Paper Keywords: English-Chinese translation; Translation obstacle
Abstract: In the process of English-Chinese translation. There is a criticism of translation diseases. First of all, the article introduces translation diseases. Then, by analyzing some manifestations of translation obstacles in the three stages of understanding, expression and modification in the translation process. Summarize the root causes of translation diseases [source: graduate student paper net, graduate thesis, master thesis, undergraduate thesis, junior college thesis, thesis writing consultation, periodical publication] and finally put forward corresponding preventive measures.
1. What are translation barriers?
English-Chinese translation is to express the meaning expressed in English in Chinese, so as to achieve the purpose of communicating thoughts and feelings, spreading cultural knowledge and promoting social civilization. The basic standard of translation is generally "faithfulness and fluency". The so-called loyalty means that the translation should be faithful to the ideological content of the original and try to maintain the style of the original; On the basis of faithfulness, the translation should be correct in rhetoric, reasonable in logic, concise in language and fluent in arts and sciences, that is, fluent.
Due to the different cultural backgrounds of English and Chinese, the structure of writing is far from the habit of choosing words and making sentences, and some contradictions inevitably arise in the inter-language conversion. The process of translation is actually a process of constant compromise of this contradiction. Yu Guangzhong, a famous scholar and translator, vividly summed it up as "for example, when English is translated into Chinese, the west wind is not allowed to overwhelm the east wind and become Chinese with a foreign accent, and the east wind is not allowed to overwhelm the west wind and become Chinese with a glib tongue". However, in the actual operation of English-Chinese translation, due to preconceptions about English, the result of contradictory confrontation is often inadvertently overwhelming the east wind, and the translation is "neither Chinese nor western, neither donkey nor horse, but it seems different and awkward"; It makes people look "ugly, unpleasant, and awkward to say." Eugene Nida mentioned this phenomenon in Translation Theory and Practice, and specially created a word-translating China people. Translation disorder not only seriously affects the quality of translation, but also affects the purity of Chinese, which is not conducive to the healthy development of Chinese.
Second, explore the causes of translation barriers
English-Chinese translation is an extremely complicated task. There are three stages in translation: understanding, expression and modification. If any stage is not handled well, translation obstacles may occur.
(A) understanding stage
The process of understanding is to analyze the original text from the linguistic aspects (such as vocabulary and grammatical structure). ) and context (such as contextual meaning and text style structure, etc. ), strive to thoroughly understand the cultural connotation carried by the text and understand the relevant background knowledge. Sometimes it is necessary to have some common sense of life.
Galileo's greatest glory is that he was the first to use the newly invented telescope to prove the existence of the universe. The network revolves around the sun, not around the earth.
Galileo's greatest glory is that he was the first to aim the newly discovered telescope at the sky in 1609, proving that the planets revolve around the sun, not around the earth.
Analysis: Translation only understands the superficial meaning of the original text, and mechanically understands glory as "the greatest glory", which makes the final translation puzzling. When translating, if we only consider the superficial meaning of the original text and simply understand it according to the literal meaning, the result is often unsatisfactory. From the context of the example 1, we can see that it refers to Galileo's first experiment to prove that planets revolve around the sun by scientific means. Galileo's most brilliant achievement was that he was the first to aim the newly invented telescope at the sky in 1609, proving that the planets revolve around the sun, not around the earth.
Ex. 2: It doesn't matter to me, as long as there is something between my ribs and my spine.
It doesn't matter, as long as something is put between my ribs and my spine.
It doesn't matter, just eat something to fill your stomach.
Analysis: The stomach is located between human ribs and spine. Finding something between FFS ribs and my spine is equivalent to finding something to eat. This is a very humorous statement. British and American people like humor, so we should learn to understand their sense of humor when translating. Due to the differences between Chinese and English cultures, if we understand directly from the source language, it is often semantic and logical, which will ruin readers' interest in reading.
(2) Expression stage
Expression is the focus of translation. In this process, apart from the premise of correctly understanding the original text, it also depends on the level of accomplishment of the target language and the mastery of two languages.
Example 1: Call the students in the cluster and liftheirhandswentheirnames.
The students stood together and raised their hands when their names were called.
Analysis: Translation is not fluent enough. English belongs to hypotaxis language, words or clauses in sentences need function words to connect, while Chinese belongs to parataxis language, and words or clauses often don't need words to connect. Therefore, in English-Chinese translation, functional words such as conjunctions, pronouns and prepositions in the original text are often omitted. In English-Chinese translation, if we ignore this difference, we will translate when we see when, and every modifier will be treated with "de", which will lead to translation rigidity and serious translation problems.
Example 2: Many people think that ordinary people's thinking activities can't be compared with the process at all, and they must get it through some special training.
Many people imagine that the thinking activities of ordinary people can't be compared with the scientific thinking process at all, and this thinking process can only be mastered through special training.