Kreta Ayer, 牛车水与Chinatown ：论社会文化因素对翻译的影响 = A study on the impact of socio-cultural factors on translation with Kreta Ayer, Niu Che Shui and Chinatown as a case study

• Main Author: 卓欣蓉 Toh, Xin Rong
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: Chinese
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Language::Chinese
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55651
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

新加坡的牛车水代表着新加坡华人的历史与文化，因此这个地方的名称有其意义与文化价值。“牛车水”这个华文名称是翻译自马来文名称“Kreta Ayer”，也是从方言名称“Gu Chia Chwi”与“Ngau Chhe Shui”演变而来的，之后更诞生了英文译名 “Chinatown”。从“Kreta Ayer”、“Gu Chia Chwi”与“Ngau Chhe Shui”到“牛车水”，又从“牛车水”到“Chinatown”，在这翻译过程中，涉及到了不同的因素，而这些因素包括社会与文化因素，以及政府所实行的国家政策。 “Kreta Ayer”这个名称的由来、“牛车水”如何被定为“Kreta Ayer”的官方华文译名、将“Chinatown”定为“牛车水”的英文译名的原因等都是值得深入了解的问题。因此，本文将通过上述不同因素分析这些译名的诞生，其中以“目的论”来探讨这些翻译名称的由来，同时了解名称之间所存在的不对等性以及改写成份。本文也会通过“形式对等”与“动态对等”的相关理论来分析“Kreta Ayer”、“牛车水”以及“Chinatown”三者的对等关系。Chinatown in Singapore has a history and culture of its own, hence its name also has its own special meaning and cultural value. “Niu Che Shui” is the Chinese name of “Chinatown”, and it was translated from its Malay name “Kreta Ayer”. It can also be concluded that the Chinese term was derived from its dialect names, which are “Gu Chia Chwi” and “Ngau Chhe Shui”. The English term “Chinatown” only appeared after that, and was translated from “Niu Che Shui”. The different names for “Chinatown” were translated from one language to another, and this translation process was actually affected by different factors, which included socio-cultural factors as well as the policies that the Government had implemented. These factors play an important part in understanding how the different terms of “Chinatown” came about. Therefore, Skopos theory will be applied to find out how these terms were derived and decided on. At the same time, comparison will be made between “Kreta Ayer” and “Niu Che Shui”, as well as between “Niu Che Shui” and “Chinatown”, so as to find out how different they are in terms of their forms and meanings, and how rewriting was incorporated into the translation process. Formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence will be applied when making a comparison between these three terms.