定语从句的翻译方法.docx
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定语从句的翻译方法
OntheTranslationofAttributiveClauses
fromEnglishintoChinese
1.Introduction
Attributiveclause,averycomplicatedpartofasentence,oftenappearsinbothwrittenandspokenEnglishandcausesthedifficultyofEnglishlearnerstounderstandit,ortoputitintoChinese.ThisisbecauseitisquitedifferentfromChineseinplacement,structureandfunctionandhardtobeidentified.FollowingismypreliminarystudyofEnglishattributiveclausesandhandingofthemintermsoftranslationpractice.
2.TypesofEnglishattributiveclauses
TheattributiveclauseinEnglishgenerallyvariesinrestrictiveandnon-restrictiveones.Theformerisusuallyledbyarelativepronounorrelativeadverbandcloselyattachedtotheantecedent.Itisnotseparatedfromtheheadbyabreakinintonation,orbyacommainwriting.Itformsanintegralpartofthenounphrase,withoutwhichtheheadcannotbeidentifiedasthespecificobject.Thelatterdoesnotrestrictthereferentialmeaningoftheantecedent,andisseparatedbyacommafromthemainclause.Ifitistakenaway,theantecedentstillreferstothesamepersonorthing(章振邦,1995:
210).Seethefollowingexamples:
1)Therewerefewstudentsthatescapedwithoutseriousinjuries.(逃出来的学生无不受重伤者。
)
2)Therewerefewstudents,whoescapedwithoutseriousinjuries.(没有几个学生,他们都逃出来了,无重伤者。
)
Asshownintheaboveexamples,thethat-clauseisrestrictivewhilethewho-clauseisnon-restrictive.Theymeandifferentlythoughthewordsusedarethesameexcepttherelativepronouns.Moreexamples:
3)Shaoshan,where(=inwhich)ChairmanMaowasborn,isvisitedbythousandsofpeopleeveryday.
4)Thevillagerichinnationalflavorandbeautifulinenvironmenthasbecomearesortmostpeopleliketovisit.
Apartformthoseintroducedbyrelativepronouns,anattributiveclausecanalsobeheadedbyarelativeadverb(asinexample3),orcanhavenorelativetolinkwithitsantecedent(asinexample4).
3.DifferencesbetweenEnglishattributiveclausesandChineseattributes
3.1Differentinplacement
Attributiveclauses,orratherattributesinChinesegrammar,arecommoninEnglishandChinesebutdifferentinplacements.Chineseattributesaregenerallypreposed,i.e.placedbeforethecenterwordsbeingmodified;Englishattributiveclausesarepostposed:
placedafterthecenterwordsthataremodified.Seethefollowing:
1)他只是一个年方十二的男孩。
(Heisaboywhoseageisonlyattwelve.)
2)我迟到的理由羞于启齿。
(ThereasonwhyIwaslateforclassisashamedtomention.)
3)Thegirlwhowaswoundedinthewarishissister.
(那位在战场上受伤的女孩是他的妹妹。
)
4)Waterpollutionisapressingproblem(that)wemustdeadwith.
(水污染是我们必须处理的紧迫问题。
)
AnanalysisenablesustoseetheChineseattributesarealwayspositionedbeforethecenterwordorantecedents(nounsorpronouns)suchas“男孩”“理由”,“女孩”and“问题”,whiletheEnglishattributiveclausesgorightaftertheantecedentslike“boy“,“reason”“girl”and“problem”respectively.
3.2Differentinstructure
EnglishandChinesebelongtodifferentlanguagesystems;theyhavedifferenthistoriesoflanguageandestablisheddifferentcharacteristics.Englishisdividedintorestrictiveattributiveclauseandnon-restrictiveattributiveclause.ButinChinesethereisnosuchclassificationofit,ornosuchnotionof“attributiveclause”.Englishattributiveclausesareofhypotaxisandjoinedthemainclausesbyorwithoutrelatives.However,Chineseasalanguageofparataxis,fewconnectivesareusedbetweensentencesandsentencemembers.Yet,someofitsstructuresorphrasescanbetreatedasattributiveclauseswhenturnedintoEnglish(严迈,2005:
101-120).Thefollowingexamplescanmakeapoint.
1)Heisagoodphysicianwhocareshimself.
(能给自己治病的是好医生。
)
2)Onthatdayshelookedthehappiest(that)I’veeverseenher.
(那一天她显得特别的高兴,我从未见她这么高兴过。
)
3)Wewillputofftheoutinguntilnextweek,whenwewon’tbesobusy.
(我们把郊游推迟到下星期,那时我们就不会这样忙了。
)
AccordingtoZhangDaozhen(张道真,1995:
565-571),wecaninferfromtheaboveexamplesthatthecorrespondingChineseine.g.1“能给自己治病的”isanounphraseservedasthesubjectofaChinesesimplesentence;thecorresponding“我从未见她这么高兴过”totheEnglishine.g.2isacoordinateclauseofaChinesecompoundsentenceand,inthethird“我们就不会这样忙了”isasubject-predicate-objectstructure,functioningasthepredicateofaChinesesimplesentence.Thisanalysisofthestructuraldifference,accordingly,drawsourdueattentiontowhatevercanplaytheroleofanattributiveclausewhentranslatingChineseintoEnglish.Moreexamples:
4)台湾确定是个好地方,我刚去过。
(Taiwanisindeedabeautifulplace,whereIhavejustbeen.)
5)我有许多朋友,其中有些是画家。
(Ihavemanyfriends,someofwhomarepainters.)
6)那个工厂已生产出了到处都买不到的那种产品。
(Thefactoryhasproducedtheproductthatisnotyetavailableinanymarketatthepresenttime.)
