ArticleInterdisciplinary Studies of Translation http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2026.02.022
How Does Technology Mediate Cultural Differences? An Empirical Study Based on DeepSeek's Sensitive Word Processing in English Translation on Xiaohongshu
Jingyi Zhong, Liang Luo*, Ziqi Li, Xin Chen, Xinyue Li
School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 617067, Sichuan, China.
*Corresponding author: Liang Luo
Published: February 28, 2026
Abstract
Against global digitalization and cross-cultural online communication, Xiaohongshu forms a unique cross-cultural scene filled with Chinese internet slang and culture-specific phrases. Traditional machine translation brings semantic distortion and cross-cultural misunderstanding, while AI translation bridges cultural barriers effectively. Focusing on DeepSeek’s sensitive word translation module for Xiaohongshu, this research applies four core theories and mixed em-pirical approaches such as A/B testing and questionnaire surveys. Using 5,000 Xiaohongshu UGC samples from 2024 to 2025, it compares DeepSeek with Google and Baidu Translate on sensitive word identification, translation precision and cultural adaptation, clarifying DeepSeek’s operating structure and constructing a statistically validated LLM evaluation system. Findings prove rigid literal translation from classic tools leads to cultural misreading, yet DeepSeek’s closed-loop translation strategy sharply reduces sensitive cultural word misjudgment and improves cross-cultural communication quality. This study builds a social-media-oriented adaptive translation framework and a lightweight optimi-zation tool, supplementing cross-cultural communication research and providing practical governance suggestions for overseas social platforms.
Keyword
Cultural Differences; AI Translation; Sensitive Word Processing; Cross-cultural Communication; DeepSeek; Xiaohongshu; Neural Machine Translation; Cultural Adaptation; User-generated Content
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Copyright
© 2026 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
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How to cite this paper
How Does Technology Mediate Cultural Differences? An Empirical Study Based on DeepSeek's Sensitive Word Processing in English Translation on Xiaohongshu
How to cite this paper: Jingyi Zhong, Liang Luo, Ziqi Li, Xin Chen, Xinyue Li. (2026). How Does Technology Mediate Cultural Differences? An Empirical Study Based on DeepSeek's Sensitive Word Processing in English Translation on Xiaohongshu. Translation and Foreign Language Learning, 2(2), 328-343.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/tfll.2026.02.022