-
Translatology
Hua Xianfa
(for teacher’s
use)
Course
Description
Translatology is an
independent discipline and regarded as a science
to study translation. It is a
comprehensive
course
subject
consisting
of
general
translatology,
theoretical
translatology
and
applied
translatology.
It
is
about
general
laws
of
translation,
studies
of
translation
with
special
reference to Chinese and English, and
methods to apply theories to practice.
The course of
Translatology aims at providing students with
traditional perspective as well as
latest developments in translation
studies so as to raise their ability to pursue
theoretical researches;
it also aims at
analyzing and solving problems which constantly
occur in the process of translation
by
focusing on contrastive studies between Chinese
and English and, between the Chinese culture
and
the
English
culture.
It
will
combine
theory
with
practice
so
closely
by
discussing
good
examples with specific principles as
guidelines. Translation exercises will help
consolidate what
has been learned and
discussion will promote exchanges of ideas.
It
is
expected
that
the
course
will
offer
students
with
essential
theoretical
understanding
of
translation and
opportunities of integrating theory with practice.
Assessment
class
performance(10%) translation exercises(20%)
examination(70%)
References:
[1]Baker, Mona.
In Other
Words: A Coursebook on Translation
[M].
London and New Y
ork:
Routledge, 1992.
[2]Baker, M.
The Routledge
Encyclopedia of Translation Studies
[Z],
London and New Y
ork:
Routledge,
1997.
[3]Chan, Tak-hung.
Twentieth-Century Chinese Translation
Theory: Modes, issues and
debates
[M]
,
Benjamins Translation Library, 2004.
[4]House, J.
Translation
Quality Assessment: A Model
Revisited
[M], Tü
bingen:
Niemeyer, 1997.
[5]Munday, Jeremy.
Introducing Translation
Studies
[M]. London: Routledge, 2001.
[6]Newmark, P
.
A.
Textbook of Translation
[M]. London:
Prentice Hall International(UK)
Ltd. 1988
[7]Newmark, P
.A.
Approaches to Translation
[M]. London:
Prentice Hall
International(UK)Ltd. 1988
[8]Nida, E.A.
Language,
Culture and Translating
[M]. Shanghai:
Shanghai Foreign
Language Education Press,
1993.
[9]Snell-Hornby, Mary.
Translation Studies: An Integrated
Approach
[M]. Shanghai
Foreign
Language Education Press, 2001.
[10]
陈宏薇、李亚丹
.
新编汉英翻译教程
[Z]
，上海：上海外语教育出版社，
2004
.
[11]
华先发、邵毅
.
新编大学英译汉教程
[Z]
，上海：上海外语教
育出版社，
2004.
[12]
郭延礼
.
中国近代翻译文学概论
[Z],
武汉
:
湖北教育出版社
,1998.
[13]
李定坤
.
< br>汉英辞格对比与翻译
[Z]
，武汉：华中师范大学出版社
，
1994.
1
[14]
李瑞华
.
< br>英汉语言文化对比研究
[C],
上海：上海外语教育出版
社，
1997.
[15]
谭载喜
.
翻译学
[M],
武汉
:
湖北教育出版社
,2000.
[16]
许
均
.
翻译论
[M],
武汉：湖北教育出版社，
2003.
< br>
Chapter I
General Translatology
General translatology addresses the
description of the phenomena of translation by
focusing
on such issues as the
definition of translation, the nature of
translation, types of translation, criteria
of translation, procedures of
translation, and disciplines related to
translation.
1.1 What is
translation?
Different
perspectives on the nature of translating
Translation
can
be
defined
from
different
perspectives,
which
present
to
us
different
definitions:
A. From the perspective of
the process of the action itself:
In the light of popular
orientation (in dictionaries and encyclopedias),
translation is to express
(sth spoken
or esp written) in another language or in simple
words. (Hornby, A.S. OALECD 4
ed.
2000)
Eugene
Nida:
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. (1969:12)
John Catford
: Translation
may be defined as follows: The replacement of
textual material in
one language (SL)
by equivalent textual material in another language
(TL). (1965:20)
The central
problem
of
translation
practice
is
that
of
finding
TL
translation
equivalents.
A
central
task
of
translation
theory
is
that
of
defining
that
nature
and
conditions
of
translation
equivalence.
(1965:21)
Bahudarov
:
Translation is a process in which the parole of
one language is transferred into the
parole of another with the content i.e.
meaning unchanged.
Peter
Newmark
: Translation what is
translation? Often, though not by any means
always, it is
rendering the meaning of
a text into another language in the way that the
author intended the text.
(1988:5)
B. From the perspective of the function
of translation:
Steiner: Translation it is
that openeth the window, to let in the light; that
breaketh the shell, that
we may eat the
kernel.
2
th
Peter
Newmark:
Translation
is
an
instrument
of
education
as
well
as
of
truth
precisely
because it has to
reach readers whose cultural and educational
level
is different from, and
often
“lower” or earlier, than that of
the reader of the original. (1988:6)
Peter
Newmark
:
Translation
has
its
own
excitement,
its
own
interest.
A
satisfactory
translation
is
always
possible,
but
a
good
translator
is
never satisfied
with
it.
It can
usually
be
improved. There is no such thing as a
perfect ideal or ?correct? translation.
the perspective of
aesthetics:
Malcolm Cowley:
Translation is an art that involves the
recreation of a work in another language
for readers with a different
background.
D. From the perspective of
the nature of translation:
Peter Newmark: Translation
is first a science, which entails the knowledge
and verification of
the
facts
and the
language
that
describes
them
—
here, what
is
wrong,
mistaken
or
truth, can
be
identified; secondly, it is a skill,
which calls for appropriate language and
acceptable usage; thirdly,
an
art, which
distinguishes
good
from
undistinguished
writing
and
is
the
creative,
the
intuitive,
sometimes the inspired, level of the
translation; lastly, a matter of taste, where
argument ceases,
preferences are
expressed, and the variety of meritorious
translations is the reflection of individual
differences. (1988:6)
E.
From the perspective of cross-cultural
communication
Jin Di & Nida:
Translation is simply a form of interlingual
communication.(1987)
1.2 Types of translation
Translation can also be classified from
different angles by different people.
A.
From the standpoint of signs involved in
translation:
Roman
Jacobson:
interlingual
translation,
intralingual
translation,
intersemiotic
translation
(interpretation
of
verbal
signs
by
means
of
none
verbal
signs
)
(
On
Linguistic
Aspects
of
Translation
)
B.
From the standpoint of way in which translation is
carried out:
Written interlingual translation
Oral interlingual transltion
Machine translation
C.
From the standpoint of the extent to which
translation is done:
Full translation(absolute
translation), partial translation (selective
translation) , translation plus
editing(translation with
reconstruction)
D. From the
standpoint of the level of translation
total
translation
(translation
equivalence
can
be
established
at
the
same
grammatical
or
phonological hierarchy)
3
restricted
translation
(translation
equivalence
can
be
established
at
only
one
grammatical
hierarchy)
E. From the standpoint of
the languages involved in translation
translation from the native language
into the foreign language or vice versa
1.3 Criteria of translation
Alexander F. T
ytler
A
translation should give a
complete transcript of the ideas of the original
work; the style and
manner of writing
should be of the same character as that of the
original; a translation should have
all
the ease of the original composition. (Tytler,
1797, P
.15)
John
Catford
The SL and TL rarely have ?the same
meaning? in the linguistic sense; but they can
function in
the same
situation.
For
translation
equivalence
to
occur,
then
both
SL
and
TL
texts
must
be
relatable
to
the
functionally relevant features of the
situation.
Fedorov
The
exactness
of
translation
means
the
exact
rendering
of
the
thought
and
content
of
the
original and performs the same
rhetorical function as the original.
Nida
functional equivalence
The
crucial
problem
of
translation
is
often
stated
in
terms
of
conflict
between
formal
correspondence and functional
equivalence.
