定语从句的翻译方法.docx

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