文献阅读复习范围补充文档格式.docx

文献阅读复习范围补充文档格式.docx

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Translationisarenderingofideasorconceptsfromonelanguageintoanother,i.e.,thefaithfulrepresentationinthetargetlanguageofwhatiswrittenorsaidintheoriginallanguage.

Asameansofcommunication,translationplaysanimportantroleinhumancivilization.IntheWest,literarytranslationcanbetracedbackto300BC;

whileinChina,recordedtranslationactivitiesareevenearlier,datingfromZhouDynasty（1100BC）.However,notuntiltherecentcenturies,especiallybytheendofthe19thcenturydidsystematicstudyoftranslationgetunderway.Therecentdecadeshaveseenrapiddevelopmentintranslationtheoriesandtranslationactivitiesbothathomeandabroad.

Amodernsocietyseesanextensiveuseoftranslationonvariousoccasions.Properanddexteroustranslationhelpspromotemutualunderstandingbetweenpeoplesofdifferentculturalandsocialbackgrounds,whereasimproperrenderingofwordsorexpressionsleadstoconfusion.Taketheordinaryword“menu”forexample.Itsoriginalmeaningis“alistofdishesinamealortobeorderedasseparatedmeals,esp.inarestaurant”,andtheChineseequivalentseemstobeclear:

菜单.However,whenitisusedincomputerscience,itsmeaningshiftsto“alistshownonthedisplayofacomputerfromwhichausercanselecttheoperationthecomputeristoperform.”EvidentlytheChinesecounterpartshouldbesomethinglike“选项、项目单”Itisapitythattheinitialtranslatorneglectedthisdefinition,andasaresult,thisverypopulartermofcomputersciencefailstoconveyitstruemeaninginChinese--thetranslatedterm”菜单”soundsincongruouswithitsactualcontent.Soistherenderingof“Renaissance”--commonlyknownas“文艺复兴”inChinese.Althoughweknowtodaythatthemovementextendedfarbeyondtheliteratureandartcircle,andtheconnotationof“Renaissance”ismuchmoreprofoundthanthatoftheChineseterm“文艺复兴”,yetitisgenerallyacceptedthroughcommonpractice.SuchimproperrenderingisnotuncommoninChines-Englishtranslation.AsweetandmelodioustrademarkinChinese,byimpropertranslation,maycauseuneasinessorevencreatealoathsomeimageinthemindofpeopleofdifferentsocialandculturalbackgrounds.Forexample,apopularChineselipstickwiththetrademark“芳芳”,whentransliteratedintoEnglishas“Fangfang”,assumesahideousimage--theEnglishword“fang”happenstohavetwodisagreeabledefinitions:

a,along,sharptoothofadog;

b.asnake’spoisonoustooth.Consequently,thisawkwardtransliterationhasresultedinacompletefailureinmarketing.Similartranslationblundersarenotunusualinsocialoreconomicactivitiesinourcountry.Tonameafew,translating“五讲四美、三热爱”into“fivestresses,fourbeautiesandthreeloves”,“抓紧施肥”into“graspmanure”,“街道妇女”into“streetwomen”,“白酒”into“whitewine”,etc.Hadthetranslatorshadsufficienttranslationknowledge,suchblunderswouldhavebeenavoided.

1.NatureandScopeofTranslation

Whatistranslation?

Somepeoplebelieveitisascience,otherstakeitasanart;

andyetmanyconsideritacraft,orrather,askill.

Ofthesevarieddefinitions,whichoneholdstrueforourpurpose?

Theanswerdependsonhowweunderstandorinterprettheword“translation”,fortheveryword“translation”itselfisambiguous.AndtheChineseequivalentfanyisoundsevenfuzzier.Fanyi,inChinese,mayeitherstandforasubjectinthecurriculum,ajobpeopleengagein,apieceofliterarywork,orthetranslatingorinterpretingworkitself.Sometimes,fanyimayevenrefertothetranslatororinterpreterhimself/herself.

Iftheword“translation”referstoasubject,namely,thestudyoftranslationtheoryandskills,itisnodoubtascience,justasanysubjectis,withitsownrules,lawsandprinciplesforthetranslatorstoobserve;

however,ifitreferstosomespecificpiecesoftranslation,thenitismorelikeanart,witheachpieceofthemmanifestingitsowncharmsandstyleinthecreativehandsofthetranslator;

whereas,ifitreferstoaprocess,inwhichsomethingistranslated,thenwemayregarditasacraftorskill.Forunlikeanybranchofnaturalscience,theprocessoftranslationhasitsownnature,andnoneofitsrulesandprinciplesareuniversallyapplicable.Therefore,itentailsalotofpractice,andparticularcraftsmanshipandskillsarereflectedbythetouchesofdifferenttranslators.

Translationcoversaverybroadrange.Intermsoflanguages,itcanbedividedintotwocategories:

fromnativelanguagesintoforeignlanguagesandviceversa;

intermsofthemode,itcanbedividedintooralinterpretationandwrittentranslation;

intermsofmaterialstobetranslated,therearetranslationofscientificmaterials,translationofliteraryworkssuchasnovels,stories,prose,poetry,drama,etc.,translationofpoliticalessayssuchastreatisesonsocialproblems,repons,speeches,etc.,andtranslationofpracticalwriting（asofficialdocuments,contractsandagreements,notices,receipts,etc.）;

intermsofdisposal,itcanbeeitherfull-texttranslation,abridgedtranslationoradaptedtranslation.

