000, China Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63313/IJSSEH.9026

Keywords:

Proper Noun Translation, Cross-Cultural Perspective, Foreign Translation of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Adaptation, Translation Strategies

Abstract

As cultural carriers, proper nouns are confronted with multiple challenges in the process of cross-linguistic conversion, such as the loss of cultural connotations, ambiguous reference, and conceptual mismatch. By analyzing typical translated examples of proper nouns in historical place names, folk sayings, as well as poems and sanqu (a type of traditional Chinese verse form), this paper systematically examines the applicability and limitations of translation strategies including transliteration, free translation, literal cultural translation, and image reconstruction. The study points out that proper noun translation needs to strike a dynamic balance between foreignization and domestication, as well as between faithfulness and readability. It should not only respect the international norm of the name follows its owner but also take into account the cultural cognition and acceptability of target-language readers. This paper emphasizes that translators should possess cross-cultural interpretive awareness when dealing with culture-specific items, and realize the accurate transmission of cultural identity and the cross-linguistic reconstruction of poetic artistic conception through strategic choices, thereby providing theoretical references and practical approaches for the foreign translation and international communication of cultural heritage.

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