翻译理论知识

translators.

Translation covers a very broad range. In terms of languages, it can be divided into

two categories: from native languages into foreign languages and vice versa; in terms

of the mode, it can be divided into oral interpretation, written translation and machine

translation;

in

terms

of

materials

to

be

translated,

there

is

translation

of

scientific

materials, translation of literary works such as novels, stories, prose, poetry, drama,

etc.

,

translation

of

political

essays

such

as

treatises

on

social

problems,

reports,

speeches,

etc. , and translation of practical

writing (as official documents, contracts

and agreements, notices , receipts, etc.); in terms of disposal, it can be either full-text

tr anslation

（全文翻译）

, abridged translation

（摘译）

or adapted translation

（编译）

.

5. Principles or Criteria of Translation

The

so-called

principles

and

criteria

of

translation

are

actually

the

two

sides

of

the

same

thing.

The

former

lays

emphasis

on

the

translator,

who

should

follow

them

while translating; while the latter on the reader or critic, who may use the criteria to

evaluate

translation

works.

Whenever

principles

or

criteria

of

translation

are

under

discussion in China,

Yan Fu’

s

guide

proposed in

1898, would evoke controversy, namely, the principle of

信、达、雅

expressiveness and elegance ).

12

In the past decades Mr. Yan's principle of translation has been generally regarded as a

plumb-line

for

measuring

the

professional

level

of

translation

and

a

goal

for

translators to strive after. However, in the application of this principle, people have

come to find some limitations to the three characters and put forward a variety of new

standards instead.

Three kinds of opinions are

expressed on the principle of faithfulness, expressiveness

and

elegance.

The

first

group

maintains

the

original

three

characters,

and

in

the

meantime,

adds

some

new

concepts

to

the

character

雅

According

to

them,

雅

means

far

more

than

the

English

word

Apart

from

the

traditional

interpretation, it also means classicism, the adherence to the original style and flavor.

The second group, however, argues that the word

雅

While

adopting

the

first

two

characters

of

Mr.

Yan

Fu's

principle,

it

discards

the

character

雅

revisions such as

信、

达、

切

信、

达、

贴< /p>

by

casting

away

the

three-word

guide,

propose

some

new

principles

or

criteria

of

translation

of

their

own.

Of

the

various

popular

theories

two

of

them

are

most

influential:

spiritual

conformity

(

神似

)

and

sublimated

adaptation

(

化境

).

The

former, proposed by

Fu Lei

emphasizes the reproduction of the spirit or the flavor of

the original, while the latter, advocated by

Qian Zhongshu

, focuses on the translator's

smooth and idiomatic Chinese version for the sake of the Chinese reader.

Despite the variety of opinions, two criteria are almost unanimously accepted, namely,

the criterion of faithfulness/accuracy

（忠实、< /p>

准确

) and that of smoothness (

流畅

). We

may

also

take

these

two

criteria

as

the

principles

of

translation

in

general.

By

faithfulness/ accuracy, we mean to be faithful not only to the original contents, to the

original meaning and views, but also to the original form and style. By smoothness,

we mean not only easy and readable rendering, but also idiomatic expression in the

target language, free from stiff formula and mechanical copying from dictionaries.

6. Literal Translation and Free Translation

The

process

of

translation

consists

of

two

phases:

comprehension

and

expression.

Generally speaking, comprehension is of foremost importance, and expression is the

natural

consequence

of

thorough

comprehension.

However,

in

the

practice

of

translation we may find that now and then some words in their usual senses are very

13

difficult

to

deal

with

because

of

the

disparity

between

the

English

and

the

Chinese

languages. In this case, we have to resort to some special means of translation

.

Literal

translation

and

free

translation

are

two

useful

approaches

in

dealing

with

such

awkward situations.

The

so-called

literal

translation

,

superficially

speaking,

means

to

alter

the

original words and sentences

style

of

the

original

It

takes

sentences

as

its

basic

units

and

takes

the

whole

text

(discourse)

into

consideration

at

the

same

time

in

the

course

of

translation.

