The English Translation of Chinese Internet Buzzwords and Its Dissemination and Reception in Mainstream British and American Media

Abstract

Based on Fairclough's three-dimensional discourse analysis model and the News on the Web (NOW) corpus, this study is going to explore the dissemination and reception of Chinese internet buzzwords in mainstream British and American media from 2019 to 2024. The research will focus on high-frequency buzzwords such as "neijuan" (involution), "tangping" (lying flat), and "996 culture", and will be conducted from three dimensions: textual features, discursive practices, and social practices. The findings indicate that multiple translation versions coexisted for each buzzword during the early stages of dissemination, after which mainstream translations (e.g., involution, lying flat, 996 culture) were gradually established. From the perspective of media cognition and attitudes, mainstream media in the UK and US generally acknowledge the social realities and youth mentality reflected by these buzzwords. However, their reports inevitably carry their own national stances, and some degree of bias in understanding is unavoidable. Overall, the cross-linguistic dissemination of Chinese internet buzzwords not only reflects the growing international influence of Chinese online culture, but also reveals differences in sociocultural thinking and discourse construction between China and the West.