英语新闻标题及其翻译.docx

1、英语新闻标题及其翻译English News Title and Its TranslationOutline1. Introduction2. Development of English News Title2.1 History of English News Title2.2 Functions of English News Title2.2.1 Pointing Out the News Content2.2.2 Producing Attractive Effects.2.3 Differences between Chinese and English News Titles2

2、.3.1 Vocabulary Similarities and Differences2.3.2 Tense Similarities and Differences2.3.3 Rhetoric Similarities and Differences2.3.4 Punctuation Mark Similarities and Differences3. Translation of English News Titles3.1 Literal Translation3.2 Free Translation3.3 Addition3.4 Omission3.5 Negation Trans

3、lation3.6 Alliteration3.7 Making Use of the Advantage Chinese in Translation4. ConclusionEnglish News Title and Its TranslationAbstract English news titles play a special role in news reporting. Thus we should place special emphasis on the research of the characteristics and translation of English n

4、ews titles. This thesis focuses on the study of English news titles in terms of their grammatical features and its translation. When it comes to translation, it tries to reproduce the functions of English news titles which requires tran slators agility and ingenuity in applyingna ntic and rhetorical

5、 devices. With grammatical and sema ntic explorati on into the En glish n ews titles, such studies strive to ben efit the readers in their un dersta nding of what the editor wants to con vey.Key words English news title; function; comparison; translations methods英语新闻标题及其翻译摘要标题在新闻报道中具有独特的地位。因此在整个新闻英语

6、翻译中标题翻译的作用不可 忽视。本文拟从以下角度进行论证：英文报刊标题的文字简练醒目，无疑是来源于对英语语 法得心应手的灵活运用。而要再现英文标题在原文中所起的浓缩主题、画龙点睛的作用，需 要译者同样在用词和修辞等语法方面匠心独运。本文拟通过对英语新闻标题翻译原则和策略 的探讨，以期能对新闻英语包括英语标题翻译找到一条具有特定翻译规则的途径作出有益的 尝试。关键词英语新闻标题；作用；分类；对比；翻译方法1 In troducti onWhat is the title? A title of a piece of news usually printed in large type and d

7、evised to summarize, gives essential information, or interests readers in reading the news content. Naturally readers buy newspapers in order to keep posted on daily happenings. However, today English newspapers are getting fatter with a great number of pages. Therefore, many readers have formed the

8、 habit of seanning titles, which makes possible rapid news eomprehension. Thus one of the most important purposes of titles is to inform readers quickly, which means that a well-designed title immediately tells them the gist of the accompanying story. Nothing is more important than packaging the pro

9、duct. A piece of news and its titles resemble the product and the packaging respectively. Only when the titles grasp the attention of the readers, the whole page can obtain vitality. So we say a final requirement of titles is to stimulate the reader astistic sense. Therefore, news people need to mak

10、e sure that English title forms are set to beautify the layout of the n ewspaper and thus to in terest readers in the stories.2. Developme nt of En glish News Title2.1 History of En glish News TitleThe history of English news title is long and it can be divided into three phases.English news titles

11、were originated in the Qing Dynasty. The characteristic of embryo is long and complex. The second stage of news title begins with the characteristic of diversity in the 19th cen tury 70s. The third stage is from 20th cen tury to no wadays and has the feature of concise and simplicity. In a word, the

12、 translation of English news title experie need the process from complexity to simplicity.2.2 Functions of English News TitleThe n ews title is the fun dame ntal part of any piece of n ews. In a time whe n it s harder to get people s attention, good writers always spend too much time and creative en

13、ergy working on their titles, becausethey know that the title is one of the most importa nt parts of their work. Accord ing to Bruce H. Westley, from the sta ndpo int of the reader, n ewspaper titles serve the follow ing purposes:2.2.1 Poi nting Out the News ContentNews titles summarize the n ews co

14、ntent, so the n ews content can be reflected by the titles alone. By glancing over them, the readers will know what the story is about. Readers can quickly locate the parts that in terest him mostly by followi ng the seque nee of the news points line by line. Titles rank the importance of stories by

15、 the size of the print and placement on the page. And titles can convey the relative significance of the n ews.2.2.2 Produci ng Attractive EffectsNews titles are essential to attract the reader attention. General speaking, two methods are used. First, the consistent use of familiar title structure g

16、ives the newspaper a relatively familiar and welcome nature. Secondly, English news title is trying to make good use of the front page of a newspaper, especially in electronic media. All of that can help attract the public attention. The front page plays the most important role of attracti ng the ey

17、eballs of the readers well. Si nee n ewspapers are usually sold on the n ewssta nds with just the top-half of the paper show ing to the passe ngers, reporters of newspapers try every means to make the banner titles across the top of the page attractive eno ugh to be a crowd-stopper (Westley 1972).2.