A
close formal
correspondence in a receptor language so
frequently does not carry the correct
meaning of the source text. In some
cases, formal correspondence doesn?t work , then
functional
equivalence should take its
place.
There are five cases in which formal
correspondence should be given up:
1)When a
literal rendering would give an entirely wrong
meaning.
2)When a borrowed term constitutes a
semantic ?zero? and is therefore likely to be
filled with
the wrong meaning.
3)When a formal correspondence involves
a serous obscurity in meaning.
4)When formal
correspondence would result in bad grammar or
style in the receptor language.
(Waard,
Han, De & E.A. Nida)
Savory
Different
languages
have
different ways for
expression,
but
all
of
them
have
an
underlying
equivalent
thought.
The
translator
faces the
question
as
to
whether
his
function
is
to
record
the
words
of
the
original or to report on their
meanings.
Gregory Rabassa
4
So our
criterion must state that the best translation is
the closest approach.
A
translation
can
never
equal
the
original;
it
can
approach
it,
and
its
quality
can
only
be
judged by how close it gets.
There are no two snowflakes alike.
Y
an Fu
faithfulness, expressiveness and
elegance
Qian Zhongshu
sublimation
the transmigration of souls
“Although the body changes, the soul of
gestu
re
remains its old
self.”
Fu Lei
As
far
as
the
effect
is
concerned,
translation
should
be
like
copying
a
painting.
What
is
desired is not being alike in
appearance but being alike in spirit.
Lu Xun
The
minimum
requirement
for
general
translation
should
at
least
convey
faithfully
the
content of the original with
understandable smooth translation, but this is not
enough for literary
translation… In
literary translation, the artistic conception of
the original is transmitted in another
language
so
that
when
he
is
reading
the
translation,
the
reader
can
be
inspired,
touched
and
aesthetically affected
the same as the if he were reading the original.
Liu Zhongde
faithfulness, expressiveness and
closeness
1.4 T
ranslation
strategies and techniques
A.
T
ranslation strategies
Chinese:
文
and
质
literal
translation
：
word
for word and line for line; keeping both the form
and the content
liberal/free translation:
scarifying the form while keeping the
content and spirit
Schleiermacher: alienating and
naturalization
Either the translator leaves the writer
alone as much as possible and moves the reader
toward
the writer, or he [sic] leaves
the reader alone as much as possible and moves the
writer toward the
reader.
(Schleiermacher 1813/1992:41-42)
Venuti: domestication and
foreignization
Domestication:
Domestication
covers
adherence
to
domestic
literary
canons
by
carefully
selecting the texts that are likely to
lend themselves to such a translation
strategy(V
enuti,1997:241)
Foreignization:
Foreignization
entails
choosing
a
foreign
text
and
developing
a
translation
method along
lines which are excluded by dominant cultural
values in the target language.(V
enuti,
1997:242)
John
Dryden
: metaphrase, paraphrase and
imitation
5
B. T
ranslation techniques
transliteration,
annotation,
paraphrase,
amplification,
omission,
shift
of
perspective,
adaptation,
division,
combination, specification, and generalization
(
华先发、邵毅，
2004)
1.5
The Basic procedures of translation
preliminary
preparation, working, testing
The
basic
procedures
of
translation
employed
in
translating
consist
of
preparation, working
and testing. Preparation refers to such
matters as choosing what to be translated and
contacting the
publisher.
Working
includes
both
comprehension
and
expression.
Comprehension
consists
essentially
in
determining
the
meaning
of
the
source
language
text,
but
?meaning?
is
to
be
interpreted
in
the
broad
sense
of
lexical,
syntactic
and rhetorical
significance.
It
involves
such
steps as grammatical analysis, semantic
analysis, stylistic analysis and discourse
analysis. In other
words, both form and
content must be considered in comprehension.
A. Comprehension
Be careful in determining the meaning
of the words, phrases and sentences.
（<
/p>
1
）月明星稀，乌鹊南飞
（曹孟德）
V
ersion 1. The stars are
few, the moon is bright.
The
raven southward wings his flight.
(Trans. By Herbert Giles)
V
ersion 2.
When the stars are few
And the moon shines
brightly,
Magpies and ravens are winging their
way
Southward.
(Trans. By Li
Xingcun)
Here, both version
misinterpreted the word
“
鸟
”
, which is an
adjective modifying
“
鹊
”.
(2)
若崩厥角稽首（孟子尽心下）
On this, they bowed their heads to the
earth, like the horns of animals falling
off.
（
Trans. by J.
Legge
）
(
厥角，是以角蹶地。若崩者，状其厥之多而迅也
)
(3) Mrs. Malaprop said, ”As she grew
up, I would have her instructed in Geometry, that
she might
know
something
of
the
contagious
countries.”
(an:
The
Rivals)
(geometry[
几何
学
< br>]=geography[
地理学
]; contagi
ous[
传染的
]=contiguous[
< br>邻近的
])
等她大了，我要她学些几何学，使她知道一
些传染的国家。
Improved:
等她长大了，我要她
学些地质学，使她知道一些怜惜的国家。
(4) “We sometimes fall in with persons
who have seen much of the world, and of the men
who, in
their
day,
have
played
a
conspicuous
part
in
it,
but
who
generalize
nothing,
and
have
no
observation, in the true
sense of the word.” (J. H. Newman)
有时候我们遇到一些世故很深，
而在年轻时曾经显赫一时的人，
但说实在的，
这些人并没有
什么心得与观察。<
/p>
Improved:
我们有邂逅一些熟悉世故的人，和一些曾经
见过许多在其全盛
时代，
叱咤风云，
世
界安危所系的有名人物的人，
但是他们却不能归纳出一点什么来，
也毫
无真正的观察力。
（钱歌川译）
fall in with(
邂逅；不期而遇
< br>)
，
see the wor
ld(
熟悉世故；深于阅历
)
，
in one?s day(
在其全
盛时代
)
，
play
a part in(
与之有关
)
，<
/p>
in the true sense of the
word(
那字的真实意义
)
(5)
王先生昨天被偷了。
Mr.
Wang was stolen
last
night.(
Improved:
Mr.
Wang was robbed
last
6
night.)
(6)
郊区：
suburb
(an
area
of
the
city where
people
live,
it
can
never
be
used
to
describe
a
farming
area)
outskirts(a
belt
area
around
the city where farm
land
can
be
seen)
environs
(the neighbourhood surrounding a town)
B. Attention to different
kinds of meaning:
Traditional
semantics
: denotation, connotation
Semiotic
point
of
view
:
designative
meaning(conceptual
meaning),
linguistic
meaning(phonological, lexical and
syntactic meaning), pragmatic meaning(associative
meaning)
Designative meaning
The designative
(or conceptual) meanings of a language can be
studied in terms of contrastive
features, so that the meaning of the
woman could be specified as +HUMAN,
-MALE, +ADULT
(contrastive
features). Difference between designative meaning
and literal meaning
:
American Beauty
月月红（
X
美国美人）
Indian summer
小阳春
（
X
印地安夏天）
Indian meal
玉米粥
（
X
印地安饭）
German wool
细毛线
（
X
德国毛）
Linguistic
meaning
Linguistic meaning can be
found at the phonological, lexical, syntactic and
discourse levels.
At the phonological
level:
人人尽说江南好
（
- - /+ +/ - - +
A
）
Everyone is full of praise
of the beauty of the South:
游人只合江南老
(- - /+
+/ - - + A) What can I do but end my days an exile
in the South?
春水碧於天
(- +/ + - - B) The spring river is
bluer than the sky;
画船听雨眠
(+ -/ - + -
B) As it rains, in a painted barge I lie.
炉边人似月
(- -/ - + + C) Bright as the moon is
she who serves the wine;
皓腕凝霜雪
(+ +/ - - +
C) Like frost or frozen snow her white wrists
shine.