Furthermore, it strives to reproduce both the ideological content and the style of the

original works and retains as much as possible the figures of speech. There are quite a

lot of examples of successful

literal

translation that

have been adopted as

idiomatic

Chinese

expressions.

For

example,

crocodile's

tears,

armed

to

the

teeth

,

chain

reaction

,

gentlemen's

agreement

,

and

so

on.

Similarly,

some

Chinese

idioms

also

find

their

English

counterparts

through

literal

translation.

For

example,

纸老虎

(paper tiger),

一国两制

(one country, two systems ), and so on.

Free

translation

is

an

alternative

approach

which

is

used

mainly

to

convey

the

meaning and spirit of the original without trying to reproduce its sentence patterns or

figures

of

speech

.

This

approach

is

most

frequently

adopted

when

it

is

really

impossible for the translator to do literal translation. For example:

·

Adam's apple

喉结

·

at sixes and sevens

乱七八糟

·

It rains cats and dogs.

大雨滂沱

·

Don't cross the bridge till you get to it.

不必担心过早。

(

)

·

Do you see any green in my eye?

你以为我是幼稚可欺的吗

?

The above illustrations can not be translated literally

，

otherwi se

，

the Chinese rendition

would make nonsense at all

，

let alone the original meaning.

Literal translation and free translation, however, are relative concepts. In other words,

there is no absolute “literal”

，

nor entirely

and

overemphasizing

either

of

them

would

result

in

ridiculous

consequences.

Let's

scrutinize the following two practical cases.

Original English 1

14

I

love

tiger

cat,

…

British

movies

on

public

television

，

fluffy

blouses,

the

nuclear

family

,

(Helen Snow

，

My China Years

)

Chinese Version A:

我爱虎猫

, …… (

爱

)

电视上放映的英国影片，有绒毛的短衫，核心家庭 ，

……

Chinese Version B:

我喜欢豹猫

, ……

喜欢公共电视台播放的英国电影，喜欢蓬松、柔软的棉毛衫，

喜欢一夫一妻制的 家庭，

……

Comment:

Apparently, these two Chinese versions are far from being perfect. Other things aside,

the rendering of the phrase

nuclear family

poses a serious problem of representation.

Version A renders

核心家庭

However, this version is too stiff, therefore it fails to convey the original meaning to

the Chinese reader

—

for

most Chinese, they have hardly

any idea what

核心家庭

re ally means. Version B adopts the approach of free translation and puts it into

一夫

< br>一妻制

；

evidently it goes too far and distorts the author's original intention, and in

doing

so,

the

translator

abuses

the

practice

of

free

translation.

In

fact,

the

nuclear

family

has

nothing

to

do

with

either

of

the

versions.

A

close

examination

of

its

definition in an English-English dictionary sheds light on this phrase: nuclear family,

a family group that consists only of father, mother and children. Therefore, the proper

rendering of the phrase should be words to this effect: a cozy small family, namely,

the Chinese equivalent

小家庭

Original English 2 :

Mao Tse-tung was well bred, but inside he was made of steel, of hard resistance, of

tough

tissue

—

the

kind

of

tissue

the

Boxers

thought

they

had

by

magic,

and

bared

their solar plexuses to foreign bullets.(ibid. )

Chinese Version A:

毛泽东有很好的教养 ，内部是钢，有坚强的抗力，是坚韧的材料制成的。这是义

和团设想的由于神力具有的， 可以把腹部袒胸给外国人的子弹的那种材料。

Chinese Version B

:

毛泽东教养有素，精神支柱铁铸钢打， 不怕高压，是由坚韧的组织构成的。这

种组织，就是义和拳认 为他们通过魔法得到的那种组织袒胸露体，刀枪不入。

15

Comment:

The word

free translation

，

nor could

the metaphor

be properly

rendered without grasping the essence of the whole sentence. However

，

since there is

no

corresponding

expressions

in

Chinese,

the

translators

tackle

them

according

to

their

own

understanding.

