The Theory and Practice of Translation汇总.docx

1、The Theory and Practice of Translation汇总PREFACE1. The theory and practice of translation is the logical outgrowth of towards a science of translating (1964).2. This book is designed to assist the translator to master the theoretical elements and to gain certain practical skills in learning to carry

2、out procedures.3. Though it includes scientific orientation to linguistic structures, semantic analysis and information theory, it knows that translating is a science and a skill, and in the ultimate analysis, an art.4. It includes illustrative data drawn primarily from Bible translatingthe concern

3、of the books target reader and background experience of authors.5. Bible translating: a greater variety of cultures, a wider range of literary types than any comparable kind of translating.1. A NEW CONCEPT OF TRANSLATING1. Bible translation has long since existed while underlying theories of transla

4、ting hasnt caught up with skill development. 2. Practical translation emphasizes intelligibility, a matter of life and death. 3. The old focus of translating is message form, delight in reproduce stylistic specialties, rhythm, rhyme, chiasmus, parallel. The new focus has shifted from the form of mes

5、sage to the response of receptor. The response must be compared with that by the original receptor. 4. Correctness is dependent on readers comprehension extent.5. Different socio-educational levels of speech and comprehensions necessitate different levels of translation are required, if all are to u

6、nderstand equally. 6. Test of comprehensibility is concerned with discovering and eliminating two types of expressions: 1. Those likely to be misunderstood; 2. So difficult and heavy as to discourage attempt to comprehend. 7. When a high percentage of people misunderstand a rendering, it cant be reg

7、arded as a legitimate translation. Besides, a translation may be too stylistically heavy to make understanding impossible. 8. Each language has its own genius, namely characteristics.9. Instead of reproducing formal structure of one language in another, the effective translate should make any and al

8、l formal changes in the receptor language. 10. Anything that can be said in one language can be said in another, unless the form is an essential element of the message, for instance, the acrostic features (藏头诗，首字母连起来是人名) and frequent intentional alliteration, we should sacrifice formal niceties for

9、the sake of content.11. Since English uses verbs more, in Greek translation into English, verbal expression should be advised, and this is not only right, but also essential. The extent of form change is dependent on the linguistic and cultural distance between languages. Least formal change is requ

10、ired in the case of USA and Germany, which possess similar cultural settings.12. The language of the Bible are subject to the same limitations as any other natural language. The writers of the Biblical books expect to be understood. The translator must attempt to reproduce the meaning of a passage a

11、s understood by the writer. We must not go behind or ahead of the writer.2. THE NATURE OF TRANSLATING1. Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. 2. The transla

12、tor must strive for equivalence rather than identity. 3. A good translation of the Bible is not a cultural translation, but a linguistic translation. 4. Four priorities: a. Contextual consistency has priority over verbal consistence/word-for-word concordance (Reason: 1. Each language covers all of e

13、xperience with a set of verbal symbols, namely, words to designate various features of experience; 2. Each language is different from all other languages in ways in which the sets of verbal symbols classify the various elements of experience); b. dynamic equivalence has priority over formal correspo

14、ndence(Dynamic equivalence is not necessarily an inferior and less accurate method of translation, since, accuracy is determined by the degree of comprehension by the receptors compared to that by the original receptors); c. the aural/heard form of language has priority over the written form (more w

15、ill hear the scriptures read than read themselves); d. forms that are used by and acceptable to the intended audience have priorities over forms thought to be traditionally more prestigious (Great importance should be attached to the forms accepted by the audience than those with longer linguistic t

16、radition or literary prestige). 5. Dynamic equivalence is defined in terms of the degree of comprehension by the receptors of the message in the receptor language, who respond to it in the same manner as the receptor in the source language. The response is not identical, for cultural/historical sett

17、ings.6. The informative function: only served by a thoroughly understandable translation; the expressive function: dynamic equivalence in translation is more than correct communication of information. People must feel as well as understand what is said; the imperative function: in the case of Bible,

