外国语生论汉英翻译软件的局限性.docx

1、外国语生论汉英翻译软件的局限性论汉英翻译软件的局限性On Limitations of Chinese-English Translation SoftwaresWang XiaUnder the Supervision ofZhang ChunSchool of Foreign Languages and CulturesPanzhihua UniversityApril 2009ContentsAbstract IKey words I摘要 II关键词 IIIntroduction 1. An Introduction of Chinese-English Translation.2A.

2、History and Present Situation of Chinese-English Translation.2a. History of Chinese-English Translation .2b. Present Situation of Chinese-English Translation.5B. Criteria for Chinese-English Translation.6. Profile of Chinese-English Translation Softwares.8A. History of Chinese-English Translation So

3、ftwares.8B. Present Situation of Chinese-English Translation Softwares.9. Limitations of Chinese-English Translation Softwares .11A. Limitations of Texts to be Translated11B. High Requirements for the Translated Version Reviser 12C. Long Intervals of Dictionary Renewing13D. Poor Control over Quality

4、 of Translation.14a. Analysis on Translation from Word-Choosing.14b. Analysis on Translation from Cultural Differences.16c. Analysis on Translation from Grammar.17d. Analysis on Translation from Handling Chinese Proper Names.17e. Unintentional Omissions in Translation.18Conclusion 19Acknowledgements

5、 20Bibliography 21AbstractChinese - English translation in China has a long history of about two thousand years. During the centuries quite a number of world famous translators in China appeared one after another and they made great contributions to China as well as to the world in the development o

6、f translation. Chinese-English machine translation research is started in the 1980s, and many scientific research units started to make Chinese-English machine translation research one after another. Promoted by the language knowledge resources construction and research methods, Chinese-English mach

7、ine translation research has gained a great progress. With the deepened research of the Chinese-English machine translation, translation machine does not only translate the testing sentences but also some articles of practical usage. To translate the whole article is a development tendency of Chines

8、e-English machine translation. Compared with English, the Chinese language lacks morphological hallmark of strict meaning, but English is rich in morphological changes. So, at present, the limitations of Chinese-English translation softwares are obviously exposed by many people.Key Wordslimitation;

9、translation; analysis; Chinese-English translation softwares摘 要汉英翻译在中国已经有两千年的历史。在此期间，先后涌现了一批又一批的翻译家，他们都为中国的翻译事业甚至世界的翻译事业作为了巨大的贡献。而汉英机器翻译的研究开始于20世纪80年代，此后对汉英机器翻译研究的学者也是层出不穷。受到语言知识资源建设和研究方法的影响，汉英机器翻译在技术层面上取得很大进步。随着对汉英机器翻译的进一步深入研究，机器翻译不仅仅局限于对待测句子的翻译，而是开始向实用文章迈进。对整篇原文的翻译是汉英机器翻译的发展趋势。和英语相比，由于中文缺少严格意义上的形态

10、学标志，而英语的形态变化却异常丰富，所以汉英软件翻译存在一些显而易见的局限性。关键词局限性；翻译；分析；汉英翻译软件IntroductionThis article is constituted by three sections. In the first part, historical and present situation of Chinese-English translation and the authors understanding of Chinese-English translation criteria are briefly introduced. Criter

11、ia in Chinese-English translation are same to criteria of translation softwares. Chinese-English translation criteria are drawn matting of Chinese-English translation software in the second part. The second part is in-depth understanding of Chinese-English translation softwares, including its histor

12、y and status, and combine Chinese-English translation criteria proposed to list a series of existing limitations in Chinese-English translation softwares. In the third part, the limitations of Chinese-English translation software are demonstrated from four aspects. First of all, not all articles can

13、 be translated from Chinese into English by Chinese-English translation softwares, such as Dream of Red Mansions , Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Tang Poems and Song Ci and The Four Books; these literary works of profound literature and culture can not be translated by translation machine. Secondly,

14、 this kind of softwears requires the revisers who possess high English proficiency. That is to say, one reviser of the version, which is translated by the softwares, must possess a solid English Foundation. Thirdly, the dictionary of the Chinese-English softwares does not renew promptly. Nowadays, m

