Chinese translation from a sociolinguistic approach: a research experience in Malaysia

A sociolinguistic perspective in translation has been recognized as a viable means to uncover the intricate connections between translation and society. It involves not only scrutinizing the verbal languages present in texts but also delving into the non-verbal languages prevalent in real-world social contexts. Our case study focuses on Chinese street food translations in Malaysia; this topic is still rather uncharted due to the limited number of studies recognizing the occurring translations of food names from Chinese to other languages. The selection of Chinese street foods derives from the complexity of a fusion situation in translations, while Chinese language is translated into English (standard or non-standard), Malay, and romanized languages are based on Chinese dialects. As a result, in this study, we offer personal research experience pertaining to the Chinese translation of street food names in Malaysia. An autobiographical narrative is used in this study to reflect the research reflexivity of our research. This study portrays several methodological challenges that we encountered while employing a sociolinguistic approach in order to explore the translation phenomenon of street food names in Malaysia. Our personal experience in this study emphasizes the challenges encountered in the methodology more than the outcomes. The two procedures – data collection and data analysis – form the basis of the analysis. The challenges in collecting data include mapping research settings, taking pictures, bonding with the community/respondents, and adhering to ethics. The challenges in analyzing the data include formulating a framework, analyzing actual translation situations rather than translation quality, and consulting experts for trustworthiness. In conclusion, this study argues that a sociolinguistic approach to translation concentrates on society and people in real life, which is different from translation studies as texts. This Malaysian experience is useful in developing a series of feasible methods for conducting fieldwork related to translation studies. The complexity implies that translation in Malaysia is not only cultural translation but also multicultural translation, and translation has the potential to go through a “diversity turn” in the coming age.

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