未老莫还乡
(+
+/ + - -
D) I?m not old as yet: let me
not depart!
还乡须断肠
(- -/ + + - D) For going home will
surely break my heart!
（韦庄）
(Trans. By James Liu)
嘴上没毛，说话不牢。
Downy lips make
thoughtless slips.
啊，恰便似遮不住
的青山隐隐，流不断的绿水悠悠。
（曹雪芹：
《红楼梦》
）
Ah, my grief is
like distant green mountains that stretch beyond
and beyond,
Like blue rivers that flow
for ever on.
Soapy (O.
Henry)(
油嘴滑舌
)
卜世仁（不是人）
At the lexical level:
Bertrand
Russell: What is mind? No matter. What is matter?
Never mind.
杨柳青青江水平，闻郎岸上唱歌声。
7
东边日出西边雨，道是无情却有
晴。
（刘禹锡：
《竹枝调》
）
At the
syntactic level:
有意栽花花不发，无心插柳柳成荫。
Follow love, and it will flee; flee
love, and it will follow you.
“
< br>除了
?
内战内行
?
之外，对于
?
外战
?
，就不能不是一个
?
外行
?
。
”
（毛泽东选集）
V
ersion I: Well
versed in making civil war, they cannot but be
incompetent in fighting foreign
foes.(poor)
V
ersion II: … in their
element when fighting internal war, they cannot
b
ut be out of their element
when it comes to fighting external war.
(better)
酒入愁肠，化作相思泪。
（范仲淹：
《苏幕遮·怀旧》
）
The wine sinking into my
sorrowing bowels
Is
transformed into tears of nostalgic yearnings!
(Trans. By Teresa Li)
Pragmatic meaning:
Pragmatic meaning involves
such meanings as indexical, emotive, associative,
imperative,
interpersonal. It is
reflected either in word, or sentence or
discourse.
The cuckoo then, on every
tree,
Mocks married men: for thus sings
he,
“Cuckoo; Cuckoo, cuckoo”; O word of
fear
,
Unpleasing to a
married ear! (W. Shakespeare: Lover?s Labour?s
Lost, V
, ii)
听杜鹃鸟在每一株树上叫，
把那娶了妻的男人讥笑：
咯咕！咯咕！啊，可怕的声音！
害得
做丈夫的肉跳心惊。
（朱生豪译）
（
c
uckoo--cuckold
）
登鹳鹊楼
Ascending the
Heron Tower
白日依山尽
The sun behind
the western hills glows;
黄河入海流
And toward the sea the
Y
ellow River flows.
欲穷千里目
Wish you an
endless view to cheer your eyes?
更上一层楼
Then one
more storey mount and higher rise.
（唐·王之涣）
(Trans. By Ts?ai Ting
-kan)
Mountains cover the white sun,
And oceans drain the golden river;
But you widen your view three hundred
miles,
By going up one flight of
stairs.
(Trans. By Bynner)
Westward the sun, ending
the day?s journey in a slow descent behind the
mountains. Eastward the
Y
ellow River emptying into
the sea. To look beyond, unto the farthest
horizon, upward! Up
another storey!
(Trans. By Weng Xiangliang)
8
Between the willows green
the river flows along,
My beloved in a
boat is heard singing a song.
The west
is veiled in rain, the east basks in sunshine,
My beloved is as deep in love as the
day is fine.
(Trans. By Xu
Y
uanzhong)
The sun beyond the mountains glows;
The Y
ellow River seawards
flows.
Y
ou can enjoy a
grander sight
By climbing to a greater
height. (Trans. By Xu Y
uanzhong)
American Poet
W
.C. Bryant: To a Waterfowl and British
poet Sir W. Scott: Datur Hora Quieti
While glow the heavens with the last
steps of day. The sun upon the lake is low, / The
wild birds
hush their song; /The hills
have evening?s deepest glow, /Y
et
Leonard tarries long.
I would like to
have hot tea.
Y?all welcome. (AmE Southern
dial.)
臭老九
:
intellectuals or educated people (designative
meaning)
egg-head (AmE sl. An intellectual, usu.
A
term of derision used by anti-
intellectuals)
(pragmatic meaning)
She is a cat.
她是个包藏祸心的女人。
他壮实得像头牛。
He is as strong as a
horse.
他犟得像头牛。
He
is as stubborn as mule.
C. Attention to
context and setting
Firth: A
word in a new context is a new word. No context,
no meaning.
花想衣裳月想容。
Flowers remind one
of her garments and the moon reminds one of her
face.
天下事有难易乎？为之难者亦易也，不为则易者亦难矣。
There
is nothing
difficult for us to do in this world. If we do it,
the difficult thing will be easy; if
we
don?t, the easy thing will be
difficult.
把你这个你也不喜欢，把你那个你也不
喜欢，那么你要我把你怎办呢？
V
ersion I. I do this to you
and you don?t like it. I do that to you and you
don?t like it. What do you
want me to
do to you then?
V
ersion II.
I give this to you and you don?t like it. I give
that to you and you don?t like it. What do
you want me to do to you then?
但是斗争必须是有理、有利、有节的，三者缺一，就会吃亏。
V
ersion I. But our struggle
should be marked by justifiability, expediency and
restraint; if it lacks
any of these
three characteristics, we shall suffer losses.
(London V
ersion)
V
ersion II. But the struggle
must be waged on just grounds, to our advantage,
and with restraint, if
any of the three
is lacking, we shall suffer setbacks.
Don?t let the
patients? Bill of Rights become the lawyers? right
to bill.
（别让病人的权利，变
成律师的利钱。
）
Talkathon New Record: man
beats women![
说话持久比赛
]
< br>新记录：男人击败女人
（
1977
年
美国一男士打破世界长舌妇所保持的记录，创造不吃不喝，连续讲话
18.30
个小时的记录。
Talkathon
马拉松演讲
=
说话长久比赛）
究竟
大家都想知道个究竟。
Everybody wants to
know what actually happened.
不管发生什么事，
他总爱会问个究竟。
He always
likes to get to the heart of the matter whatever
9
it may be.
明天的会究竟谁去参加？
Who on earth goes
(is actually going) to the meeting tomorrow.
你究竟要什么？
What on earth/
Whatever/ What exactly do you want?
这究竟是什么意思？
Whatever/ What on
earth does this mean?
他究竟上哪儿去了？
Where on earth is
he?/ Where on earth has he gone?
1.5.2 Expression
Expression consists in transfer from
the source language to the receptor language and
restructuring the form of the message
so as to make it appropriate for the presumed
audience. The
process of transfer
involves the shift from thinking in the source
language to thinking in the target
language, and the process of
restructuring involves the organization of the
lexical, syntactic, and
discourse
features of the transferred text so as to provide
maximal comprehension and
appreciation
on the part of the intended audience.
Comprehension and expression can?t be
separated. While we try to comprehend,
we are seeking for means of expression consciously
or
unconsciously; while we seek for
proper means of expression, our comprehension of
the ST is
being deepened. Comprehension
is the basis of expression; and expression is the
result of
comprehension; but good
comprehension can?t always bring good
expression.
During the process of
expression, there are several points deserving our
attention:
A. Proper choice of words
以斗争求团结则团结存，以退让求团结则团结亡，
……(
毛泽东选集，
)
Version
1.
…Solidarity is realized
through struggles and destroyed through
concessions.
Version 2.
…Unity is achieved by struggle and
destroyed by
compromise.
Version 3.
…If unity is
sought through struggle, it will live; if unity is
sought through
yielding, it
will perish. (best, because of the use
of
“yielding” derogatory in
sense)
客观过程的发展是充
满着矛盾和斗争的发展，
人的认识运动的发展也是充满着矛盾和斗争的
< br>发展。
（毛泽东选集，
Vol.
I
）
Version 1.
The development both of the objective
process and of the process of knowing is full of
contradictions and
struggles.(
简洁，但以词害意，看不清主次
)
Version 2.
