Translating News Titles: A Case Study on Wimbledon Championship at Xinhuanet.com

Abstract

In the era of globalization, there is a growing focus on news related to international sports events. To keep up with this trend, domestic media outlets need to translate a large volume of sports news. In this article, the author will conduct a case study of xinhuanet.com, using the Wimbledon Open as its focus. Altogether, it will involve a study of approximately 80 news headlines from xinhuanet.com between June 24 and July 7, 2013. The author attempts to outline the strategies used by translators and explain them within the framework of Nida's theory of Dynamic Equivalence. Major findings are as follows: 1) The author explores the similarities between Chinese and English news headlines and elaborates on the differences between them. They are similar in their use of digits, grammatical ellipsis, and refining the content of news, but they differ in vocabulary, tense, and format. 2) Nida's Dynamic Equivalence could actually be applied to the translation of news headlines. In Nida's thoughts, Dynamic Equivalence includes three essential terms: equivalence, naturalness, and closest approximation. While the primary goal of a sports news headline is to attract readers' attention, pique their interest, and provide the latest information. Therefore, it is appropriate to apply the dynamic equivalence translation theory to the translation of sports news headlines. The author will elaborate on five strategies, including literal translation, amplification, substitution, omission, and zero translation in sports news translation, by continuing to compare the similarities and differences between Chinese and English sports news headlines.