15、ore and more new words are emerging like mushrooms, the words in dictionary of translation softwares can not meet the need of people, and these new words are not collected and added into the dictionary. Last but not least, the author analyzes the limitations from the quality of the version by transl

16、ation softwears. The analysis mainly is from word-choosing, cultural differences, grammar and the handling of proper Chinese names. Besides, unintentional omissions are found in translation. . An Introduction of Chinese-English TranslationA.History and Present Situation of Chinese-English Translatio

17、nTranslation in China has a long history of about two thousand years. During the centuries quite a number of world famous translators in China appeared one after another and they made great contributions to China as well as to the world in the development of translation. The traditional approach to

18、translation studies is obviously characterized by its narrowness of the theoretical vision and observation. Restricted by historical conditions, it tends to regard translation theory as nothing more than discussions on the controversial topics of translation principles and criteria, usually in terms

19、 of literal and free translation. The narrowness in the scope of theoretical study of translation thought lingered on for more than 17 centuries in China. Confined by the assumption, studies of translation theory and translatology are as a closed system incapable of opening up new horizons.a.History

20、 of Chinese-English TranslationTranslation in China has a long history of about two thousand years. During the centuries quite a number of world famous translators in China appeared one after another and they made great contributions to China as well as to the world in the development of translation

21、.According to Professor Luo Xinzhang, Chinese translation history is divided into three periods: the first period is from the end of Han dynasty to Ming dynasty; the second period, from Qing dynasty to 1949, and the third period from 1949 to the present.The first period of translation history is mai

22、nly concerned with the translation of Buddhist classics. The biggest achievement of translation in the ancient stage of China lied in the prosperous translation activity of Buddhist scriptures, from which most of the ancient translation theories came into being. Though the earliest theories were no

23、more than fragmentary personal opinions scattered in prefaces of the translated works, they indicated the trend of ancient Chinese translation, which involved the problem of style from the very beginning. The first translation theorists included a large group of monks who devoted and zealous in lear

24、ning and transmitting religious canons.The first eminent translator ever recorded in translation history is Zhi Qian, a famous and important scripture translator in Empire Wu of the Three Kingdom Period. In the year of 224 AD, Zhi Qian wrote a preface to Faju Scripture he translated. In the preface,

25、 he argued that “it is really not easy to translate as names of a same thing given in different languages are so different”. Not only did he realize the difficulty of translation, but also he expressed his ideas on the problem of translation criterion. In the preface Zhi Qian suggests that a transla

26、tor of scriptures should translate the original meaning of the scripture directly without any literary modifications, and he already realized the importance of existence of readers because he thought that the translator should make his translation easy to understand without losing the original meani

27、ng of the scripture translated. And then the scriptures translated in this way can be regarded as a good translation. Surely this was an opinion in favor of literal translation. He also quoted a famous sentence, “Beautiful language is not faithful and faithful language is not beautiful” (Laozi), to

28、prove the contradiction between faithfulness and beauty.This preface occupies a very important position in the history of translation study in China. It is the first essay on translation recorded; it raised the first criterion of translation and reminded other translator of difficulty of translation

29、. The preface is important not only because it is the first one of its kind, but also because the theory it contains is quite remindful for the later translators and translation theorists.The second famous translator in history is Dao An, a monk in the time of East Jin, who is productive both in tra

30、nslations and translation theory. He was then appointed director of the Bureau of Translation and authorized to decide on which style of translation to be adopted. Under his direction, the Sanskrit writings were translated verbatim and mechanically. The original remained literally unchanged in its v

31、ersion with merely occasional alterations of word order. Among his theories, the two most important ones are as follows: “the five situations in which the translation will betray the original” such as the different word order between the two languages and that of “three difficulties in translation”

32、such as the different knowledge of the ancient scholars and the present translators. To overcome these difficulties, he raised the solution:” to translation scriptures strictly according to the original; no words that may harm the truthfulness of translation and no valueless words are permitted in the translation”. Like Zhi Qian and Dao An