第二讲：translation principle

II. Translation Criteria

1. Why translation?

1.1.

中国的起源

“

佛影胡人记，经文汉语翻

”(Buddha

Images

were

recorded

by

the

Tartars

while

the

Scriptures were translated into Chinese)

记录了我国翻译史上的一个特定阶 段

——

佛经翻译。

佛

< br>教

(Buddhism)

源自印度，

随着教义跨越国界民族，

其经典亦被译成不同的语言文字。

在我国，

佛教经文翻译起源于东汉，发展于六朝，大盛于隋唐。

1.2

．西方翻译的起源

基督教

(Christianity )

中用来解释世界各民族语言来源的故事叫做通天塔

(Babe l)

。据《圣

经

·

创世纪》

(Genesis,

Bible

)

的记载，初始人类想要建一座通天的

“

巴别塔

”

，为了阻止人类到

达天庭，

上帝让他们开始说不同的语言，

于是人类的通天梦成为 泡影。

这也成为了翻译活动

的开始。

A Story from the Bible.

God created the world within six days and on the seventh, he rested from his work.

He then

made

Adam

and

Eve.

One

generation

after

another,

the

number

of

humans

began

to

increase

greatly.

Meanwhile,

the

wickedness

of

humankind

was

great.

So,

God

destroyed

the

earthly

things in the Great Flood except Noah and his Ark.

Far after the flood, the families of Noah’s

sons spread on the earth in nations.

At that time the whole earth had one language and the same words.

In the land of Shinar,

humans planned t

o build a tower. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in

the

heavens.”

However,

God was

not

pleased

with

this

plan.

God said,

“Look,

they

are

one

people,

and

they

have

all

one

language;

and

this

is

only

the

beginning

of

what

they

will

do;

nothing

that

they

propose

to

do will

now

be

impossible

for

them.

Come,

let

us

go

down,

and

confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord

scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city,

the tower.

That was called Babel, where God confused the language of all the earth.

1.3. The present situation

Today, more than 3,000 languages are being used in the world.

Even the most widely used

ones outnumber ten. In order to exchange information of every conceivable kind with others, so as

to make one’s country and the whole world more civilized, a modern existence must know how to

translate.

He should be bi-lingual as well as bi-cultural.

2

．

Discussion and understanding translation criteria

1

．

Unless you

’

ve an ace up your sleeve, we are dished.

除非你袖子中间藏着老

A,

否则我们就菜掉了。

除非你有锦囊妙计，否则人为刀俎，我为鱼肉。

除非你袖子中间藏有王牌，否则我们是输定了。

）

Ace

，

King, Queen, Jack,

Spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds

2.

If you feel depressed at a social gathering, keep it a secret.

在社交场合，你就是感到情绪压抑，也不要表露出来。

3

．

“

I know, Dad,

”

she said,

“I’

m a selfish Pig.

I’

ll think about it

…”

(rthy: A

Modern Comedy

, p47)

< br>“

我知道，爹

”

，她说，

“我是一头自私自利的猪。我会考虑这个问题的

……”

4.

餐馆侍者：先生，您想吃点啥？

May I have your order, sir?

顾客：让我先看看你们的菜单吧！

I

haven

’

t

seen

a

menu

yet.

May

I

have

one,

please?

5.

He always lives ahead of his salary

.

他总是生活在他的工资之前。

（他的生活开销总是超过工资收入。

）

患有流感的幼儿和老人可能并发细菌性肺炎。

6. The bacteria pneumonia may complicate influenza at both extremes of age.

患有流感的幼儿和老人可能并发细菌性肺炎。

7.

人戴“梅花”

，准时乐道

---

梅花手表

Give the watch to all and to all a good time.

8

．穿上“双星”鞋，潇洒走世界

D

ouble Star Takes Y

ou Afar.

Example:

曲曲折折的荷塘 上面，

弥望的是田田的叶子。

叶子出水很高，

< br>像亭亭的舞女的裙。

译文

1. On the uneven surface of the pond, all one could see was a mass of leaves, all

interlaced and shooting high above the water like the skirts of slim dancing girls.

译文

2. all over this

winding stretch of

water,

what

meets the

eye

is a silken

field of

leaves,

reaching

rather

high

above

the

surface,

like

the

skirts

of

dancing

girls

in

all

their grace.

2. 2. What can be the translation principles?

1.

the

source-language-oriented

principle:

the

author

is

the

most

important

and

readers should

stretch out to reach the author

2.

the target-language-oriented principle: readers of the target language are the most important

and the author should change his expressions to make it more acceptable.

3.

the

author-and-reader-oriented

principle:

both

the

reader

and

the

author

should

be

equally

respected.

4.

the aesthetic-oriented principle: artistic beauty is the most important

5. the function-oriented principle: the translation has to

fulfill the new function according to the

translation initiator

6. the sociosemiotics-oriented principle

2. 3. Famous views about translation principles from famous people

严复：信、达、雅

expressiveness, faithfulness, elegance

鲁迅：

Faithfulness and smoothness. Great importance should be attached to the preservation of the

original flavor, once said: rather be faithful (in thought) than smooth (in language),

宁信而不顺