2.PrinciplesorCriteriaofTranslation

Theso-calledprinciplesandcriteriaoftranslationareactuallythetwosidesofthesamecoin.Thatis,onthepartofthetranslator,heorsheshouldfollowthemwhiletranslating;

whereasonthepartofthereaderorcritic,heorshemayusetheprinciplesandcriteriatoevaluatetranslationworks.WheneverprinciplesorcriteriaoftranslationareunderdiscussioninChina,YanFu’s“three-characterguide”--xin,da,ya,namely,“faithfulness（信）,expressiveness（达）,andelegance（雅）”,whichwasfirstproposedin1898,wouldevokecontroversy.

Inthepastdecades,Mr.Yan’sprinciplehasalwaysbeenregardedasaplumb-lineformeasuringtheprofessionalleveloftranslationandagoalfortranslatorstostriveafter.However,intheapplicationofthisprinciple,peoplecometofindsomeunsatisfactoryaspectsofthethree-characterguideandhaveputforewordavarietyofnewstandardsorcriteriaoftranslation.

Despiteavarietyofopinions,twocriteriaarealmostunanimouslyacceptedbyall,namely,thecriterionoffaithfulness/accuracy（忠实/准确）andthatofsmoothness（流畅）.Wemayalsotakethesetwocriteriaastheprinciplesofscientificliteraturetranslation.Byfaithfulness/accuracy,wemeantobefaithfulnotonlytotheoriginalcontents,totheoriginalmeaningandviews,butalsototheoriginalformandstyle.Bysmoothness,wemeannotonlyeasyandreadablerendering,butalsoidiomaticexpressioninthetargetlanguage,freefromstiffformulaandmechanicalcopyingfromdictionaries.

3.LiteralTranslationandFreeTranslation

Theprocessoftranslationconsistsoftwophases:

comprehensionandexpression.Generallyspeaking,comprehensionisofforemostimportance,andexpressionisthenaturalconsequenceofthoroughcomprehension.However,inthepracticewemayfindthatnowandthensomewordsorphrasesintheirusualsensesareverydifficulttodealwithbecauseofthedisparitybetweenEnglishandChinese.Inthiscase,wehavetoresorttosomespecialmeansoftranslation.Literaltranslation（直译）andfreetranslation（意译）aretwodynamicapproachesindealingwithsuchawkwardsituations.

Theso-calledliteraltranslation,superficiallyspeaking,means“nottoaltertheoriginalwordsandsentences”;

strictlyspeaking,itstrives“tokeepthesentimentsandstyleoftheoriginal.”Ittakessentencesasitsbasicunitsandtakesthewholetext（discourse）intoconsiderationatthesametimeinthecourseoftranslation.Furthermore,itstrivestoreproduceboththeideologicalcontentandthestyleoftheoriginalworksandretainsasmuchaspossiblethefiguresofspeech.TherearequitealotofexamplesofsuccessfulliteraltranslationthathavebeenadoptedasidiomaticChineseexpressions.Forexample,crocodile’stears（鳄鱼的眼泪）,armedtotheteeth（武装到牙齿）,chainreaction（连锁反应）,gentlemen’sagreement（君子协定）,andsoon.Similarly,someChineseidiomsalsofindtheirEnglishcounterpartsthroughliteraltranslation.Forexample,纸老虎（papertiger）,一国两制（onecountry,twosystems）,andsoon.

Freetranslationisanalternativeapproachwhichisusedmainlytoconveythemeaningandspiritoftheoriginalwithouttryingtoreproduceitssentencepatternsorfiguresofspeech.Thisapproachismostfrequentlyadoptedwhenitisreallyimpossibleforthetranslatortodoliteraltranslation.Forexample:

Adam’sApple喉结

atsixesandsevens乱七八槽

Itrainscatsanddogs.大雨滂沱

Don’tcrossthebridgetillyougettoit.不必担心过早。

（不必自寻烦恼。

）

Doyouseeanygreeninmyeye?

你以为我是幼稚可欺的吗?

TheaboveEnglishexpressionsandsentencescannotbetranslatedliterally,otherwise,theChineserenderingwouldmakenosense,letaloneconveytheoriginalmeaning.

Literaltranslationandfreetranslation,likeanytranslationtechniques,arebothrestrictedinapplication.Inotherwords,thereisnoabsolute“literal”orentirely“free”versioninthepracticeoftranslation,andoveremphasizingeitherofthemwouldresultinridiculousconsequences.

Intheapplicationofliteraltranslation,weshouldendeavortoridourselvesofstiffpatternsandrigidadherencetotranslationrules,tryingtobeflexible;

whileinthepracticeoffreetranslation,weshouldbecautiousofsubjectivity,avoidinggroundlessaffirmationorarbitraryfabrication.Inactualpractice,weoftenalternateorcombinethesetwoapproachesinsteadstickingtoeither.

4.TranslationTechniques

Speakingoftranslationtechniques,wedifferfromthosewhotendtoignorethem,ordismissthemlightlyassomethinginconsequential.Ontheoth