A Brief Introduction to Translation
翻译原理入门
I. Definition
Translation, generally speaking, implies rendering from one language into another of something written or spoken. It is, essentially the faithful representation, in one language of what is written or spoken in another. It is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL-the source language) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL-target language).
II. Qualifications of a translator
1) A translator must be well acquainted with the source language.
We are inclined to feel too confident of our comprehension when we are reading foreign literary works. We think we know it from A to Z, yet, when we start translating it we find it difficult and there are many points misunderstood by us. We are playing the fool with ourselves because of careless reading, Therefore, translation serves as the best possible approach to the study of foreign languages.
2) A translator must be well acquainted with the target language.
Let’s take Yan Fu for instance:
When Yan Fu, a famous translator in the Qing Dynasty, was translating “Evolution and Ethics and other Essays”, the title turned out to be the crux that caused him to cudgel his brains day and night and look pale for it. His wife worried very much representation of the title for quite time and eventually had it translated into 《天演论》 which has since deserved high praise up till now.
3) A translator must be armed with necessary professional knowledge.
4) A translator must be armed with the ability to live his part.
As famous play writer Maryann pointed out: “a translator must enter into the spirit of character (regard himself as one that plays a role in a play). That is to say:
He seems
1. present at the very spot.（亲临其境）
2. involved in the very occurrence.（亲历其事）
3. witnessing the very parties concerned.（亲睹其人）
4. interating the very utterances（亲道其法）
5. experiencing the very joy.（亲尝其甘）
6. and annoy.（亲领其苦）
7. sharing the very weal.（亲享其祸）
8. and woe.（亲享其福）
9. partaking of the glee.（亲得其乐）
10.and grief.(亲感其悲)
5） A translator must be armed with the excellent ability of expressiveness and vivid imagination.
“Toiling yourself and endure hardship for obtaining a well-chosen word” just as the famous poet Du Fu did “Never give up until a amazing poetic masterpiece is gained”.
(“为求一字稳，耐得五更寒”，象诗圣杜甫那样具有“语不惊人死不休”得精神与毅力)
III． Criteria of Translation
Speaking of criteria of translation, as early as in the Tang Dynasty, the learned Monk Xuan Zhuang designed criteria of translation with emphasis placed on accuracy and general knowledge. In the Qing Dynasty, Yan Fu established a three character standard in translation: “信”faithfulness, “达”expressiveness and “雅”elegance, which are similar to “triness” by Herbert Rotheinstein (赫伯特.罗森斯坦)。 Faithfulness, expressiveness and gracefulness which are considered the golden rule (金科玉律) in the field of translation.
After the May 4th Movement, Lu Xun proposed: “信” faithfulness and “顺” smoothness as the criteria of translation.
Shortly after the birth of New China, quite a lot of translators put forward various criteria, such as “忠实”、 “通顺”、 “准确”、流畅 重神韵而不是行貌（沈雁冰） “神似”与 “形似”（许渊冲）；“入化”（钱中书）and so on..
Still, some people made diverse interpretations to Yan Fu’s three-character criteria of translation as:
“信”--being faithful to be original
“达”--being explicit
“雅”--elegant in words
Which is different from Yan’s own definition:
“信”-- 达旨（将原文说明）
“达”-- 前后引衬，以显其意
“雅”—尔雅（用汉以前字法，句法）
The following is an example taken from Shakespear’s work “Mid summer’s dream”《仲夏夜之梦》 translated by Dr. Zhu Shenghao”
Flute: You must say “A paragon”. A paramour is—a thing of naught.
昆斯：对，而且也是顶好的人，有一副好喉咙，吊起膀子来也是顶刮刮的。
弗鲁特：你说错了，你应该说“吊嗓子”，吊膀子，老天爷！那是一种难为情的事。
--《莎士比亚全集》第一卷，350业
In the original the author used alliteration to gain the peculiar effect, Flute put Quince right when and he mispronounced “paragon ” as “paramour”. Without expression of alliteration in the translation, then the dialogue would not make any sense, and the translation can not call forth the equivalent response. The translator, however, by using the well-chosen words “吊膀子”“吊嗓子” which are homophonic words (谐音字)had his version very faithful to the original, not only in form, but in style, a structure, and what’s more, in rhythm and phonology. (节奏与音韵) It’s really a all-time wonderful touch, unmatched subtlety, ever read in translated works(真乃是翻译作品中绝无仅有的生花之妙笔).
IV. Methods of Translation
In translation from English into Chinese the principal methods used are:
1. Literal translation(metaphase)
2. Literal translation(paraphrase)
3. Transliteration(translation according to pronunciation)
The last one, however, is scarcely used unless it is absolutely necessary. Transliteration is mainly used in translating proper nouns, such as names of persons, places, scientific terms and etc.
