[Keywords:] type translation of two-part allegorical sayings
First, the English translation of two-part allegorical sayings
Chinese two-part allegorical saying is a special language form created by the people in their life practice, which is vivid and humorous and deeply loved by the people. Its structural form is unique to Chinese, and its content reflects the rich and unique national culture of the Han nationality and has a strong national character.
There are several views on the translation of the word "two-part allegorical sayings". Professor Luo Shenghao translated it into "China's unfathomable folk simile" [1]. The deficiency of this kind of translation lies in that the two-part allegorical sayings are not all metaphors, but also homophonic or pun allegorical sayings. Some people translate it into "guessing" (argot or riddle), which is also incomplete. So some people suggested that it be translated directly into "two-part allegorical saying", which can be used for reference. But traced back to the source, Xiehouyu was originally a word game between scholars, which was first called "one-liners". Therefore, some people boldly translated it into China folk one-liners [2].
Second, the types of Xiehouyu
Chinese Xiehouyu generally consists of two parts: the first part is figurative metaphor, like a riddle, and the second part is explanation, like a riddle, which is very natural and appropriate. Mysteriously, we can only find the vehicle (the first half of the sentence) in this metaphor, and the ontology does not appear. The front and back parts belong to the relationship between "citation" and "annotation", which is a typical feature of two-part allegorical sayings [3].
From the perspective of rhetoric, two-part allegorical sayings can be divided into two categories, namely, pure metaphorical allegorical allegorical sayings and metaphorical pun allegorical sayings.
There are similarities between the things described in the context of pure metaphor and two-part allegorical sayings, with a metaphor in front and a metaphor in the back. For example, dogs bite Lv Dongbin-they don't know how to be kind, weasels pay New Year greetings to chickens-they are up to no good, the clouds in the sky-they are free, and the Eight Immortals cross the sea-they all show their magical powers, and so on. The metaphors it contains often involve some well-known allusions.
Metaphor, pun and two-part allegorical sayings also include metaphor and pun. It uses homophonic or semantic pun to express meaning through association, and its language effect should be realized through association.
There are few such two-part allegorical sayings, such as Confucius' move-total loss (book) (homophonic pun), octopus's stomach-ink (semantic correlation) and so on. Compared with pure figurative allegorical allegorical sayings, this kind of allegorical allegorical allegorical sayings is more tortuous, which often makes people suddenly realize and enjoy it.
It should be pointed out that some common two-part allegorical sayings, because most people know the words in the second half, can also use only the first half and the second half without appearing. I haven't said anything about it yet. Wait.
Third, the translation method of pure metaphor two-part allegorical sayings.
(A) literal translation method
For most two-part allegorical sayings, because of their vivid images, reasonable logical reasoning and no pun or homophonic meaning, literal translation is usually adopted, which not only conveys the content of the source language, but also maintains the image of the source language, which is convenient for readers to read and appreciate. For example, a blind man lights a lamp-wasting wax. It's as useless as a blind man lighting a candle.
The weasel pays New Year's greetings to the chicken-up to no good. A weasel wishes a happy New Year to a chicken with no good intentions.
Meat buns hit dogs-there is no return. Chase a dog by throwing jiaozi-you can never expect it to come back.
Draw water with a bamboo basket-use a sieve. It's like scooping water from a wicker basket-it's all empty.
The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea-each displaying his magical powers. When the Eight Immortals crossed the sea, they all showed their magical powers. Every time they show, they show their true value. (2) Set translation, also called application or borrowing, is a common method in the translation of two-part allegorical sayings. When images in the source language cannot be preserved in English-Chinese translation, images familiar to the target language readers can be used to make the translation more acceptable to the target language readers and achieve semantic equivalence. For example, Xiang Mei became sworn brothers-all slaves. We are all birds of a feather, and we are all slaves here.
(Note: "Xiang Mei" generally refers to any maid servant in the old society; "Becoming sworn brothers" refers to a traditional etiquette in China, which means that they are brothers and sisters now.
Translation methods of homophonic pun two-part allegorical sayings
As mentioned above, homophonic or punlike two-part allegorical sayings are difficult to translate. The author thinks that although two-part allegorical sayings are a unique linguistic phenomenon in Chinese, they have rich cultural connotations, especially homophonic and pun allegorical sayings, which involve a variety of rhetoric and will become obstacles to translation. However, the * * * nature of human thinking enables people who speak different languages to talk. Translation can be realized as long as communication is possible. This is the theoretical basis of translation, including written translation and oral translation.
Eugene Nida, a famous translation theorist, believes that translation is to reproduce the information of the original text in the target language in the most appropriate and natural language and realize the functional equivalence of translation. Language is the carrier of culture, and cultural deviation or even loss will inevitably occur in foreign language translation. If we want to achieve functional equivalence and minimize the loss of information, we need to compensate for the missing parts. The so-called compensation is to repair and make up for the potential or existing losses in the process of translation with the target language as the main means and other means in line with the norms and guidelines of the target language according to the text type and translation purpose. Two-part allegorical sayings, as a kind of proverbs, are more likely to lose a large amount of cultural information, which needs to be compensated by translators under the premise of comprehensive weighing, so that readers can understand and accept it more easily. After analyzing hundreds of puns and their English versions, the author summarizes the following methods:
(A) literal translation and annotation method
The first half of the two-part allegorical sayings is a metaphor and literal translation that the target readers can easily understand. The half part contains homophonic or semantic pun, and is translated with comments. For example, pickles and tofu-salt comes first.
Pickled bean curd brain-salt at the beginning, (pun intended) have something to say beforehand. (Note: In this expression, "Zi" and "Yan" are homophones in Chinese. ) paste the word "fu" on New Year's Eve-paste the word "fu" on New Year's Eve-paste that side down. (Note: This refers to the traditional posting custom in China. The Chinese character "Fu" is upside down, which means "Fu is here", which means your good luck has arrived. )
(2) Free translation method
For some two-part allegorical sayings with puns, whether they are homophonic or homophonic, the translation method of explanatory free translation can be adopted. Keep the original cultural color, and add a brief description to highlight its image. For example, the horn is coated with oil-sharp (treacherous) and smooth (cunning)-to make it sharper, smoother or cunning and precious.
The original two-part allegorical saying involves two groups of homophonic words. The translation of this sentence is only a slight explanation in the sentence, and with cunning and treacherous words, it vividly shows someone's character.
Blowing fire with arollingpin-I don't know anything about Arollingpin as a bellows-is not good at all.
Rolling pin is a traditional cooker in China. Because it is made of solid wood, it is impossible to know everything. This sentence is used to describe people who know nothing about things. Two-part allegorical sayings involve semantic puns. "I don't know anything" is not only a description of a rolling pin, but also a metaphor for people. The translation of "Not at All" can be said to grasp the spiritual core of this metaphor, which is concise and is a very successful translation example.
refer to
Guo Jianzhong. Theory and Practice of Chinese Xiehouyu Translation —— Also on Chinese-English Xiehouyu Dictionary [J]. Chinese translation, 1996, (2).
[2] The English translation of Han Qingguo's Two-part Allegory and its translation [J]. Foreign Language and Foreign Language Teaching, 2002, (2).
[3] Xia Xuefeng. The style and color of two-part allegorical sayings [J]. Longyan Teachers College, 2004, (2).