Sound-Meaning Relation in English and E-C Radical Translation

 Radical translation, opposite to current translation, reflects the purer communication between two languages. In the context of radical translation, the translator’s using tendency of translation method essentially represents his or her communicative mentality, the willingness of both sides to communicate, and historical background. Before translating, translators must examine the semantic correspondence between the source language and the target language, and then choose different translation methods accordingly. The sound-meaning relation of a language reveals the culture and ideas of the source language, and whether the translation reflects such relation of the source language also shows the translator’s mentality when the two languages communicate. This paper explores English sound-meaning relation by examining the rootology study, original phonology, root phonological relationships, and morphological changes. By reviewing the historical materials of early E-C communication, this paper collects relevant cases of radical E-C translations and investigates them from the perspective of English sound-meaning relation. This paper also explores the willingness of Chinese and western translators and the roles they played in E-C communication through historical discourse analysis.