Actually, "loong" is not a new translation. According to scholarly records, as early as the beginning of the 19th century, when the British missionary Mashman translated the Analects, he pronounced "dragon" as "loong". However, in his explanation, he still used the word "dragon". And "dragon" as a translation of dragon, has a long history. According to experts, there is a record of "dragon" in Marco Polo's travelogue to the East, and he may have thought that the dragons in Chinese architecture were similar to the "dragons" in the West. Later, the Chinese-English Dictionary compiled by the British missionary Morrison translated the word "dragon" as "dragon", which had a profound impact on the spread of the vocabulary.
Why change the translation?Some people believe that the image of the dragon in the West is a mouth spitting flames, huge wings and long scales, with a tyrannical connotation;The Chinese dragon symbolizes the clouds and clouds, and the time of the day, which has an auspicious meaning. Although this distinction is somewhat rough, there is indeed a huge difference between the image of the Chinese dragon and the Western dragon, which is also based on the fact that the different cultural contexts are based.
The translation debate over dragons has been going on for decades. This also illustrates the fact that around the world, the recognition of "loong" as a standard translation needs to be improved, otherwise it will not cause "controversy".
However, changing the translation is only the first step. It is more important to tell the story of "loong" well, so that this word, along with the cultural connotation and rich imagery behind it, can be accepted and known by more people. As the linguist Saussure pointed out, words have both their spelling and pronunciation, as well as their meanings. It is only when we have signifiers and signifiers that language can truly play the role of expression.
Therefore, we need to keep creating the meaning of "loong" to make the word meaningful. In modern society, through the presentation of cultural products such as design, literature, animation, film and television, and games, "loong" can enter the world cultural context in a concrete and tangible way, and fundamentally change language habits. Therefore, "translation" is only the first step, and "culture" is the second half.
Think about it, when people talk about the translation of dragon, they actually hope that China's unique culture can be presented to the world in a more distinctive way. And this needs to follow the logic of cultural development and gain wider recognition under the influence of time.
Taking "loong" as an example, can we truly integrate this word into the world's language system by creating wonderful cultural products?