Unit 3.docx

Unit 3.docx

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Unit3

Unit3

Equivalenceatwordlevel

内容提要：

1translationproblemsarisingfromlackofequivalenceatwordlevel

2variousstrategieswhichcanbeusedfordealingwiththem

学习目的：

Bylearningtranslationproblemsarisingfromlackofequivalenceatwordlevel,thestudentslearnthespecifictypesofnon-equivalenceandthevariousstrategieswhichcanbeusedfordealingwiththem.

重点：

variousstrategieswhichcanbeusedfordealingwithnon-equivalenceatwordlevel

难点：

variousstrategieswhichcanbeusedfordealingwithnon-equivalenceatwordlevel

教学内容：

ThisUnitdiscussestranslationproblemsarisingfromlackofequivalenceatwordlevel;whatdoesatranslatordowhenthereisnowordinthetargetlanguagewhichexpressesthesamemeaningasthesourcelanguageword?

THEPROBLEMOFNON-EQUIVALENCE

Wecannowbegintooutlinesomeofthemorecommontypesofnon-equivalencewhichoftenposedifficultiesforthetranslatorandsomeattestedstrategiesfordealingwiththem.First,awordofwarning.Thechoiceofasuitableequivalentinagivencontextdependsonawidevarietyoffactors.Someofthesefactorsmaybestrictlylinguistic.Otherfactorsmayheextra-linguistic.Itisvirtuallyimpossibletoofferabsoluteguidelinesfordealingwiththevarioustypesofnonequivalencewhichexistamonglanguages.ThemostthatcanbedoneinthisUnitistosuggeststrategieswhichmaybeusedtodealwithnon-equivalence‘insomecontexts’.Thechoiceofasuitableequivalentwillalwaysdependnotonlyonthelinguisticsystemorsystemsbeinghandledbythetranslator,butalsoonthewayboththewriterofthesourcetextandtheproducerofthetargettext,i.e.thetranslator,choosetomanipulatethelinguisticsystemsinquestion.

Non-equivalenceatwordlevelandsomecommonstrategiesfordealingwithit

Non-equivalenceatwordlevelmeansthatthetargetlanguagehasnodirectequivalentforawordwhichoccursinthesourcetext.Thetypeandlevelofdifficultyposedcanvarytremendouslydependingonthenatureofnon-equivalence.Differentkindsofnon-equivalencerequiredifferentstrategies,someverystraightforward,othersmoreinvolvedanddifficulttohandle.

EnglishandChineseareofgreatdifferencebecausetheybelongtodifferentlanguagefamiliesandhavecompletelydifferentcultures.Therearealotoftranslationproblemsarisingfromlackofequivalenceatwordlevel.Non-equivalenceatwordlevelmeansthatthetargetlanguagehasnodirectequivalentforawordwhichoccursinthesourcetext.

3.1Commonproblemsofnon-equivalenceatwordlevel

3.1.1Culture-specificconcepts（文化特色词汇）

Thesource-languagewordmayexpressaconceptwhichistotallyunknowninthetargetculture.Theconceptinquestionmaybeabstractorconcrete;itmayrelatetoareligiousbelief,asocialcustom,orevenatypeoffood.Suchconceptsareoftenreferredtoas‘culture-specific’.

Example1:

狗

Englishpeoplelovedogsverymuch.Forthem,dogsareman’sbestfriends,sotheykeepthemaspetsandtakegoodcareofthem,andevenusetheword‘dog’todescribepeople’slife.‘Aluckydog’referstoapersonwhoislucky,while‘topdog’refertoapersonwhoisveryimportant.However,traditionally,Chinesepeopledon’thavethesamefeelingtodogs,andtheyoftensetdogsagainstotherpeople,suchas狗腿子（adog’sleg）meaningabadpersonfollowinghisorherbadsuperiorand狗血喷头（topourthedog’sbloodtosomebody’shead）meaningtopouroutafloodofinvectiveagainstsomebody.Therefore,whendoingtranslation,weshouldavoidusingtheword‘dog’directly,ortousethesuper-ordinateoftheword‘dog’.Forexample,狗嘴里长不出象牙（ivorycan’tgrowinadog’smouth）canbetranslatedas‘afilthymouthcan’tutterdecentlanguage’,while狗急跳墙（adogwilljumpoverthewallifpushedtoohard）canbetranslatedbyusingtheword‘beast’（thesuper-ordinateof‘dog’）:

acorneredbeastwilldosomethingdesperate.

Example2:

文房四宝

Sinceitisculture-specific,thereisnoequivalentwordinEnglish,andwealsocallitSemanticZero（词义空缺）.

Suggestedtranslation:

thefourtreasuresofthestudy（writingbrush,ink-stick,inkstoneandpaper）

Example3:

privacyandSpeaker

AnexampleofanabstractEnglishconceptwhichisdifficulttotranslateintoChineseisthatexpressedbythewordprivacyandSpeaker（oftheHouseofCommons）.Bothofthemhavenoreadyone-to-oneequivalenceinChinese.Thewordprivacyisavery‘English’conceptwhichisrarelyunderstoodbypeoplefromothercultures.Speaker（oftheHouseofCommons）hasnoequivalentinmanylanguages,suchasRussian,Chinese,andArabic.ItisoftentranslatedintoRussianas‘Chairman’,whichdoesnotreflecttheroleoftheSpeakeroftheHouseofCommonsasanindependentpersonwhomaintainsauthorityandordertoParliament.

3.1.2Onewordwithmultipleequivalents（一词多义）

Example1:

man

1manandhiswife丈夫和妻子

2officersandmen官和兵

3hismanFriday他的仆人礼拜五（《鲁宾逊漂流记》）

4Beaman!

