基于语料库的网络流行语翻译--以“人设崩塌”为例

Corpus-based Translation of Internet Buzzwords: With renshe bengta as an example

网络流行语“人设崩塌”目前尚无准确译法。初步分析表明,“人设”可在上下文中译作“image”或“persona”,“崩塌”可译作“destroy”。我们据此推测“destroy”及其常用同、近义词都可与“image”和“persona”搭配,表达“人设崩塌”之义。对英国国家语料库(BNC)与当代美国英语语料库(COCA)检索结果的分析表明,“damage/destroy/spoil/ruin/wreck+image”在两个语料库中都可表达“人设崩塌”之义,虽然其使用频率不同,有些表达似仅限英国或美国英语。以上动词与“persona”在两个语料库中少有搭配,故忽略不计。同时,虽然“tarnish”与“persona”很少搭配,但其与“image”的搭配频率在BNC与COCA中都极高,符合“人设崩塌”的语义表达要求。2017年的新词“milkshake duck”也可用于翻译“人设崩塌”,但其内涵与具体用法值得注意。

To date, there has been a lack of accurate translations of renshe bengta,a new internet buzzword.The author’s preliminary analysis indicates that renshe can be translated as “image” or “persona”,while bengta as “destroy”.It can thus be deduced that “destroy” and its synonyms may all collocate with “image” or “persona”,conveying the meaning of renshe bengta.A look at the concordances from British National Corpus(BNC) and Corpus of Contemporary American English(COCA) reveals that the collocations of “image” and “damage, destroy, spoil, ruin and wreck” can convey the meaning of renshe bengta,despite the fact that the frequencies of the collocations above vary in the two corpora and certain collocations are confined to only British or American English.The collocation of the verbs above and “persona” is extremely rare, thus negligible.Even if “tarnish” scarcely collocates with “persona”,the frequency of “tarnish+image” is very high in both BNC and COCA,meeting the semantic requirements for translating renshe bengta.Although “milkshake duck”,an English neologism in 2017,can also be used to render renshe bengta,its connotation and actual usages need to be attended to.