Abstract: This paper reports the findings of a study on the acceptability of English translations of 20 popular Chinese neologisms through questionnaires and in-depth interviews with native speakers of English. The study tries to find out the elements that influence such acceptability in terms of translation strategies and methods and others. An analysis of the survey results reveals that when translating Chinese neologisms, context greatly influences the acceptability of translation strategy:for words exhibiting a large cultural vacancy, a conservation translation strategy such as literal translation method or transliteration method with annotation method works better, while for words exhibiting a smaller cultural vacancy, priority should be given to such substitution translation strategies as free translation method and naturalization method. Furthermore, great attention should be paid to the cognition, thinking patterns, the culture tradition of the potential readers and the communication purpose, which entail flexible use of translation methods.

Key words: popular Chinese neologisms, acceptability of translation, translation strategies and methods