The development
of the objective process is one full of
contradictions and struggles.
The
development of the process of man?s
k
nowledge is also one full of
contradictions and
struggles.
（形式接近原文，但两句之间的主次关系不清楚）
Version 3.
The development
of an objective process is full of contradictions
and struggles, and so
is the
development of the movement of human
knowledge.
（好）
他在上业余大学。
He is attending a
spare-time university.
在政治上他是个老手，经历了无数次的运动。
V
ersion 1. He is an old
full-fledged politician, having weathered
countless campaigns. (poor)
V
ersion 2. He is a seasoned
politician, having weathered countless campaigns.
(better)
解放以后，人人有了恋爱的自由。
Poor: After liberation, each one enjoys
free love. (
free love
means
the belief and practice of having
sex as one wishes without
marriage
)
10
Better: After liberation, each person
enjoys the freedom to choose one?s
spouse.
狗把她的手抓了。
The dog
scratched her hand.
(
抓
:
狭义
)
瞎抓
find oneself at a loss
(
抓：抽象
)
抓苗头
watch out for the first signs
(
抓：抽象
)
B. Avoid over-representation and under-
representation
He was on his
way to China again.
他又风尘仆仆地踏上了去中国的旅程。
（
over-
representation
）
有
一天杨朔来报社找我，
悄悄跟我商量，
要我跟他一起去延安。<
/p>
One day Y
ang Shuo came to my
office to ask me in secret to go with
him to the great sacred revolutionary base
Y
enan.
(over-representation)
他说他从沦陷的东北，辗转走到华北，好容易来到了广州。
V
ersion 1. He told us that
he had come from the Japanese-occupied Northeast,
traveled through
north China and
arrived in Guangzhou. (under-representation)
V
ersion 2. He told us that
he had trekked all the way from the Japanese-
occupied northeast,
through north China
and finally made his way with difficulty to
Guangzhou.(better)
C. Avoid translationese
(literal translation that does not produce the
appropriate sense)
e.g.
亲骨肉
X bone and
flesh
better: flesh and
blood
冒冷汗
X sweat cold
sweat
better: break out in
cold sweat
抓紧积肥，抓紧养猪，做好采购工作
Resolutely grasp manure. Firmly grasp
pig-breading. Do a good of procurement.(
坚决抓住粪肥，
坚决地抓住猪
——
来
配种，做好拉皮条的工作。
) Better: Pay close
attention to manure
accumulation and
raising pigs. And do a good job of purchase.
There are millions of courses and
toasts tonight.
今天的晚宴有数百万道菜，数百万次祝酒。
（
poor
）今天的晚宴上有无数道菜，无数次祝
酒。
（
better
）
the buyer?s market
买者的市场（
poor
）买方市场
携带好随身物品。
Don?t leave personal
belo
ngings unattended.
These
people with power decide to bestow gigantic raises
on the administrators while asking us to
tighten our belts.
这些手中握有权力的人
决定大幅提高行政人员的工资，却要求我们勒紧裤
带。
This product will reveal real goddess
in you.
该产品会再现一个美丽的你。
foot locker
鞋
D. Pay attention to collocation and
style
他是个最有实践经验的厨师。
He
is the most practical cook. (wrong)
He
is a best practical cook. (good)
她恶声恶气地
站在院中，
嚷鸡骂狗。
She was standing
in the courtyard, fuming and screaming at
the dog and shooing the hens. (poor) //
She stood in the courtyard in a fume, shouting at
the dogs
and shooing the hens.(better)
孔乙己直起身又看一看豆，
自己摇头
说，
“
不多不多！
多乎哉？不多也。<
/p>
”
（鲁迅：
《孔乙己》
< br>）
11
Then straightening up to look at the
peas again, he would shake his head. “Not much!
V
erily, not
much, for
sooth!”(
杨宪益、戴乃迭译
)
听到你母亲逝世的消息后我非常悲痛。
I am deeply grieved to hear that your
mother kicked the bucket. (poor)
I am
deeply grieved to hear of your mother?s death.
(better)
(
用词多样化
)
天漆黑，
部队踏着泥泞的小路前进。
大约走了十多里，
便靠近安顺场了。
我命令一营分成三
路前进
。
V
ersion 1. We
walked along muddy paths in pitch darkness, made
about a dozen li and
Anshunchang was
made near. Then I made the First Battalion
separate and took three different
routes.
V
ersion
2. We advanced along muddy paths in pitch darkness
for about a dozen li till we were near
Anshunchang. Then I made the First
Battalion divide into three different groups to
march by
different routes.
最近几年来这个国家并不平静。
1988
年表面上恢复了和平，实际上绝未恢复。这个国家不
但没能松一口气，
享受一下胜利的果实，
反而面临着比历史上所经见的更加严重更加难以处
理的问题。
她比过去任何时期富足得多，
强大
得多，
不过伴随着繁荣而来的是尖锐的紧张和
分裂。
Version 1.
The last
few years have not been tranquil in this country.
The peace was seemingly
restored in
1988. But it was not restored at all. Far from
being able to relax and enjoy the fruit of
victory, the country faced more serious
and more intractable problems than ever in her
history.
True, she was also richer and
more powerful than ever before. But the prosperity
was
accompanied by acute tensions and
divisions. (Monotonous)
Version
2.
The last few years have not been
tranquil in this country
. The peace
seemingly restored
in 1988 proved not
to have been restored at all. Far from being able
to relax and enjoy the fruit of
victory, she faced more serious and
arduous problems than ever before: the prosperity
was
accompanied by acute tensions and
divisions
—
although she was
richer and more powerful than
ever
before.
(With a
variety)
E. Distinguish between the
commendatory and the derogatory
e.g.
郭彩娣笑了，赞赏他的口才说：
“
说话真会绕弯。
”
（周而复：<
/p>
《上海的早晨》
）
Guo Caidi
smiled and said appreciatively: “He certainly
knows how to keep you guessing.”
(A.C.
Barns
译
)
（
in a round-about way or
beat about the bush
含贬义）
她哄劝着说：
“
孩子，别哭了，听妈说，当闺女的，早晚都是人家的人呀，你婆家也是庄
稼人，
不会亏待你的。
”She
coaxed: “Don?t cry
, Lan. Listen to
mother. Y
ou?re a girl, and sooner or
later you?ll belong to another man.
Y
our
mother
-in-
laws are peasants
like us. They won?t treat you
badly.”
(Here “coax” is poor, which means “persuade by
flattery or by continual trial.”
“Coax” had
better be changed
into “She tried to soothe her…”)
She
has a graceful carriage, with large eyes and thick
browns.
她长的亭亭玉立
,
大大
的眼睛，
黑黑的眉毛。
He has a
graceful carriage, with large eyes and thick
browns.
他长的玉树临风，浓眉大眼。
他们在积极巩固战果。
They are actively
consolidating their victorious gains.(poor because
12
“victorious
gains” sometimes refers to the things taken by
force after conq
uering the enemy)
Better: They are actively
consolidating their victories.
F.
Pay attention to sound effect
干杯！
Bottoms up!
(Bottom?s up.) (the phonetic resemblance of these
words to certain taboo
English words or
words with bad connotation)
公鸡
cock
—
rooster
国际交往
international
intercourse
—
international
contacts
我觉得读书是一件有趣的乐事。
It
is my feeling reading is an interesting thing.
(poor)
I feel that reading is a
pleasure. (improved)
昨天我在湖边看见了一株秃树。
I
saw by the lake yesterday a naked tree. (poor)
I saw a leafless tree by the lake
yesterday. (improved)
他一次错了，但不久他还会错的。
He was wrong once, and it won?t be long
before he?ll be wrong again. (good)
G
. T
ransmit what
is regarded as the most important meaning by
paying due attention to
other meanings.