18、 the document not only describes the acts of God, but also announces guiding principles for proper human conduct. The renderings should be sufficiently clear, in old and current times.7. (4c) Things to bear in mind if one is to anticipate the problems of the hearer: 1. Capitalization is not sufficie

19、nt to correct the meaning of otherwise ambiguous or misleading translation (spirit); 2.One must not depend on the spelling to correct otherwise misleading pronunciations (lyres/liars); 3. Terms which are vulgar in pronunciation shouldnt be used in the text, even when the written form doesnt seem vul

20、gar (ass); 4. The punctuation shouldnt be employed in an arbitrary manner to correct otherwise misleading grammatical arrangements; 5. Answers to rhetorical questions must be often provided, so that the hearer wont misunderstand whats involved; 6. Unintentional oral puns should be carefully avoided;

21、 7. The forms of proper names should be completely adjusted to the phonological system of the receptor language so as not to provide special problems for those who must read the Scriptures; 8. Meaninglessness should be avoided in a text; 9. Overloading of the translation should be carefully avoided.

22、8. (4d) 3 types of Scriptures(with literary tradition and biblical text) are necessary: 1. A translation which will reflect the traditional usage and be used in the churches, largely for liturgical purposes; 2. A translation in the present-day literary language, so as to communicate to the well-educ

23、ated constituency; 3. A translation in the common or popular language, which is known to and used by the common people, and which is at the same time acceptable as a standard for published materials.9. (4d) In languages without literary tradition or biblical text, one must accept as the norm the ora

24、l form of speech used in formal discourse. 10. (4d) In setting up priorities, the following are to be considered: 1. non-Christians have priority over Christians; 2. the use of language by persons 25-30 years of age has priority over the language of the older people or of children; 3. In certain sit

25、uations the speech of women should have priority over the speech of men 3. GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS1. 2 systems for translating: 1. Set up a series of rules intended to be applied strictly in order and designed to specify whats to be done with items in the source language so as to select the appropriate

26、 corresponding form in the receptor language; 2. A more elaborate procedure with 3 stages: analysis (grammatical relationships/word or word-combination meaning) transfer (in the mind of translator from source to target language) restructuring (to make the final message fully acceptable in the recept

27、or language). The 2nd translation system, though seeming roundabout, is more thorough and instructive for the training/honing of translation techniques than the 1st one.2. 3 major steps in analysis: 1.determine the meaningful relationships between the words and combinations of words; 2.The referenti

28、al meaning of the words and special combinations of words; 3. The connotative meaning, like how the users of the language react, positively or negatively to the words or combinations of them. 3. 目录表：Grammar has meaning; the same grammatical construction may have many different meanings; kernel sente

29、nces; words with complex structures; classes of structurally complex terms; the relationship of surface structure to kernels; relationship of elements in so-called possessive construction; determining the structural role of elements by means of the context; back-transformations as a type of paraphra

30、se; different constructions may express the same meaningful relationship between the parts; grammatical transformations from kernels; the analysis of series of kernels; 4. Object (designate things that participate in events), event (designate action, like run, jump), abstract (quantity, quality, deg

31、ree of objects, events, like red/quickly/two/many), relation (meaningful connections between the other kinds of terms)5. Events expressed as verbs, objects as nouns, abstracts as ad or adv, relationals as prepositions/conjunctions are what linguists call “kernels”.6. Classes of structurally complex

32、terms: O-E (the object element performs the event, disciple/player/heir/sinner), E-O (the object element is the goal of the event, gift/apostle/doctrine), E-A (the abstract qualifies the implied goal of the event, sanctify/justify), O-E-A (the object element performs an event to an implicit goal whi

33、ch acquires a particular quality, sanctifier/justifier), E-R (an event with an implied relationship, reconcile, to act as an agent between others)7. Back-formation as a type of paraphrase of a surface structure to the underlying kernels have three specific features: 1. Intralingual rather than inter