3.3Differentinfunction
TheattributiveinChineseistomodifyorqualifynounsandpronouns,functioningasanadjective,andsoistheattributiveinEnglish.Yet,thereisanexceptionforEnglishattributiveclausesthatcanfunctionasadverbials,andmodifythepartorthewholeofasentenceaswell.
Let’sfirstlycometothecasesthatanattributiveclausemodifiesthepartorthewholeofasentenceandseehowtheChineseequivalentscomeupwithus:
1)Whendeeplyabsorbedinwork,whichheoftenwas,hewouldforgetallabouteatingandsleeping.
Obviously,which-clauseinthesentenceisintendedtomodifythemannerofone’sworking—“deeplyabsorbedinwork”,hencetheversion:
他常常聚精会神做工作,这时他就会废寝忘食。
2)Theyturnedadeafeartoourdemands,whichenragedallofus.
Which-clauseinthiscaseisdesignedtomodifythemattertheprecedingwholesentence—“Theyturnedadeafeartoourdemands—indicates,hencetheChineseequivalent:
他对我们的要求置之不理,这使我们大家都很气愤。
Now,let’shaveaclosestudyofthefollowingexamplesandseewhetherwecanthreattheattributiveclausesastheordinaryonesintermsoftheirfunctioningasadjectives,andwhetherwecantranslatethemasusualintosmoothChinese.Ifnot,whatdotheyactuallyfunctionas,andhowshouldwecomprehendandrepresenttheminChinese?
3)Theambassadorwasgivingadinnerforafewpeoplewhomhewishedespeciallytotalktoortohearfrom.
4)Therewassomethingoriginal,independent,andheroicabouttheplanthatpleasedallofthem.
5)Myassistant,whohadcarefullyreadthroughtheinstructionbeforedoinghisexperiment,couldnotobtainsatisfactoryresults,becausehefollowedthemmechanically.
6)SomychancesofgettingtorevolutionaryChinaareprettyslim,althoughIhavenotgivenupmyeffortstoapassport,whichwillenablemetovisitthecountriesofsocialism.
7)Menbecamedesperateforwork,whichwillhelpthemtokeepalivetheirfamilies.
Itislogicallyapparentthatalltheattributiveclausesmentionedabove,ineffect,functionasadverbialclauses.Theyeachhavetobetranslatedasfollowsintoanadverbialclauseofcauseasine.g.3;ofresultasine.g.4;ofconcessionasine.g.5;ofpurposeasine.g.6andofconditionasine.g.7,respectively(张培基,1980:
136-137).
3)大使只宴请了几个人,因为他特别想和这些人谈谈,听听他们的意见。
4)这个方案富于创造性,独出心裁,很有魄力,所以他们都有很喜欢。
5)虽然我的助手在做实验之前已从头到尾仔细阅读过说明书,但由于他的死搬硬套,所以不能得到满意的结果。
6)因此,我到革命的中国来的希望相当小了,虽然我并没有放弃努力来争取一张护照,以便访问社会主义国家。
7)人们极其迫切地要求工作,不管什么工作,只要它能维持一家人的生活就行。
4.Handlingthedifferencesandchoosingthemethodsfortranslation
Basically,handlingdifferencesisamatterofaccuratecomprehensionandadequaterepresentation.ThemethodsfortranslationmustchoseinthelightoftheChinesehabitualpracticeinwording,whichistheprincipleforatranslatortogoby.Therefore,preposition,postpositionandcombinationofbothshouldnotberegardedassetrulesintranslatingEnglishattributiveclauses.Whatreallymattersistoidentifythemwhennorelativestoleadthem,toknowthetruesenseoftherelativesorconnectivesattheheadsofthem,tofigureouttheirfunctionsbasedontheirstructures.
4.1Translatingaccordingtothestructures
Thereareoftenthecasesthattheantecedentisseparatedformitsmodifierasin:
1)Allisnotgoldthatglitters.
Asitisshown,theplacementofthat-clauseisunusual,splitby“isnotgold”fromitsantecedent“All”.AnanalysisenablesastoseetheclausefunctionsasanounandshouldberenderedintothesubjectofaChinesesentence,placedatitshead,quitedifferentfromthenormalhandingofarestrictiveattributiveclause:
闪光的未必都是金子。
Alsosomeothercasesfindithardtoidentifytheattributiveclausebecauseoflackingtherelativeandbeingrarelyseen.Butwecanmakesenseofitafterallsolongasweknowthecontextwhereitisused:
writtenatthebeginningofaformalletterwhenyoudonotknowthenameofthepersonyouwanttocommunicativewith.Forexample:
2)Towhomitmayconcern.
敬启者(致收件/致该信的收阅者)。
Anotherexampletellsusseveralattributiveclausesusedinsuccessionformingachainofmodifiers,whichisspecialinstructure.ItneedsustomakeknowntherelationshipbetweeneachneighbourssoastograsptheinformationconveyedbythewholeandrepresentthewholeintheChinesewaytosaythings.
3)Thecookturnedpale,andaskedthehousemaidtoshutthedoor,whoaskedBrittles,whoaskedthetinker,whopretendednottohear.
厨子面色苍白,使唤女佣把门关上;女佣叫布立特尔关去;布立特尔叫补锅匠去;补锅匠装着没听见。
ViewedformtheChineseversion,theEnglishattributiveclausesarechangedintocoordinateclauses,losingtheiroriginalfunction.Thenthefollowingtwoexamples,whosepointslieinthecognitionofthestructuresandtheapplicationoftherelatives,canberegardedasspecialcases.Let’sdealwiththemonebyoneforthesakeoftranslation.
4)She