Analysis of Business English Translation from Translatability and Untranslatability文档格式.docx
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“猫哆哩”(Net2)isaseriesoffoodmadebyTianxingFoodLimitedLiabilityCompanyYuxiYunnanProvince.Itisfoundthatthebrandnamed“酸角糕”,whichisonekindoffoodintheseries,wastranslatedintoAcidHorn(酸性的牛角)inthepacket.Actually,“酸角糕”isnothingtodowithAcidHorn,anditshouldbe“tamarindcake”.Asaresult,thecompanyreceivedagreatlossandhadnochoicebuttoabandontheoverseamarketsasfewforeignerscouldaccept“酸角糕”owingtoitsinappropriateEnglishname.
2.Translatabilityanduntranslatability
Tostudytranslationtheoriesanditsbranchesorapplications,oneshouldgetaconceptionthatwhatistranslation.Infact,I.A.Richardshasclaimedthatitisprobablythemostcomplextypeofeventinthehistoryofthecosmos.(Nida,2001:
1)Thiscomplexprocessconcernswithmanysubjects:
linguistics,sociallinguistics,literature,etc.In1968Nidaclaims“translationmeanstranslatingmeaning”.(Waard,1968:
60)Thenheadds,translation“consistsinreproducingthereceptorlanguagetheclosestnaturalequivalentofthesourcelanguagemessage,firstintermsofmeaningandsecondintermsofstyle.”(Nida,1969:
53)
However,certainwordsandphrasesinonelanguagesometimesdonothaveexactone-to-onecorrespondingequivalentsinanotherlanguage,whichmeansthatitisimpossibletofindtheexactequivalentsforsomecertainlanguagephenomena.Therefore,herecomestheissueoftranslatabilityanduntranslatability.Thefollowingfiguremadeby韩芳showstherelationshipbetweentranslatabilityanduntranslatability:
Figure1:
Therangeoftranslatabilityanduntranslatability
BusinessEnglishtextinvolvesinawidevarieties,suchastrading,finance,tax,advertising,management,etc.AsfortheprincipleofBusinessEnglishtranslation,therearemanytheories.Themostpopularoneisthe“faithfulness,idiomaticness,consistency”principleswhichwasputforwardbyLiuFagong.However,duetothespecialtyofbusinessEnglishtranslation,theprinciplesbroughtforwardbytranslatingtheoristcannotbefullyadoptedinbusinessEnglishtranslationpractice,so“theprincipleoftranslation”shouldnotbeunifiedbutbesomedifferenceaccordingtodifferentstyles.AsWangYongtaisaid:
ifitismeasuredby“faithfulness,expressiveness,elegance”,theemphasizeshouldbeputintodifferentpointsinaccordancewiththestyle.(新红,明,2006:
13)
2.1Translatability
AccordingtoLiuMiqing,the“translatability”intranslationtheoryreferstothetranslatabledegreeofsourcelanguagewhendoingbilingualtranslation.(1999:
98)
XuJunclaimedthat:
“Attheaspectofpracticing,nobodycandenythattranslationispossible.Inotherwords,“translatability”existstruly.”(2003:
263)
Althoughtherearedifferencesbetweendifferentlanguages,themostimportantfeatureofdifferentlanguagesisthatthereareresemblancesbetweenthem.Theoreticallyspeaking,thereexistbasalandbroadmeaningtransferringconditionsandwaysininterlingualtransformation,whichwasnamed“thechannelformessagetransferring”byLiuMiqing(1999:
99).Whenthechannelformessagetransferringisavailable,translatabilitycomesintobeinganduntranslatabilityemergesinreversewhenthechanneldoesnotexistorisunavailable.
Theissueoftranslatabilityinvolvesinmanyaspects,suchastheprincipleofisomorphs,thoughtpatterns,theregularityofgrammaticaldifferences,andculturalinfiltration,etc.
2.1.1Theprincipleofisomorphs
Thesameobjectformsthesameconceptinthemindsofpeopleallovertheworldandtheconnotationofthisconceptdoesnotvaryfromlanguagetolanguage.Thoughpeoplespeakingdifferentlanguagesgivedifferentsignstoallthingsonearthconventionally,therearedifferentsignsofthesameobjectreferringtothesameconceptorconnotation.Peoplespeakingdifferentlanguagesmaysharedifferentfeaturestowardunderstandingobjectivethings.However,theyshareidenticalcognitivebasis,suchasidenticalmaterialfoundation.Thisidentityallowsthemtoformaroughbutsimilarframeworkofconceptualsystemrespectively.Thisframeworkofconceptualsystemiscalledisomorph,whichisthebasicconditionforpeoplespeakingdifferentlanguagestocarryoutmentalandemotionalcommunicationthroughinterlingualtransfer,andisthebasictheoreticalfoundationfor“translatability”andensuresthechannelformessagetransferring.
