Abstract
Translation is, and always has been, an important pathway for language development.
Fostering language innovation is one of the great values of translation, but it is not easy to
achieve language innovation in translation, for the introduction of neologisms and new
expressions in translation meets with resistance from the target language. The more original
they are, the greater resistance they encounter in translation. In order to maintain the possibility
of language innovation while sustaining the impact of translation, we need to pay sufficient
attention to the translation-resistance of literary language, refraining from “smoothing out”
the qualities of the original language in the name of smoothness and fluency. We also need to
understand and reconcile “translationese” and “linguistic foreignness”, trying to preserve
heterogeneity in lexicon, syntax, narrative, and other aspects of the original work, so as to help
translation fulfil its mission of conveying differences, opening up space for language innovation,
reproducing the literariness of the original work, and enriching the culture.