一寸光阴一寸金。
An inch of time
is an inch of gold. (not: A
cun of time
is a cun of gold.)
众鸟高飞尽，
孤云独去闲。
（李白：
《独坐敬亭山》
）
All
birds have flown away, so high;
A
lonely cloud drifts on, so
free.(
许渊冲译
)
H.
Make good use of all translation
techniques
There are various
kinds of translation techniques that must be
flexibly employed during the whole
process of expression. They are:
annotation, contextual amplification and omission,
shift of
perspective, specification,
generalization, paraphrase, adaptation, back
translation, etc.
玄德看其人：身长九尺，髯长三尺；面如重枣、唇若涂脂；丹
凤眼，卧蚕眉，相貌堂堂，
威风凛凛。
（罗贯中：
《三国演义》
）
Xuande looked
over the newcomer item by item and noted
his
huge
frame
,
his long
beard
,
his dark brown face
and deep red lips
. He had eyes like a
phoenix
and fine
bushy eye-
browns like silk worms
. His whole
appearance was dignified and
awe-
inspiring. (generalization, paraphrase,
amplification)
1.6 T
esting
Although the
testing of a translation is somewhat different
from the processes of comprehension
and
expression, it is an essential element in that it
exposes so quickly any problems which exist in
a translation. According to Nida, the
most helpful diagnostic tests are the following:
1) oral
reading by different persons,
2) close analysis of facial gestures of readers,
3)hearing a text and
telling the
contents to people who have heard the text read,
and 4) the cloze technique.
13
1.7
Prerequisites for translators
correct attitude, language competence
culture competence
mastery of translation
techniques
knowledge of
reference books
翻译练习：
夸父追日
?
夸父不量力，欲追日影，逐之於隅谷之际。渴欲得饮，赴饮
河、渭，河、渭不足，将走北饮大泽。未至，道渴而死。
《列
子
·
汤问》
A legendary giant Kua Fu, overrating
his own abilities, wanted to catch
up
with the sun.. He followed the sun to its setting
place at a valley far
away and became
very thirsty. Badly needing a drink of water, he
went
to the Yellow River and the River
Wei to quench his thirst, but the
waters from these two rivers were not
sufficient to satisfy him. He
decided
to go to the great lake in the north to drink its
waters. Before
he got there he died of
thirst on his way. (
Liezi
trans. by Qiao Chejie)
1.8
Functions of language
In
order
to
have
a
more
satisfactory
understanding
of
what
is
involved
in
interlingual
communication, it is essential to view
first the major functions of language. By
c
onsidering many
of the
diverse functions of language it is possible to
understand better the amazing complexity of
verbal
communication.
The
functions
of
language
are
of
two
basic
types:
psychological
and
sociological.
The
psychological
functions
may
be
described
as
the
means
by
which
people
negotiate with reality, and the
sociological functions can be said to be those
ways by which people
negotiate with
other persons. The psychological functions may be
regarded as essentially internal
or
subjective, and the sociological functions as
external and interpersonal.
A. The
psychological functions of language
The
primary
psychological
functions
of
language
are
naming,
stating,
modeling
of
reality,
expression and
cognition. The psychological necessity to give
names to experience is so obvious
that
people sometimes fail to realize its significance
until they have read the stirring story of Helen
Keller and the powerful insights gained
by her discovery of a symbol for water. The
importance of
having
symbols
for
identi
fying
and
controlling
things
is
highlighted
by
children?s
eagerness
to
grasp
new
words.
Finding
just
the
right
word
to
symbolize
some
object
or
event
in
a
person?s
experience seems to give some control
over such things and happening.
14
But
naming
is
not
enough.
People want
to say something
about
the
objects
and
events
they
name. And so they produce subject-
predicate or topic-comment statements. They also
want to be
able to link together
strings of such statements, since single
propositions are entirely too restricted
to satisfy certain psychological needs.
People,
however,
need
something
more
profound
from
language
than
the
reality
to
string
sentences together or to name
phenomena. In one way or another they
instinctively feel that words
should
provide a system for viewing the world. If they
can call Lassie a dog and if all dogs can be
called canines and if all canines can
be called animals, then there must be a way in
which verbal
symbols somehow reflect
reality, although imperfectly. Then they also
learn that the word cat may
represent
not only a pet house cat, but can be used in
talking about lions, tigers and leopards, they
discover that a word may indeed have
more than one function in the hierarchy of names,
that is, it
may have more than one
meaning. Such sets of words are never a perfect
reflection of reality, but
only one way
in which people have conceptualized experience. It
is only “their reality.”
Another area in
which language tends to model reality is in the
four major semantic classes of
lexems
(words
and
idioms),
namely,
(1)entities
(e.g.
boy
,
horse,
tree,
house),
(2)activities
(e.g.
come, walk,
die,
talk,
rule,
hit),
(3)characteristics,
primarily
qualities
and
quantities
(e.g.
good,
fast, brilliant,
quickly), (4)relations (e.g. through, behind,
during, when, as).
a. entities related
to activities in a number of ways:
as
agents: e.g. John worked hard.
as
experiencers: e.g. John died.
as
instruments: e.g. a stone broke the window
as location: e.g. went home
as benefactees: e.g. Mary was given a
car.
Entities and activities may be
qualified or quantified by characteristics, e.g.
ran fast, slept more,
fine person,
large hill, many birds. Although many relations
are not marked by words, but by order
(e.g. John hit Bill.), some relations
are marked by words, e.g. space (water in the
tank), time (read
while
listening
to
music),
coordination,
subordination
and
linakge
(e.g.
He
was
very
foolish.
Furthermore, he was completely
irresponsible.).
Another
psychological
function
of
language
is
expression.
The
expressive
use
of
language
mainly involves an
utterance designed to indicate a source?s own
feelings or attitudes but having
no
direct
relationship
to
possible
receptors.
Its core
is
the
mind
of the
speaker,
the writer,
the
originator
of
the
utterance.
He
uses
the
utterance
to
express
his
feelings
irresponsible
of
any
response.
Cognition: the individual use of
language to think, through the implications of
some concept
or idea. Sometimes
cognitive
language
is not
verbalized;
it is simply “internal
speech”. In some
circumstances
it
may
be
externalized,
as
in
talking
to
oneself,
or
as
in
psychotherapy, when
it
becomes an utterance
reflecting a stress of consciousness.
B. The sociological functions of
language
The
primary
sociological
functions
of
language
are
those
by
which
people
relate
to
and
influence
one
another.
They
are
of
the
following
types:
interpersonal,
informative,
imperative,
performative, and emotive.
The
interpersonal
function
primarily
involves
the
ways
in
which
people
negotiate
and/or
maintain social status, in other words,
how they make use of language to help establish
themselves
in the social “pecking
order”( social order of a particular body of
people by means of which each
15
person knows ) and how
they maintain these relations
with
other people. Language is particularly
important in marking the relative
status of participants in communication. This is
constantly done
by using a particular
level of language. E.g. a speaker may acknowledge
the superior status of a
receptor
by
using
strictly
formal
speech,
and
in
some
instances
even
by
using
ritualized
expressions.
On
the
other
hand,
if
one
wishes
to
establish
a
more
friendly
relationship
with
someone,
this
can
be
readily
signaled
by
using
more
familiar
forms
of
expression.
In
most
language situations
speakers almost automatically adjust speech to the
relative social status of the
persons
involved in communication. E.g. Hi, babe.
The
most
obvious
function
of
language
is
informative,
the
use
of
speech
or
writing
to
influence the cognitive content or
state of other people. That is to say, it aims to
provide them with
information which
adds to or changes their thinking.
The
imperative function of language involves an
attempt to influence the behavior of receptors.
It is to urge, persuade, and command,
and hence it normally involves a
so-
called “forceful style”.
This means its use always implies a
measure of authority or power, but its
effectiveness usually
involves
“appealing to a receptor?s own
self
-interest, and it also implies a
considerable measure of
verbal
negotiating. This is carried out by means of an
appropriate illustration, a pointed joke, or a
searching question.