要像个男子汉！

Example2:

sophisticated

1sophisticatedman老于世故的人

2sophisticatedwoman狡黠的女子

3sophisticatedcolumnist老练的专栏作家

4sophisticatedelectronicdevice高度精密的电子装置

5sophisticatedweapon尖端武器

Example3:

时间

到达时间arrivingtime工作时间workinghours停留时间durationofstay

Example4:

意识

自我意识self-consciousness竞争意识competitivespirit

Example5:

一次性

一次性付款1ump-sumpayment一次性拖鞋disposableslippers

Example6:

恶性

恶性肿瘤malignanttumor恶性循环viciouscircle

3.1.3Wordswithoutequivalents（无对等词语）

ThetermsexpressConfuciusmorality“三纲五常”cannotfinditscorrespondentwordinEnglish.“三纲”thethreecardinalguides:

rulerguidessubject,fatherguidessonandhusbandguideswife;“五常”thefivevirtues:

benevolence,righteousness,propriety,wisdomandcredibility.

糖葫芦：

Tanghulu,asuger-coatedfruitonthestickwhichisakindofchildren’sfavouritefoodinwinter

Teenager:

13至19岁的青少年

Commuter:

家住郊区、乘公交车到市内上班的人（上班族）

3.1.4Differentassociationofmeaning（联想意义不同）

Thecommoncharactersofcultureshavegiventhesameassociatedmeaningtosomewords,whilethedifferencebetweencultureswillleadtodifferentassociationofmeanings.

Forexample,foxhasbeencommonlyconsideredasakindofcunninganimalscomparedwithallotheranimals,whichisreflectedbothinChineseandEnglishfables.InChinese,therearesayinglike狡猾的狐狸（cunningfox）,whileinEnglishtherearealsoexpressionslike‘asslyasafox’.

However,eachculturehasitsspecificcharacters.Thedifferencesbetweenculturesintradition,value,custom,religion,wayofthinkingandevengeologywillleadtothesamewordhavingdifferentassociatedmeaningindifferentcultures.

Forexample,thechineseword‘月亮’hasbeengivenveryniceassociatedmeaninginChinese,suchas‘团圆，爱情，故乡’,whileforEnglishpeople,‘moon’willbeassociatedwith‘inconstancy’.inconstantaffections;aninconstantlover;swearnotby...theinconstantmoon-Shakespeare.

变化无常的爱情；反复无常的爱人；不要以反复多变的月亮起誓——莎士比亚。

Chineseculturehasmuchtodowithagriculture,sopeopleliketouse‘ox’todescribesomephenomenaindailylife.Forinstance,whendescribingapersonwhoisverystrong,Chinesepeoplesay身壮如牛（asstrongasabull）,whileEnglishpeoplesay‘asstrongasahorse’.Whendescribingapersonwhoisverythirstyandisgobblingupwater,Chinesepeoplesay像牛饮（drinklikeanox）,whileEnglishpeoplesay‘drinklikeafish’.

3.1.5Conflictinconnotation（内涵意义/涵义冲突）

Connotationisanimpliedmeaningofaword.ThereissomethingthatappearsinbothChinaandtheEnglishcountries,buttheyhavedifferentmeaning,whichcausestranslationproblems,too.

IntheChinesesentence‘中国是块肥肉，谁都想吃’,thereistheword‘肥肉’.ItdoeshaveanequivalentwordinEnglish‘fat’,buttheymeandifferentlyinthetwocultures.ItwillbeverydifficultforEnglish-speakingpeopletounderstandwhyweshouldusetheword‘fat’tomakethiscomparison,andintheircountries,fewpeopleliketoeat‘fat’much.Inthepast,whentwoChinesemeetwitheachother,theyliketosay‘你胖了!

’.ThisservesasacomplimentinChina,butforWesternpeople,thisservesasawarningofthenecessityoflosingweight.

InBothEnglishandChinese,womenarereferredtoas‘flowers’.However,withdifferentcollocation,‘flower’canmeanverydifferentlyinChinese.‘Flower’in‘拈花弄草’and‘花街柳巷’referto‘towngirls’or‘prostitutes’.

Iftheword‘玉’isusedtorefertowomen,Chinesepeopleassociateitwith‘beauty’,‘noblequalities’,whileEnglishpeopleassociateitwith‘dishonour’.

3.1.6Theuseofloanwordsinthesourcetext（外来词语的使用）

Theuseofloanwordsinthesourcetextposesaspecialproblemintranslation.Quiteapartfromtheirrespectivepropositionalmeaning,loanwordsareoftenusedfortheirprestigevalue,becausetheycanaddanairofsophisticationtothetextoritssubjectmatter.Thisisoftenlostintranslationbecauseitisnotalwayspossibletofindaloanwordwiththesamemeaninginthetargetlanguage（MonaBaker）.

Loanwordsalsoposeanotherproblemfortheunwarytranslator,namelytheproblemoffalsefriends（假朋友）.Falsefriendsarewordsorexpressionswhichhavethesameformintwoormorelanguagesbutconveydifferentmeanings.Onceawordorexpressionisborrowedintoalanguage,wecannotpredictorcontrolitsdevelopmentortheadditionalmeaningsitmightormightnottakeon.Somefalsefriendsareeasytospotbecausethedifferenceintheirmeaningsissogreatthatonlyaveryinexperiencedtranslatorislikelytobeunawareofit（MonaBaker）.

ExamplesofFalsefriends:

密码password（not‘secretcode’）

洗牌toshuffletheplayingcards（towashtheplayingcards）

牛仔裤jeans（notcowboytrousers）

课堂测验pop-quiz（notclassroomexam）

流动资金workingcapital（notcirculatingcapital）

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