An Empirical Approach To The Translation Of Archaeological Terminology

Based on Fillmore’s Frame Theory, ISO/DIS704, and the previous research on thetranslation of museum texts, this thesis attempts to discuss the problems with thecurrent translations of archaeological terms in relation to Banpo Museum. The studycommences with an identification of the problems with the previous findings on theissue of inquiry. Most of the findings focus on the semantic, pragmatic and culturaldimensions. Nevertheless, a term can hardly be rendered into the target linguistic unitwhich incorporates concepts, conceptual relations and knowledge systems without theconstraints of frame. Therefore, much attention should be paid to the role of frame inthe analysis of archeological terms. With this in mind, this paper adopts a frame-basedapproach to the study of archaeological terms so as to explore a new translationmethod and call for the frame activation in the target language. As an empirical study,the main purpose of this thesis is to incorporate the Fillmore’s Frame Theory andISO/DIS704’s principles in the study of the terms outstanding in Banpo Museum. Onthe basis of the185terms elicited from Banpo Museum, the present study concludeswith four main problems in the current translations together with the correspondingsolutions. The research effort may contribute to the improvement of the existingtranslations, and also inspire future research into other terminologies in specializedtranslation situations.