The
performative function of language involves
primarily a change in the status of receptors,
e.g. in solemnizing a
marriage (I now pronounce you man and
wife), in sentencing a criminal, in
cursing
an
enemy,
and
in
blessing
a
benefactor.
Those who
employ
performative
language
are
often authority figures,
or they are credited with possessing
esoteric(limited to a small c
ircles of
people) knowledge of words.
The emotive function of language
involves altering the emotive state of receptor,
and for this
purpose it must depend
heavily upon the associative or connotative
meanings of words. The range
of
emotions which can be influenced by this function
of language is unlimited since language can
inspire deeply felt religious devotion
and it can also prompt hilarious outbursts of
laughter. E.g.
words
such
as communism, revolution,
conservative,
liberal,
freedom
and
democracy
may
have
quite
different
meanings
to
different
people.
Four-letter
words,
nigger,
negro,
colored,
Black,
Afro-American. (cf.
On Translation, Ch.3)
Relatively few discourses
are restricted to a single function. In fact, most
speaking and writing
involve
several
different
functions
and
often
in
quite
different
proportions.
A
speech
by
a
local
politician
must
obviously
have
some
informative
content,
although
it
may
be
minimal,
but
it
certainly needs to perform an
interpersonal function of social solidarity with
the audience. At the
same time it must
involve an emotive appeal for support and an
exhortation to do something about
the
issues which have been mentioned. Similarly, a
friendly letter will almost always contain some
information,
but
its
primary
purpose
is
usually
a
reconfirmation
of
interpersonal
relations
and
a
desire to
cheer up the recipient.
1.9 T
ranslation and culture
1.9.1 Definition of culture
...that complex
whole
which
includes
knowledge,
belief,
art,
law,
morals,
custom
and
any
other capabilities and habits acquired
by man as a member of society. (Sir Edward Burnett
Tylor)
Culture consists of all the
shared products of human society. (Robertson,1987)
Culture refers to the social heritage
of a people
—
whose learned
patterns for thinking, feeling
16
and acting that are
transmitted from one generation to the next,
including the embodiment of these
patterns
in
material
items.
It
includes
both
nonmaterial
culture
—
abstract
creations
like
values,
beliefs, symbols,
norms, customs, and institutional
arrangements
—
and material
culture
—
physical
artifacts
or
objects
like
stone
axes,
computers,
loincloths,
tuxedos,
automobiles,
paintings,
hammocks and
domed stadiums. (James W. V
ander
Zanden, 1993:32-34)
A
society?s culture consists
of whatever it i
s one has to know or
believe in order to operate
in a manner
acceptable to its members, and to do so in any
role that they accept for any one of
themselves. (Goodenough)
Main features of culture
A. Culture is
shared by the members of a society;
B. Culture is learned
rather than biologically inherited;
C. Culture is bio-basic;
D. Culture is
based on symbols.
Classification of
culture
material
culture
（物质文化）
institutional
cu
lture
（制度文化，如社会制度，家庭制度，生
活教育制度
，生活方式，习俗礼仪，语言等）
mental culture
（心理文化，如思维方式，信<
/p>
仰，价值观念等）
(
邢福义
)
1.9.2 Language and culture
Language is a
special system of culture which belongs to
institutional culture.
In the broadest sense, language is the
symbolic representation of a people, and it
comprises their
historical and cultural
background as well as their approach to life and
their ways of living and
thinking.
Translation
is a cross-cultural communication. In
doing translation, culture must be taken into
account. Cultural influences are
reflected during the whole process of
translation.
A. Cultural
influence on comprehension
a. in terms
of designative meaning
Cultural influence on
designative meaning is mainly found in naming,
stating and modeling of
reality. E.g.
水饺
炒面
衙门
翻身
功夫
老乡
They come from
the same place./ A
friend from home
comes to see me.
Our world outlook can
greatly shape our ways of thinking and modes of
expression. So far as we
Chinese
are
concerned,
our ways
of
thinking
and
modes
of
expression
are
greatly
shaped
and
influenced by Taoism:
“道生一，
一生二，
二生三，
三生万物。
”
五行学
说
results in the much
use of
numerals in modes of expression, e.g.
三军，三令五申，五福
.
白发三千丈，缘愁似个长。
（李白）
My whitening hair would make a long,
long rope.
Y
et could not
fathom all my depth of woe.
(Trans. By Giles)
那些卖酒的青帘高扬，卖茶的红炭满炉，仕女游人，络绎不绝，真不数三十六家花酒店，七
< br>十二座管弦楼。
（
《儒林外史》
）
Dark
trade-signs
flutter
above
the
wineshops,
and
red charcoal
glows
in
the
tea-house stove, while
men
and women
stream
by
,
on
pleasure
bent,
to
throng
the
countless taverns and music halls. (Tr.
Y
ang Hsianyi & Glady
Y
ang)
Address terms (esp. kinship system)
cousin
uncle
aunt
17
God and devil
神
and
鬼
In
English there is a clear distinction made between
God and devil while in Chinese there isn?t. In
English, God refers to a being that
thought to have greater power than any man and
considered
worthy of worship, whereas
Devil refers to any evil spirit, fiend, or demon.
In Chinese culture,
神
means:
(1)
鬼魂，精灵，魔
鬼，天神；
（
2
）宇宙中难以预料的变
化；
（
3
）同人的肉体相对的
心灵或精神。它是个外延的概念。
鬼斧神工
uncanny
workmanship
请神容易送神难。
It is
easier to call upon an evil spirit than to allay
it.
不是鬼使神差，好端端的小陈老爷怎么会抽上鸦片烟。
If
it
hadn?t
been
for
the
influence
of
devils, why would a
decent fellow like Master Chen could have taken to
smoking opium?
神不知，鬼不觉
unknown to god or
ghost
In English, the names referring
to one object or concept can find a number of
counterparts which
are obtained from
different perspectives. E.g.
金星（太白，启明，长庚）
西当太白
有鸟道，可以横绝娥眉巅。李白：
《蜀道难》
东有启明，西有长庚。
（
《小雅
?
大东》
）
V
enus, the Morning Star, the
Evening Star
三阳开泰
three rams bringing bless
The same object might be named
differently in different cultures. E.g. brown
coal
（褐煤）
, brown
bread
（黑面包）
, brown
sugar(
红塘
)
b. in terms of pragmatic meaning
Culture also influences our
interpretation of the pragmatic meaning of
words(color terms, words
for animals
and all kinds of food, words for religion, fables
and allusion).e.g.
In English, chicken, sheep,
goat and cow can mean separately
胆小懦弱
(be chicken-hearted),
驯服腼腆（
sheepish
）
，好色淫荡（
goatish
）
，粗壮邋遢（
Y
ou smell
cow!
）
.
“Don?t be
scared, chickens!” came her voice with teasing
gaiety. (M. Mitchell.
Gone with the
Wind
) “
别害怕，胆小鬼
”
，只听得她用戏谑的口吻说道。
（陈良庭译
）
Outside his own domain,
and unprotected, he was a very sheep for the
sharers. (C. Dickens:
David
Copperfield
)
一出他自
己的领地，失去了保护，他完全是一只任人宰割的小绵羊。
（董秋斯
译）
He might be a musking
goat sometimes, but this was his responsibility,
this truck, its running, and
its
maintenance. (J. Steinbeck:
The Grapes
of Wrath
)
有时他也许算得上是个好色之徒，但这才<
/p>
是他的责任，这辆车，驾驶它和保养它。
green:
young,
fresh,
immature
in
age
or
judgment,
inexperienced,
simple,
raw,
easily
imposed
upon, jealousy, life, Faith, gladness,
immortality, the resurrection of the just;
in
dresses: the gladness of the faithful
in blazonry:
vert, signifying love, joy, abudance; it is
engraved by diagnonal lines from left to
right;
in art: signifying hope,
joy, youth, spring (among the Greeks and Moors it
signifies victory);
in
church
decoration:
it
signifies
God?s
bounty,
mirth,
gladness,
the
resurrection;
used
for
weeddays and Sundays
after Trinity.
