【abstract】with the development of the virtual world of internet, network language comes into being. as a new style of english language, network english has many distinguishing features of its own. this paper mainly studies the word-formation methods and some semantic characteristics of network english. some translation methods of network english are proposed according to the different features.
　　【key words】network english;word-formation; translation
　　
　　introduction
　　with the development of computer technology, internet is more and more widely spread. the convenience of communication and exchange from internet is well acknowledged among many people. in real time communication of network, english is doubtless the main aid for communication no matter by e-mails or chat room conversation. thus network english comes in to being. “standard internet english are commonly used words in e-mail, discussion groups, chat rooms, dictioary. com on internet, yahoo)
　　and also with the popularity of internet, english thereupon develops and changes as main language in internet. network english has a new vocabulary which either describes the new things, or the newly formed abbreviation for easy inputting, or the common symbolic language of the world. the network will bring new ideas and things to people every day and the new vocabulary produced by it is increased progressively at the paces of 500 words every year. however, the dictionaries compiled by experts are far behind the emerging of the new network english. therefore, it is greatly necessary for us to analyze the word-formation methods, characteristics and translation of network english, hoping to be helpful to many internet users.
　　
　　1 the word-formation of network english
　　
　　generally speaking, the word-formation of network english follows the methods and principles of word-formation of standard english, however, it has formed some unique characteristics at the same time, which gradually become the major trend in the development of network english. the new words in network english have inherited some traditional word-formation methods, such as compounding, derivation, abbreviation and so on. but some nonce words have also come into being, which have been created in particular circumstances, quickly accepted by people and incorporated in modern english. the word-formation methods of network english will be introduced in the following parts respectively.
　　1.1 compounding:compounding has become a more and more important network english word-building means, and the seriating of the compound words is one of the main characteristics of word-formation of network english. these words are mostly some professional terms related to computer network. a great part of these terms are neologisms developed from words meaning “network”, such as web, net, computer, internet, online.

　　1.2 derivation:the derivation words are formed by adding affixes to the derivative roots.as a major word-building means in lexicology, derivation is greatly applied in network english.
　　1.3 abbreviation:nowadays the information-intensive society developed rapidly in science and technology, the lengthy and miscellaneous words will inevitably be replaced by brief and concise words. the abbreviation is the most important word-building means of current network english. it has not merely enriched the vocabulary of english, and has provided convenience for english users.
　　acronym. in modern english, the acronym has represented a kind of trend of simplification in english vocabulary. in network english, there are acronyms of words and phrases.
　　
　　2 features of network english
　　
　　with the quickening social rhythm of life and development of media, people have more and more high expectations for the pace of information dissemination, especially while chatting on the net, people hope that they can be close to spoken communication at the pace, get rid of the norm of the traditional written language, and demonstrate great random. letters, figures, punctuation marks, symbols, and types of facial make up can all be used as communicating material. therefore, network english shows some unique characteristics.
　　2.1 to be popular.the popularity of network english is mainly reflected in its word-formation of derivation and compounding, which is analyzed in detail in chapter one. thus once a net user understands the meaning of the affix, he can infer and grasp a large amount of neologisms derived out from it. in this way, network english become popular and familiar to people very quickly.
　　2.2 to be succinct.in the network, people communicate with each other through beating the keyboard. in order to transmit the most information during the shortest time, with accuracy and high speed at the same time, achieving the goal of exchanging effectively, people must look for the most succinct expressions. therefore, a lot of abbreviation words come into being in network english.
　　the special network technology vocabulary often takes the form of abbreviation too, so as to simplify the article, save printing space and reading time, thus meeting the requirements of the computer science and high-speed development of network technology. the common characteristics of these vocabularies are that the form is succinct, the meaning of a word is single, and there is no abundant association meaning.
　　2.3 metaphor:the metaphor is mankind’s important cognitive way and mode of thinking. the metaphor thinking function of the language is the basis of the abstract function of the language. the metaphor is not the simple substitution or conversion of words. it compares the unknown to the known, the unfamiliar to the familiar, the simple to the complicated, the abstract to the concrete, and science to popularity. in the scientific and technological language, the metaphor language is indispensable. network english includes a lot of specialized network technology vocabularies and computer vocabularies. these vocabularies are scientific and technological languages to a certain extent, so network english just has a characteristic of metaphor nature, such as computer virus, gopher, archive, menu, memory, run, path. therefore, under the function of the metaphor, the abstract concept is specified, complicated meaning is simplified, scientific term is popularized, just making technological vocabulary of network english and daily life vocabulary very close, succinct and vivid, and easy to memorize. this has promoted the development and popularization of network technology and computer knowledge to a great extent.

　　2.4 symbolic language:symbolic language is also called emoticons or smiley, which is another characteristic of network english.describing the netizen’s movement, emotion and figure in symbolic language can enrich network with humanity, more vivid and more attractive, closer to the real exchange. although symbol words do not express meanings through the change of the meaning of words, and amplification chord like other words, but they can express views through different associations, replacing the function of the language. it is the most peculiar expression way in the network language.
　　2.5 nonstandard writing:people unconsciously pursue the pace of exchanging information of a kind of spoken language in exchanging in the network, so they will neglect some rules of grammar sometimes, so long as the meanings can be clearly expressed.
　　
　　3 translation of network english
　　
　　to translate the neologisms of network english, we should grasp its characteristic, as well as consider the aim of translation. the vocabulary of network english has various word-formation means, so we should adopt flexible translation methods on the basis of their different characteristics, thus transmitting the new connotations of the english words. in addition, translation is a purposeful activity. we should take corresponding method and means following its aim, express the meanings of neologisms in network english faithfully, and reflect its key content in english in an all-round way. as to the translation of the network neologisms, we mainly adopt “literal translation”, “free translation”, “transliteration”, “mixing translating”, “not translating” at present.
　　3.1 literal translation:literal translation, also called word-for-word translation, is ideally the segmentation of the sl text into individual words and tl rendering of those word-segments one at a time. most so-called literal translations are in fact compromises with the ideal: looser renditions that replace individual sl words with individual tl words wherever possible, and cling as closely as possible to the sl word order in the tl. (mona baker, 1998:125.) when the literal meanings of the neologisms are very clear and easily acceptable to readers, literal translation can be taken.
　　3.2 free translation:free translation refers to, according to the meaning of the original, without paying attention to the details and translation would also be fluent and natural. free translation need not pay attention to the form of the original, including construction of the original sentences, meaning of the original works, and metaphor of the original and so on. but free translation does not mean to delete or add content to the original and translators must consider the original carefully, know its stress, translate it naturally, and express the meaning of the original. to some words, it is very difficult for the direct literal translation to express what is included in the source language, or can’t accord with the language habits of the target language. then we will consider the method of free translation.

　　3.3 transliteration:
　　transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another. transliteration attempts to be lossless, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. when the word in english language does not have a totally corresponding word in chinese, the translator does not adhere rigidly to the language form of english and literal meaning, and can go on to translate in close chinese characters which are the same as pronunciation of english directly.
　　3.4 mixing translating:
　　mixing translating refers to apply two kinds of different translation methods in the course of translating. it is very common to mix transliteration and free translation. for example, internet is translated as inter and net, which is transliteration and free translation. another example is world wide web is rendered as /english/">英语语法教程[m].上海:上海外语教育出版社,1997:7
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