LiuMiqingillustratestheprinciplesofisomorphsinbilingualism(1999:
100):
2.1.2Theidentityofthoughtpatterns
Thebasicpatternsandgeneralfeaturesofthinkingactivitiesofhumanareidentical.Nomatterwhatkindsoflanguagepeoplespeak,thebasicformsofthinkingareanalysis,synthesis,andgeneralization.Furthermore,peoplewhospeakvariouslanguagesalwaysthinkbythesimilarlogic,whichmakestheinformationtransferredpossible.Whenpeopleexpressacomplexsentencestomanifesttherelationofcauseandeffect,nomatterwhatkindoflanguagepeoplespeaksandwhethertheyexpressthe“reason”firstortheyspeakthe“result”first,the“reason”isalwaysthe“reason”andthe“result”isalwaysthe“result”.Forinstance,thesentence“becausethecompanybrokethecontract,werequirethecompensation”inChinesewillnotchangeto“becausewerequirethecompensation,thecompanybrokethecontract”inEnglish.
Thecommunicationofthinkingcannotbeseparatedfromlanguagesincelanguageisthecarrierofthought.Thoughlanguagesaregrammaticallydifferentandhavevariousstructures,thelawsofthinkingarethesame.Therefore,theidentityofthoughtpatternsisanotherimportantconditionthatensuresthepossibilityoftranslatability.
2.1.3Theregularityofgrammaticaldifferences
Sincethecontentandformofhumanthoughtarefundamentallyidentical,languagesintheprocessoftransferringaretranslatable.Twolanguagesmaybedifferentfromeachotheringrammaticalstructure,however,ononehand,thebasicelementsandfunctionsofgrammararesimilar:
theybothhavesubject,predicate,object,adverbialmodifier,andattributive;
ontheotherhand,thecollocationsofgrammaticalelementsshowcertainregularity.Therefore,inlanguagetransferring,therearesimilarandcorrespondingstructuresofgrammarbetweendifferentlanguages.Differentlanguagesaresimilartoandcorrespondingwitheachotherinthebasicframeworkandinconnotation,whichprovidesinterlingualtransferringwiththepossibilityandmaterialconditionsforthechannelofmessagetransferring.Sincethestructuresoflanguagesandthecollocationsofgrammaticalelementsshowcertainregularity,comparativestudiesonlanguagescanbecarriedoutandthewaystofindoutchannelsformessagetransferringcanbeexplored,soastomakethepossibilityintoreality.
2.1.4Culturalinfiltration
Languageisthetoolofsocialcommunication.(壮麟,2001:
3)Themorethesocietydevelops,themorelanguagecontactsoccurandthemorenotablyculturalinfiltrationhappens.
Theopennessofsocietyhasapositiveeffectonthedevelopmentoflanguage,anditisself-evidentthatthemorethesocietyopenstooutside,themorenativelanguagecancontactwithforeignlanguage,sothattherearemoreinfiltrationsandsimilaritiesbetweentwolanguages,andnaturally,thepossibilityoftranslationisgreater.Withthedevelopmentofinformationtechnologyandcommunication,someculturesarespreadingandbeingacceptedandabsorbedinotherculturesandbecomepartsofothercultures.Duetotheopennessandcompatibilityfeaturesofculture,onecanseethatthecommonleave-takingEnglishword“Bye-Bye”wastranslatedintoChinese“拜拜”.
2.2Untranslatability
Incontrastwithtranslatability,untranslatalibityreferstothenatureofmeaningthatcannotberelativelytransferredintranslation.
Asforthelimitsoftranslatability,Catfordsuggeststhat“translatabilityappearsintuitivelytobeaclineratherthanabsolutelytranslatableoruntranslatable…Translationequivalencedependsontheinterchangeabilityofthesourcelanguage(SL)andtargetlanguage(TL)textsinthesamesituation-ultimatelyonrelationshipofSLandTLtextstothesamerelevantfeaturesofsituation-substance.”(1965:
93)Heconsideredthatthereexistinglinguisticuntranslatabilityandculturaluntranslatabilityinthefieldoftranslation.Linguisticuntranslatability:
“failuretofindaTLequivalentisdueentirelytodifferencesbetweenthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage”(Catford,1965:
98).Culturaluntranslatabilityarises“whenasituationalfeature,functionallyrelevantfortheSLtext,iscompletelyabsentfromthecultureofwhichtheTLisapart”(Catford,1965:
99).
Inacertainextent,linguisticuntranslatabilitycanbeconsideredtobeabsoluteuntranslatability,andculturaluntranslatabilitytoberelativeuntranslatability.
Aswediscussedabove,themostimportantandkeytheoreticalbasisoftranslatabilityistheprincipleofisomorphs.Languageisthecarrierofthoughtandthoughtisthereflectionoftherealworldinpeople’sbrain.Itisthereasonwhydifferentlanguagesaresimilarinnature.However,fordifferentpeoplewhospeakdifferentlanguages,thewa