18
in
metals: it is represented by copper;
in precious
stones: it is represented by the emerald.
(Bewer?s, p.249)
她皮肤白皙。
V
ersion 1. She has a white
skin.
V
ersion 2.
She has a fair complexion.//She has a fair skin.
//She is fair-complexioned.
她得了红眼病。
V
ersion 1. She is green with
jealousy.
V
ersion 2. She has
got pink eyes.(
红眼病
)
Y
ou look darker after
holidays.
你度假归来后显得更健康了。
a white
Christmas
银装素裹的圣诞节
接着他们用绳子把节振德捆得象个粽子似的，
又是一阵拳打脚踢，
节振德的嘴里鼻孔里鲜血
直冒。<
/p>
（
王火：
《
赤胆
忠心》
）
They gave him a good
cuff and kick, trussed him up like fowl and than
went on walloping and kicking him again
till his nose and mouth were a bloody pulp.
王招娣碰不得吗？你是三头六臂，我也敢碰。
（周而复：
《上海的早晨》
）
Is Tan Chiao-ti
some
sacred being that no one dare to
offend? But I dare, even if you?re a demigod.
(Trans. A.C. Barnes)
沧海月明珠有泪，蓝田日暖玉生烟。
（李商隐：
《锦
瑟》
）
（珠生于蚌，蚌生于海，每当
月明宵静，蚌则向月张开，以养其珠，珠得月华，始极光莹。
）
In moonlight pearls see tears in
mermaid?s eyes;
From
sunburnt emeraild see vapor rise.
(
许渊冲
译
)
Dark green
sea, tears, pearls, moonlight streaming:
Sunny blue jade field, warm haze
shimmering. (
翁显良
译
)
vinegar:
unkind, bitter, sharp-tempered
vinegary
remarks
尖酸刻薄的话
醋：吃醋
sour: having or expressing bad temper;
unsmiling
He is sour on his
teacher.
他讨厌老师。
酸：酸秀才
an
impractical scholar
c. in terms of
lingusitic meaning
Cultural influence
on the interpretation of sound, e.g.
[i] birdy,
dady, Mary, Stacy, etc.
needle, beetle,bee, peen, peep,peek,
etc.
[a]
啊，美丽的西藏！开口元音，闭口元音
B. Cultural
influence upon restructuring the message
But we are getting ahead of the story
.
但是我们说到故事的后头去了。
Is there a special rate by the month?
Y
es, there is a 10%
discount.
按月计算有什么优惠吗？
是的，可以打九折。
When
the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
（前面愈是危难，硬汉愈是要上前。
）或（事
情愈是棘
手，硬汉愈要动手。
）
我想要认识格林先生。
误译：
I want to recognize Mr.
Green.
19
改译：
I should like to know Mr.
Green.
The commonly-used translation
techniques that can be employed to handle cultural
barriers in
expression:
a. annotation
气功
qigong(a system of deep breathing
exercises)
太极拳
taijiquan (a kind of
traditional Chinese shadow boxing)
b. contextual amplification
and omission
怎么
？到底年轻人不知道随时随地留意。
嗳，
阿驹，
你现在是党老爷了，
地面上情形一点
也不熟悉，你这党
老爷怎么干得下去啊！
（矛盾《子夜》
）
“Y
ou
don?t know? Naturaly a yound man doesn?t bother
his head about such thing. But now,
you
are a party man
—
one the
él
ete! If you are going to
do your job properly, you must get to
know the local conditions…” (Tr. Xu
Mengxiong)
c. shift of perspective
他们是连襟。
Their wives are
sisters.
九五折
a five percent discount
九折
a
ten percent discount
狗不哩包子
Dogs Won?t Leave
他的肚子都要笑破了。
He laughed till
his site split.
d. specification and generalization
“这断子绝孙的阿
Q
！
”远远听得小尼姑带哭的声音。
（鲁迅：
《阿
Q
正传》
）
“Ah Q, may you die
sonless!” sounded the little nun?s voice in the
distance.
e. paraphrase
之乎者也
literary jargons
吹得天花乱坠
brag in
the most fantastic terms
f) adaptation
人民法庭正等着他，狗头就要和狗脖子分家了。
There?s
a people?s court waiting for him. His
god-damned head is going to be
separated from his god-damned neck.
我满腹文章。
I have a mind crammed
with knowledge of the liberal arts.
躺在自己的功劳簿上
rest on one?s
laurels
鸳鸯
(X
mandarine duck [a bright-colored, crested Asian
duck, sometimes domesticated] , love
birds
Strategies adopted in dealing with
culture-loaded expressions
foreignization and domestication
1.10 Translation and
Pragmatics
Pragmatics can be
defined as the study of language in use and
linguistic communication. It is
basically a study of meaning. Semantics
traditionally deals with meaning as dyadic
relation as in
?What does X mean??,
while pragmatics deals with meaning as a triadic
relation as ?What do you
mean by X??.
In other words, pragmatics studies
meaning
not in isolation but in
context. Sentence
meaning and utterance
meaning
1.10.1
Speech Act Theory
Speech Act
Theory is an important theory which is the study
of meaning related to the context in
20
which it is expressed. It
explains the nature of linguistic communication.
According to this theory,
we are
performing various kinds of acts when we are
speaking; this linguistic communication
composed of a succession of acts.
The speech act
theory originated with the British philosopher
John Austin in the late
50?s. It?s
proposed by John Austin and John
Searle. Basically they believe that language is
not only used to
inform or to describe
things, it is often used to “do things”, to
perform acts. Austin suggests three
basic senses in which in saying
something one is doing something, and the three
kinds of acts are
performed
simultaneously: a locutionary act, an
illocutionary act and a perlocutionary act.
A
locutionary act is the act
of saying something; it is an act of conveying
literal meaning by
means of syntax,
lexicon and phonology.
An
illocutionary act
is the speaker?s
communicative intention or the function it is
intended to
perform; its force is
identical with the speaker?s intention.
A
perlocutionary act is the
act performed by or resulting from saying
something; it is the
consequence of, or
the change brought about by the utterance. What is
of the greatest interest to
linguists
is naturally the illocutionary act.
It?s cold in
here.
Its locutionary act is the saying
of it with its literal meanin
g “it?s
cold in
here.” Its illocutionary act
can be a request of the hearer to shut the window.
Its perlocutionary act
can be the
hearer?s shutting the window or his refusal to
comply with the request.
An
illocutionary act is also designed to show
coherence in seemingly incoherent conversation.
E.g.
Husband: That?s the phone.
(a request of his wife to go and answer
it)
Wife:
I?m in the
bathroom. (a refusal to comply with the
request)
Husband: Okay. (accepts the
refusal and request, meaning: All
right, I?ll answer it.)
Types of illocutionary acts proposed by
John Searle:
Ass
ertives
（
陈述）
:
sentences that commit the speaker to the truth of
something. Typical cases are
“I think
the movie is moving.” (I state to you) the earth
is a globe.
Directives(
指令
):
sentences by which the speaker tries to get the
hearer to do something. Inviting,
requesting, advising, ordering are all
specific instances of this class. Typical cases
are “Open the
window!” “ Don?t you
think it?s a bit stuffy here.” “ Y
our
money or your life? ”
Commissives(
承诺
):
sentences that commit the speaker to some future
action. Promises, offers,
warning,
vowing are the most typical cases. I promise to
come. I?ll bring the book without fail. If
you do that again I?ll beat you to
death.
Expressives
（表达）
:
sentences that express the speaker?s psychological
state about something.
