The Purpose, Requirements and Grading of English-Chinese Translation

Part I: Overview.

First, the main purpose

Before 1996, multiple-choice questions were used in the reading comprehension part of CET-4, which could not truly reflect the level of candidates and could not better detect whether candidates really understood the original text. Therefore, the National College English Examination Committee decided to add English-Chinese translation questions to the reading comprehension section, the main purpose of which is to evaluate candidates' exact understanding ability of English written materials and promote students' practical English ability. This undoubtedly puts higher demands on candidates. The newly revised College English Syllabus (1999) requires students' translation ability from English to Chinese as follows: "With the help of dictionaries, English short passages with slightly lower difficulty can be translated into Chinese, and the translation is correct, with a translation speed of 300 English words per hour."

Second, the specific requirements

Generally speaking, after reading comprehension, there are 4 to 5 questions at a time. Choose 1 or 2 sentences from 4 articles, and ask candidates to translate them into Chinese within 15 minutes, with 2 points for each question, and * * * counts as 10. Therefore, when translating, candidates need to refer to the general idea of the whole article and understand the context in order to better convey the original intention.

Third, the scoring criteria

According to the latest grading standard of sample questions published in CET-4 syllabus, English-Chinese translation is divided into four parts, with 1.5 for three language points that must be translated correctly and 0.5 for the language structure of the whole sentence. For example, a person with a history of doing more rather than doing less will be more cognitively sound in old age than a person without active thinking.

Section 2 Steps to Answer Questions

The steps of English-Chinese translation can be divided into three steps: understanding, expression and modification. Understanding is the basis of expression, and expression is the embodiment of bilingual transformation. The two are inseparable, and there is no smooth expression without accurate understanding. Although the time of CET-4 is very short, it is still an inevitable step to correct it.

I. Understanding

The first is to understand the topics related to sentences. Because the sentence selection of English-Chinese translation questions is to extract sentences from the text, its content is bound to be related to the theme. So we must have an accurate understanding of the article. A thorough understanding of the original text is the key to translation. Therefore, we must pay attention to the following points:

1, understanding language phenomena

When translating, students should understand the lexical meaning, syntactic structure and idioms of the original text according to the context. For example, for me, teaching is a red-eye, sweaty and frustrating career.

For me, teaching is a career that makes people red-eyed, sweaty and depressed.

From the context, sinking-bottom does not mean that the stomach will droop when teaching, but shows the author's mental state, so it is translated as "depression".

2, understand the logical relationship

In order to thoroughly understand the original text, students should also understand the words, phrases and sentences in the original text in a relevant way. Sometimes they have several meanings. At this time, it is necessary to carefully consider the context and decide which one is the exact translation.

For example:

Let me look after your house while you are away. In this sentence, "care for" should be translated as "care".

I like classical music. In this sentence, "care for" should be translated as "like"

Second, expression

Only with correct understanding can we express it correctly. The essence of expression is to transform what you understand in your mind and find the right Chinese words to express. There are some specific methods and skills in expression, which we will mention later.

Third, school reform.

Revision is a further deepening of the first two stages, and it is a stage of further verification and scrutiny of the original understanding. Modification is very important in the process of translation. Through revision, we can often find deviations in translation, and only in this way can we ensure good results. Proofreading includes errors, omissions or inaccuracies, clerical errors, typos, punctuation marks and so on.

Section 3 Use appropriate translation skills

Different languages have their own characteristics and forms. There are similarities and differences in vocabulary, grammar, idioms and expressions. All translation theories, methods and techniques in English-Chinese translation are based on the comparison between English and Chinese. Therefore, in the process of translation, it is natural to use some translation skills. Students should master some basic translation methods. When studying at ordinary times, we should carry out this kind of training consciously and planned. Let's remind students to pay attention to some basic translation skills.

First of all, in terms of vocabulary, we should pay attention to the following questions:

1, the choice of word meaning

English, like Chinese, has a common phenomenon of polysemy. It is necessary to analyze the collocation of words to determine the specific meaning of the word in the context, so as to avoid misunderstanding and translation errors. For example:

I have an account with Midland Bank.

In this sentence, account means "account".

This acceleration is often dramatized by a brief account of transportation progress.

In this sentence, account means "description, narration".

3, the number of words increase or decrease

Due to the differences in sentence structure between English and Chinese, it is impossible for us to "translate word for word". Many times we use "free translation", or add some words to make the meaning of the sentence complete or reduce some words to avoid unnecessary repetition. For example:

Therefore, yelling at a policeman and incapacitating him will cost him about one year, and robbing a jewelry store will cost him one year.

According to the context, in order to understand the original text more accurately, we should add verbs and subtract words by adding words when translating this sentence. "In other words, a policeman who shoots and may be disabled will only serve one year, and a jewelry store with a gun will only serve one year." The "total" in the original sentence was omitted in translation.

How enthusiastic the students are to learn English! Adjectives can be added in translation to make the translation clearer. How enthusiastic the students are to learn English! )