1 Introduction

The importance of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang as a cultural treasure of the Silk Road and the role of the "Digital Dunhuang" website in digital preservation and dissemination are introduced. The translation challenges of culture-loaded words in cave murals and documents, including semantic gaps, inconsistent terminology, and uneven quality, are described. The necessity of constructing a bilingual parallel corpus and adopting a combined quantitative and qualitative approach to study translation strategies for Dunhuang culture-loaded words is proposed. The theoretical and practical significance of this research in establishing a standardized terminology translation database, improving translation quality, and promoting the "Going Global" strategy of Chinese culture is emphasized.

2 Research on Dunhuang Culture Translation and Culture-Loaded Words

The history of Dunhuang culture translation is reviewed, pointing out that early translation work began in the early 20th century and that scholars have already researched Dunhuang culture translation strategies and quality, though with issues such as insufficient quantitative analysis. The concept of "culture-loaded words" and their importance are introduced. Nida and Newmark's cultural classifications are explained, and it is proposed that this article will address issues such as corpus creation, identification of high-frequency culture-loaded words, and exploration of English translation strategies.

3 Corpus Research Methods

The corpus research methods for studying the English translation of culture-loaded words in the Mogao Caves introductions on "Digital Dunhuang" are elaborated in detail. The definition, functions, and types of corpora are first introduced, emphasizing their importance in translation studies. The construction process of the "Digital Dunhuang" parallel corpus is then detailed, including steps such as data collection, cleaning, annotation, alignment, and import, ensuring data quality and usability. For data retrieval, a combined approach using Excel and ParaConc is employed for systematic identification of culture-loaded words and summarization of translation strategies, providing empirical support for the research.

4 English Translation Strategies and Methods for Culture-Loaded Words in the Mogao Caves Introductions on "Digital Dunhuang"

The English translation strategies and methods for culture-loaded words in the Mogao Caves introductions on "Digital Dunhuang" are deeply explored. Culture-loaded words in the Mogao Caves introductions are widely distributed, covering multiple aspects such as religious beliefs, color symbolism, architectural styles, social systems, and ecological landscapes, reflecting the exchange and integration of Chinese civilization with diverse cultures. Based on the classification standards of Nida and Newmark, the translation strategies for culture-loaded words are analyzed from five aspects: religion, color, architecture, social culture, and ecology.

Regarding religious culture-loaded words, translation is more difficult due to differences in religious background and cultural cognition. Methods such as back translation, literal translation, and free translation are adopted. Back translation involves translating a text that has already been translated into the target language back into the source language, such as tracing Buddhist titles like "Four Heavenly Kings" back to their original Sanskrit translations, preserving cultural form and content, though this presents certain difficulties for foreign readers' understanding and requires annotations. Literal translation translates according to the literal meaning of the original words, suitable for cultural vocabulary with less Buddhist coloration, such as "Thousand Buddhas," "seated Buddha," and "Heavenly King," accurately and intuitively presenting source language information. Free translation focuses on conveying the functional meaning and effect of the words in the target language; for example, "sutra illustration" is used for "经变," enhancing the target audience's comprehension and acceptance through cultural adaptation.

In translating color culture-loaded words, "青" in Chinese often leans toward blue and is commonly translated as "blue," aligning with English readers' visual associations. "朱" refers to a vivid, rich red, slightly orange, symbolizing authority and auspiciousness; "朱雀" is translated as "the Scarlet Bird," both restoring color characteristics and evoking associations in Western culture. For architectural culture-loaded words, literal translation is used for vocabulary with similar equivalents, such as "niche" and "antechamber." However, for unique architectural forms in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, like "藻井," "盝形顶," and "覆斗顶," paraphrasing methods are needed to convey their specific cultural meanings.

Social culture-loaded words reflect the social structure and institutional customs of specific historical periods, such as "沙州释门都法律和尚" and "归义军节度使." In translation, omission methods are adopted to emphasize the cave art and religious expression itself. Ecological culture-loaded words originate from nature and represent cultural meanings accumulated through human-nature interaction, such as "lotus," "dragon," "honeysuckle," and "Mount Sumeru." Translators use literal translation for such loaded words to achieve the dual purpose of "presenting color and expressing cultural connotations."

5 Conclusion

This study utilizes a self-built Chinese-English parallel corpus to conduct quantitative statistics and qualitative comparative analysis on the English translation of Dunhuang Mogao Caves culture-loaded words. It proposes a translation strategy prioritizing foreignization with domestication as a supplement, employing different translation methods for various categories of culture-loaded words. It emphasizes that "Digital Dunhuang" needs to consider target language readers' reception. Future research could further integrate reader feedback and post-translation evaluation.