The speaker is
expressing his feelings or attitudes towards an
existing state of affairs, e.g.
apologizing, thanking, congratulating.
I?m sorry for the mess I have made.
It?
s really kind of you
to
have thought of me.
Declara
tions(
宣布
)
：
sentences that bring about immediate change in
the existing state of affairs.
I declare the
meeting open. Y
ou are fired.
1.10.2 The Cooperative Principle and
Its Maxims
We
know that quite often the speaker can mean a lot
more than what is said. The problem is
then to explain how the speaker can
manage to convey more than what is said and how
the hearer
can arrive at the speaker?s
meaning. The American philosopher Paul Grice
believes th
at there must
be
some mechanisms governing the production and
comprehensions guiding the conduct of
21
conversation. This is
what he calls the cooperative principle. He
formulates the principle and its
maxims
as follows:
Make your contribution such as is
required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the
accepted
purpose or direction of the
talk exchange in which you are engaged.
1)
The maxim of Quality
Try to make your
contributiion one that is true, specially: a)do
not say what you believe to be false;
b)do not say that for which you lack
adequate evidence
2)The maxim of Quantity
a)make you contribution as informative
as is required for the current purpose of the
exchange; b)
do not make your
contribution more informative than is required
3)The maxim of
Relevance
Make you contribution
relevant
4)The
maxin of Manner
Be perspicuous, and
specifically: a)avoid obscurity; b)avoid
ambiguity; c)be brief; d)be orderly
Conversatinal
Implicatures
1.10.3 The politeness principle
Geoffrey Leech
Two different types of politeness:
positive politeness and negative politeness
(Holmes,1992:297)
Generally
speaking, politeness involves taking account of
the feelings of others. A
polite person
makes
others
feel
comfortable.
Being
linguistically
polite
involves
speaking
to
people
appropriately
in
the
light
of
their
relationship
to
you.
Making
decisions
about
what
is
or
is
not
considered
polite
in
any
community,
therefore
involves
assessing
social
relationships
along
the
dimensions of social distance or
solidarity, and relative power or status. We need
to understand the
social values of a
society in order to speak politely.
These two dimensions also provide the
basis for a distinction between two different
types of
politeness. Positive
politeness is solidarity oriented. It emphasizes
shared attitudes and values.
When the
boss suggests that a subordinate should use first
name(FN) to her, this is a positive
politeness move, expressing solidarity
and minimizing status difference. A
shift to a more informal
style using
slang and swear words will function similarly as
an expression of positive politeness.
By
contrast,
negative
politeness
pays
people
respect
and
avoids
intruding
on
them.
Indirect
directives
express
negative
politeness.
Negative
politeness
involves
expressing
oneself
appropriately
in
terms
of
social
distance
and
respecting
status
differences.
Using
title
and
last
(TLN)
to
your superiors,
and
to
older
people
that
don?t
know
well,
are further
examples
of
the
expression
of negative politeness. Being polite may also
involve the dimension of formality.
1.11 T
ranslation and
Linguistic Variations
A.M.J. Gregory and Carroll’s
classification(1978:10):
Language exists in
variations which reflect characteristics relating
to one?s personal identity, to
the
time
and
place
in
which
he
lives
and
to
his
membership
of
social
class
and
of
a
speech
community. They are all reasonably
permanent characteristics of the user. In
addition, variations
are also related
to use, the specific context or the subject matter
and the medium.
22
1.11.1 Varieties related to the user
(dialectal variety)
a. geographical
or regional dialect (BrE/ AmE)
b. temporal
dialect (Modern English/Old English)
今年的黎庶（老百姓）如何？今年的梨树好，只是虫子吃了。
c.
social class dialect (Upper class English/Middle
class English)
d. dialects of different ages, sexes,
races and nations
e. idiolect (Mr. X?s
English)
f. standard/non-standard
dialect (Standard E/non-standard E)
1.11.2 Varieties related to
the use: registers (diatypic variety)
concerned with the user?s and
receiver?s relationship to (1) experience, (2)to
each other, (3)to the
medium of
transmission
field of discourse
tenor of discourse
mode of discourse
(
Language and
Situation
Language varieties and their social
contexts
)
1.11.2 Varieties related to
the use
The term ?style? is used by
Holmes to refer to language variation which
reflects changes in
situational
factors, such as addressee, setting, task or
topic. Some linguists describe this kind of
language variation as ?register?
variation. Others use the term ?register? more
narrowly to describe
the specific
vocabulary associated with different occupational
groups. The distinction is not
always
clear, however, and many sociolinguists simply
ignore it.
Styles are often analyzed along a scale
of formality. Registers, on the other hand, when
they
are distinguished from styles,
tend to be associated with particular groups of
people or sometimes
specific situations
of use. Journalese, baby-talk, legalese, the
language of auctioneers, race-callers,
and sports commentators, the language
of airline pilots, criminals, financiers,
politicians and disc
jockeys, the
language of the courtroom and the classroom, could
all be considered examples of
different
registers. The term ?register? here describes the
language of groups of people with
common interests or jobs, or the
language used in situations associated with such
groups.
Halliday uses “register” in a much
broader sense. According to Halliday, “Language
varies as
its function varies,
it differs in different situations.”
The type of language which is selected as
appropriate to a type of situation is a
register. Registers are simply a rather special
case of a
particular kind of language
being produced by the social situation.
Halliday further distinguishes three
social variables that determine the register:
field of
discourse, tenor of discourse,
and mode of discourse.
Field of
discourse(
话语范围
)
Field of
discourse is the linguistic reflection of the
purpose role of the language user in the
situation in which a text has occurred.
In
other words, it is
concerned with the purpose and subject-matter of
communication. It answers the
question
of ?Why? and ?About what? communication takes
place. Field of discourse may be
non-
technical or technical. Shopping, game-playing and
a personal letter are instances of
non-
technical fields. Technical fields refer to the
specialist fields such as a linguist giving a
lecture
in class and meteorologists
talking about the weather.
Tenor of
discourse(
话语意旨
)
Tenor of discourse refers to the role
of relationship in the situation in question: who
the
participants in the communication
group are and in what relationship they stand to
each other. It
23
answers the question of “to whom ” the
speaker is communi
cating. This
dimension to a great
extent determines
the level of formality and the level of
technicality of the language we use.
Mode of
discourse(
话语方式
)
Mode of
discourse is the linguistic reflection of the
relationship the language user has to the
m
edium of transmission. It
is concerned with “how” communication is carried
out. Language is
either spoken or
written. Spoken language can be spontaneous or
non-spontaneous, and written
language
may be spoken or just to be read with the eye.
When we compare the language being
used, we find there are significant
differences in it. For example, differences
between written
English and spoken
English.
Any discourse can be seen
as a configuration of field, mode and tenor. Any
instance of
communication can be
analyzed in terms of these three dimensions. The
three variables are the
features of the
context of situation which determine the features
of language appropriate to the
situation, i.e. register.
Scales of formality
Martin
Joos:
Five Clocks
;
Frozen: Visitors would make
their way at once to the upper floor by way of
staircase.
Formal: Visitors should go
up the stairs at once.
Consultative:
Would you mind going upstairs right away, please?
Casual: Time you all went up stairs
now.
Intimate: Up you go, chaps!
Geoffrey Leech?s scales of
formality
formal
informal
common
core
Stylistic colors
reflected at phonological, lexical and syntactic
levels.
Phonological level
:
Cracker:
鞭炮
Popcorn:
爆玉米花
candy:
糖糖
Lexical level:
colloquialism
literary words/learned words
fire
conflagration
begin
commence
alibi
excuse
crowd
concourse
building
edifice
get-up
costume
lively
vivacious
same
identical
brave
valorous
thin
emaciated
fat
corpulent
answer
rejoinder
read
peruse
e.g.
24
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
上一篇：西方常见十大迷信(英语)
下一篇：英汉思维模式对比及其对翻译的影响