Inversion

A

，

is

freely

rendered

as

材

料< /p>

(material)

，

while version B literally as

组织

—

both fail to convey the

original

meaning

and

attitude

of

the

writer.

By

adopting

translation

skills

such

as

amplification, omission

，

conversion and restructuring

，

we may translate the original

English sentence as follows:

Revised Version:

毛泽东外表温文尔雅，

但内心深处却钢铸铁 打，

既坚韧，

又抗压

—

在他的身上可

以看到当年义和团自信所具有的那种神力，面对洋枪洋炮也敢袒胸 露怀。

From

the

above

analysis,

we

come

to

the

conclusion

that

there

is

no

obvious

distinction

between

literal

translation

and

free

translation,

nor

is

it

necessary

to

distinguish

one

from

the

other.

The

key

point

for

a

translator

to

grasp

is

to

comprehend

the

original

thoroughly,

and

then

put

it

into

idiomatic

Chinese.

In

the

process of translation, specific approaches such as literal or free translation may be of

some

help,

but

we

should

avoid

the

two

extremes.

In

the

application

of

literal

translation, we should endeavor to rid ourselves of stiff patterns and rigid adherence

to translation rules, trying to be flexible; while in the practice of free translation, we

should

be

cautious

of

subjectivity,

avoiding

groundless

affirmation

or

arbitrary

fabrication.

Whatever

the

circumstances,

we

may

alternate

or

combine

these

two

approaches when it is necessary.

7. Omission

？

Omission is a technique opposite to amplification. True, a translator has no right to

subtract

any meaning from

the original work. But

it does

not

follow that

he should

refrain

from

omitting

any

words

at

all

in

translation.

In

fact,

one

of

the

marked

differences in syntax between English and Chinese is the disparity in wording. What

is regarded as a natural or indispensable element in one language may be regarded as

superfluous

or

even

stumbling

block

in

the

other.

Take

the

following

English

sentence and its Chinese version for example:

16

Original

English

:

The

time-keeping

devices

of

electronic

watches

are

much

more accurate than those of mechanical ones.

Chinese Version

:

电子表比机械表准确得多。

A comparison between the Chinese version with the English original shows that many

of

the

English

words

have

been

omitted

in

the

Chinese

translation,

otherwise,

the

Chinese

sentence

would

sound

wordy

and

unnatural.

Therefore,

a

manipulation

of

the

technique

is

always

called

for

in

English-Chinese

translation. On the other hand, some Chinese sentences, when translated into English,

also

need

to

be

rid

of

redundant

wording

so

as

to

conform

to

idiomatic

English

expressions.

8. Conversion

？

Conversion, one of the commonly adopted translation techniques, means the change

of parts of speech in translation. Owing to the syntactical differences between English

and

Chinese,

it

is

usually

impossible

for

a

translator

to

keep

to

the

original

part

of

speech in the process of translation. For example:

Original English

: This watch never varies more than a second in a month.

Chinese Version

:

这块表一个月的误差从不超过一秒钟。

The English verb

speech without spoiling the original meaning. As a matter of fact, a word belonging to

a certain part of speech in one language sometimes has to be converted into a different

part of speech, so as to bring forth a readable and coherent sentence.

9. Restructuring

Restructuring, as one of the translation techniques, means the necessary or inevitable

change

of

word

order

in

a

sentence

according

to

the

usage

of

the

language

to

be

translated into. It is also called rearrangement or inversion.

10. Hypotactic vs. Paratactic (

形合与意合

)

Hypotaxis

(

形合法

)

is

the

dependent

or

subordinate

construction

or

relationship

of

clauses

with

connectives,

for

example,

I

shall

despair

if

you

don't

come.

English

sentence building is featured by hypotaxis.

Parataxis(

意合法

)is the arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives

Showing the relation between them, for example, The rain fell; the river flooded; the

house washed away. Chinese sentence building is featured by parataxis.

17