Subtitling Harry Potter’s fantastic world: linguistic and cultural transfer from britain to China in a subtitled children’s film

This paper aims to explore the way in which Harry Potter’s made-upness is subtitled for a contemporary Chinese audience. It will specifically underline how the official Chinese subtitles1 mediate the cultural specificities which characterise the transnational world of Harry Potter. Jerry Griswold’s (2006, 1-2) findings on children’s literature, which key characteristics including “scariness, smallness, flying, aliveness” serve compellingly to the majority of the children, will be applied to the categorisation of the representative instances in this case analysis. “Magic”, as an extension of Griswold’s category of “aliveness”, will be also considered to analyse the quintessential cultural transfer between Britain and China. The paper concludes with the fact that a high level of creativity is required from the subtitler to bridge the considerable linguistic and cultural gap between both countries in relation to the subtitling process of witchcraft and wizardry in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

The Issues of Chronology in Cataloging Chinese Archaeological Reports and Related Materials: An Investigation of the Cultural Bias in the Library of Congress Classification and Subject Headings

This article discusses peculiarities of Chinese chronology in cataloging Chinese archaeological reports and related materials. It first examines cultural limitations embedded in the Eurocentric Library of Congress Classification (LCC) and calls for catalogers’ sensitivity to authors’ cultural background while cataloging the Bronze China archaeological materials. It then discusses the ambiguity in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) Manual H1225 and presents a debate on the necessity of including Chinese dynastic information in constructing subject headings through the comparison of facets extracted in this manual and elements derived from title patterns of Chinese archaeological reports. Furthermore, this article elaborates the significance of the chronological issue from three different perspectives in library systems: FAST headings, local library users’ need, and next-generation catalogs. It ends with a conclusion that chronological information either in the LCSH or FAST headings will facilitate the discoverability and accessibility of such materials in a faceted library catalog to a group of targeted users

State succession to investment treaties: mapping the issues

Following recent decisions in Sanum v Laos and World Wide Minerals v Kazakhstan, investment lawyers have begun to engage with the legal rules governing State succession to treaties. As State succession is one of the more technical and controversial areas of general international law, this engagement can present challenges; however, the issues are too important to be ignored. This article maps out the most pressing questions of State succession that investment lawyers have faced, or are likely to face in the future. It identifies the three most salient problems — viz the succession of new States to ICSID membership and to old BITs, and the impact of cession of territory on investment protection. With respect to each of these three problems, the article analyses the general regime of State succession and its application to the investment law context, highlighting uncertainties in the law and proposing ways of dealing with them

Phraseology in Corpus-based transaltion studies : stylistic study of two contempoarary Chinese translation of Cervantes's Don Quijote

The present work sets out to investigate the stylistic profiles of two modern Chinese versions of Cervantes???s Don Quijote (I): by Yang Jiang (1978), the first direct translation from Castilian to Chinese, and by Liu Jingsheng (1995), which is one of the most commercially successful versions of the Castilian literary classic. This thesis focuses on a detailed linguistic analysis carried out with the help of the latest textual analytical tools, natural language processing applications and statistical packages. The type of linguistic phenomenon singled out for study is four-character expressions (FCEXs), which are a very typical category of Chinese phraseology. The work opens with the creation of a descriptive framework for the annotation of linguistic data extracted from the parallel corpus of Don Quijote. Subsequently, the classified and extracted data are put through several statistical tests. The results of these tests prove to be very revealing regarding the different use of FCEXs in the two Chinese translations. The computational modelling of the linguistic data would seem to indicate that among other findings, while Liu???s use of archaic idioms has followed the general patterns of the original and also of Yang???s work in the first half of Don Quijote I, noticeable variations begin to emerge in the second half of Liu???s more recent version. Such an idiosyncratic use of archaisms by Liu, which may be defined as style shifting or style variation, is then analyzed in quantitative terms through the application of the proposed context-motivated theory (CMT). The results of applying the CMT-derived statistical models show that the detected stylistic variation may well point to the internal consistency of the translator in rendering the second half of Part I of the novel, which reflects his freer, more creative and experimental style of translation. Through the introduction and testing of quantitative research methods adapted from corpus linguistics and textual statistics, this thesis has made a major contribution to methodological innovation in the study of style within the context of corpus-based translation studies.Imperial Users onl

