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Abstract

The topic of this research paper is “Translation of Short Texts: A case study of street names in Hong Kong”. It has been observed that existing translation studies literature appears to cater mainly for long texts. This suggests that there may be a literature gap with regard to short text translation. Investigating how short texts are translated would reveal whether mainstream translation theories and strategies are also applicable to such texts. Therefore, the objectives of the paper are two-fold. Firstly, it seeks to confirm whether there is in fact a gap in the existing literature on short texts by reviewing corpuses of leading works in translation studies. Secondly, it investigates how short texts have been translated by examining the translation theories and strategies used. This is done by way of a case study on street names in Hong Kong. The case study also seeks to remedy the possible paucity of translation literature on short texts by building an objective and representative database to function as an effective platform for examining how street names have been translated. Data, including street names in English and Chinese, are collected by way of systematic sampling from the entire data population. All entries in the database are analysed to identify their respective source language and the translation method used. The findings suggest that sound translation is the most frequently used method regardless of the direction of translation between English and Chinese. It is also found that mainstream translation theories such as the linguistic approach and the seminal translation concept of “equivalence” are applicable to street name translation. Furthermore, other major translation issues encountered are revealed. The findings of the paper will provide direction and inspiration for future studies in the area of short text translation.