18、3 Differe nces betwee n Chin ese and En glish News TitlesUnderstanding the similarities and differences between the Chinese and English news titles are carrying on the accurate translation. Any thing has its general character and its in dividuality. The Chin ese and En glish n ews title is not excep

19、ti on al. Direct ness and factuality are the two most prominent general characters. But the different Ianguage cultural con text and the n ews traditi on en able the Chin ese and En glish title to have their own clear characteristics.2.3.1 Vocabulary Similarities and Differe ncesIn most cases both E

20、nglish titles and Chinese titles share similarities in the vocabulary usage. First, i n the n ews titles they both use shri nks and con cise words (In Chinese we often used “ armeqbolice ” “PoliticalConsultative Conference ” ,TO ”， “Security：ouncil ”and so on. In English UN, UK, USA, NATO, WTO, NASA

21、 EU) “ Min orterm ” is the popular word usage and the fashi on able word usage in En glish news titles. Second, both enjoy using popular words. Third, both enjoy using stylish words. For example:(1) 全球瞩目A股巨震，暴跌难阻股民入市热情(2) MP dema nds probe into MoD bun gles (MP=Member of Parliame nt; MoD=mi nistry o

22、f Defense(3) 越来越多的人在聚会时喜欢 “k歌” (K song is stylish word)(4) American Online; Often Down, Never Out (Online is stylish word)The first two examples use the popular terms and the last two ones use the stylish word.Differe nces:Judging from vocabulary, the Chinese news title is fond of using several verb

23、s together, but the English news title is fond of using several noun words together. English news often uses short words and some initials or acronyms which are printed in large type, Such as EEC short for Europea n Econo mic Commun ity.(5) 开放搞活改革致富(6) Britain “ Flagship ” Detention Center Abandoned

24、(7) 武船再助 神舟”飞天(武船”指武昌造船厂)(8) A 2nd LI Priest Removed (LI=L ong Isla nd)The first example shows Chin ese title uses four verbs together, while the sec ond one shows English title uses four nouns together. Thats the difference lying in the Chinese and English news title in the vocabulary usage.2.3.2 T

25、ense Similarities and Differe ncesEnglish and Chinese news titles all massively use the phrase title. In Chinese we com monly use verb-object phrase, noun phrase and so on. In En glish we com monly use non-localizati on mi nor senten ce(for example participial phrase, I nfin itive phrase and gerund

26、phrase), adjective phrase, and prepositi on phrase and so on. Tran slati on may happe n accord ing to respective characteristic tran sformatio n. E.g.(9) Five Ways to Be Roma ntic(10) Help ing the Homeless to Help Themselves(11) US carmakers ready to cut output.(12) 走向美好明天的江西.(13) 变化中的股市(14) 中国与发展In

27、 the above English news titles, the first uses the infinitive phrase, the second uses the gerund phrase and the third uses the adjective phrase. In the Chinese news titles, the first uses two verb-object, the last one uses noun -verb.When we read English news title we will find English news titles o

28、ften use simple prese nt ten se, prese nt progressive tense and simple future ten se, whose sig n is obvious. However, you will find Chinese news titles often use present tense and progressive ten se. Who tense sig n is n ot obvious (Peter, Newmark 2001For example:(15) French Culture Is the Doldrums

29、法国文化颓然不振(16) China is grow ing strong.中国正在发展壮大.(17) China had an earth-shak ing cha nge.中国发生了一个翻天覆地的变化(18) 中国自然资源丰富.(19) 总理会见了受难群众(20) 中国法律将更加完善.(21) 圆满取得了成功.From the above examples we can find the first four examples use general present ten se, gen eral future ten se, and prese nt progressive ten s

30、e, gen eral past tense in dividually, and have obvious tense sig ns. The last ones use general present tense, the present tense replace past ten se, future ten se, past ten se. But they have no obvious tense sig ns.2.3.3 Rhetoric Similarities and Differe ncesBoth English and Chinese news title use t

31、he ordinary rhetoric, such as metaphor and hyperbole. It can attract more readers and make the news more clear and colorful.(22) Dam work brings flood of debate(23) 孩子是祖国的花朵(24) Grayi ng Armies March to Defe nd Social Security(25) 一落千丈The first and sec ond examples use the metaphor. The rest uses th

32、e hyperbole. The above two kinds of rhetoric are often used in English and Chinese news titles.As for the rhetoric, English-Chinese news title style is respectively different. The Chin ese n ews title highly values a literary tale nt especial in an tithesis and con trols rhyme. The English news title is insipid and pays more attention to the fact. The usage of rhetoric lattice is limited. It often uses literary quotation, allegory, personification, harm onic tone, alliterati on, repetitio n, word or phra