Phraseology in Corpus-Based Translation Studies: A Stylistic Study of Two Contemporary Chinese Translations of Cervantes's Don Quijote

The present work sets out to investigate the stylistic profiles of two modern Chinese versions of Cervantes’s Don Quijote (I): by Yang Jiang (1978), the first direct translation from Castilian to Chinese, and by Liu Jingsheng (1995), which is one of the most commercially successful versions of the Castilian literary classic. This thesis focuses on a detailed linguistic analysis carried out with the help of the latest textual analytical tools, natural language processing applications and statistical packages. The type of linguistic phenomenon singled out for study is four-character expressions (FCEXs), which are a very typical category of Chinese phraseology. The work opens with the creation of a descriptive framework for the annotation of linguistic data extracted from the parallel corpus of Don Quijote. Subsequently, the classified and extracted data are put through several statistical tests. The results of these tests prove to be very revealing regarding the different use of FCEXs in the two Chinese translations. The computational modelling of the linguistic data would seem to indicate that among other findings, while Liu’s use of archaic idioms has followed the general patterns of the original and also of Yang’s work in the first half of Don Quijote I, noticeable variations begin to emerge in the second half of Liu’s more recent version. Such an idiosyncratic use of archaisms by Liu, which may be defined as style shifting or style variation, is then analyzed in quantitative terms through the application of the proposed context-motivated theory (CMT). The results of applying the CMT-derived statistical models show that the detected stylistic variation may well point to the internal consistency of the translator in rendering the second half of Part I of the novel, which reflects his freer, more creative and experimental style of translation. Through the introduction and testing of quantitative research methods adapted from corpus linguistics and textual statistics, this thesis has made a major contribution to methodological innovation in the study of style within the context of corpus-based translation studies

Roots Reloaded. Culture, Identity and Social Development in the Digital Age

This edited volume is designed to explore different perspectives of culture, identity and social development using the impact of the digital age as a common thread, aiming at interdisciplinary audiences. Cases of communities and individuals using new technology as a tool to preserve and explore their cultural heritage alongside new media as a source for social orientation ranging from language acquisition to health-related issues will be covered. Therefore, aspects such as Art and Cultural Studies, Media and Communication, Behavioral Science, Psychology, Philosophy and innovative approaches used by creative individuals are included. From the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, to the Maoris of New Zealand, to the mystical teachings of Sufi brotherhoods, the significance of the oral and written traditions and their current relation to online activities shall be discussed in the opening article. The book continues with a closer look at obesity awareness support groups and their impact on social media, Facebook usage in language learning context, smartphone addiction and internet dependency, as well as online media reporting of controversial ethical issues. The Digital progress has already left its dominating mark as the world entered the 21st century. Without a doubt, as technology continues its ascent, society will be faced with new and altering values in an effort to catch-up with this extraordinary Digitization, adapt satisfactorily in order to utilize these strong developments in everyday life

The Wing Pavilion:A Participatory Action Approach to Bamboo Architectural Research in Chinese Universities

The application of bamboo construction techniques in Chinese architecture remains behind its potential. Chinese universities began conducting participatory action research on bamboo as a building material. Students from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology designed the wing pavilion: a temporary bamboo structure built in six days inside the Nan Sha Bird Eco-Park, Guangzhou. The process combined handcraft and digital techniques within five steps: pre-design, formulation, successive answers, project, and conclusion of the theory. Eight bamboo arches interconnected to create a six-meter span roof. Each arch was pre-fabricated with two layers of split bamboo and one slender bamboo culm as reinforcement. The cartesian plane technique was utilised to overcome the indeterminacy of bamboo. Details could be fuller, and the roof lacked enough strength. More important than a perfect result, the principles of bamboo architecture transferred to students, and a range of scales can replicate the methodology. The technical solution reflected a Western functionality with an Asian essence. Many of the now underprivileged people will benefit from it since bamboo is abundant in China. Keywords: Bamboo architecture, participatory action research, green building, architectural education. DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/10-5-03 Publication date:June 30th 201