Collocation of Chinese characters should avoid ambiguity.
Tolstoy托尔斯泰
Gogol 果戈理
Gimpel激姆佩尔
These that can’t be accepted (by Chinese)should be used no more in our translation.
Such as:
inspiration 灵感
ultimatum 最后通牒
philosophy 哲学
parliament 国会，会议
camera 照相机
telephone 电话
number one 工头
Whether a translation will be faithful to be the original in all the aspects depends on the possibility of finding the closest, the most natural equivalence(为原文在文体上找到最切近、最自然的对等语)depends on to a great extent a good command of the transformation of the Kernal sentence and the choice of surface structure by a translator(在很大程度上取决于译者能否准确地掌握核心句的转化以及对表层形式的选择).
heartbreaking 令人心碎的
eye-popping 使人膛目的
a belt-tightening 勒紧裤带的政策
a wait-and-see attitude 等着瞧的态度
crack the case 破案
thirst to learn 渴望学习
These examples are comparatively ideal sentence with great affinity, which can be translated by way of metaphase. But
eat(swallow)the leek （吃芹菜）忍受耻辱
lie on one’s back （躺在背上）仰卧
kiss-me （吻我）（野生）三色紫罗兰
kiss-me-quick （快来吻我吧）额发
see with half an eye （睁一只眼，闭一只眼）一望便知，显而易见
have a cigar （请抽烟！）你好！
forget-me-not （不要忘记我）勿忘我
V. exercises
1. He bent solely upon profit.
A. Surface：他只屈身于利润之前
B. Shallow：只有利润才使他低头
C. Deep：他惟利是图
2. We are here today and gone tomorrow
A. Surface：我今天在这里，明天就到别处了
B. Shallow：今日在世，明日辞世（死去）
C. Deep：人生朝露
3. John is tall like I am the queen of Sheba.
A. Surface：约翰高得像是示巴皇后
B. Shallow：约翰高的话，我就是示巴皇后
C. Deep：要说约翰个头高，没那回事
Translation C, however, not only broke the crust of the original, but gained an insight into the deep structure through the surface structure.
That’s to say when essence is in contradiction with form in translation and to harmonize the two, essence should be stressed.(在神与形矛盾而又无法同一时，应重神似，有时不得不牺牲形式)
5.Their accent couldn’t fool a native speaker.
当地人一听口音，就知道他们是外地人
6.Truth lies at the bottom of the decanter.
酒后露真言
7.Darkness released him from his last restraints.
一到天黑，他就原形毕露
Literal translation is by no means word-for-word translation and liberal translation is far from free translation.
8. How much did you suffer?
“Plenty,” the old man said.
--The Old Man and Sea
“你吃了多少苦头？”
“一言难尽。”老头说
9.The Flower girl: Will you pay me for them?
The Daughter: Do nothing of the sort mother, the idea!
10.How many winter days have I seen him, standing blue-nosed in the snow and east wind!
在许多个冬日我都看见他，鼻子冻得发紫，站在飞雪和东风中
11.The thought that Huck might have failed was intolerable, agonizing.
一想到哈克可能失败了， （我们）就难以忍受，痛苦不堪
The process of Translation & Contextual Relationship
A formal translation must be completed through five steps:
1. preparation
2. analysis & understanding of the original
3. expression in target language
4. proofreading
5. finalization
Preparation implies that we need to lay our hands on the reference materials which are relevant to the works.
Comprehension is the key step of a translation, therefore, a translator must read the original time and again.
1) Glancing (skimming) over the original text you are going to translate.
2) Consulting your dictionary to make sure the exact meaning and implication of the new words found in original text through the first reading and the contextual relationship.
3) The third reading of the original should be emphasized on the understanding of the author’s ideological content, artistic quality, writing technique and style.
*linguistic analysis in combination with logical analysis of the original.
*The process of comprehension is that of unity between thinking in source language and that in target language
*Penetration into the artistic conception of the original through the linguistic form and crust.
Expression implies the change of the original from one language into another. This depends on how well you digest the original and how good your accomplishment of the target language are.
Every Chinese character should be well-chosen, every sentence well-whetted and every paragraph carefully polished.
精心选词，苦心炼句，细心润色每个段落
The English speaking people are proud of the compactness (严谨)of their language, while we Chinese are proud of the conciseness of our mother tongue.
English syntax emphasizes on hypotaxis “形合”which means that clauses, sentences, even parts of phrases are connected by connectives. Thus, English sentence structure is well-knit.
Unlike English, Chinese language is stressed on parataxis(意合)which means that sentences and the various parts of them are joined by meaning instead of connectives.
II. Contextual Relationship
The following linguistic terms are of some importance in the understanding of this aspect.
1. Syntactic marking: The marked worked words that determine the specific meaning of a word.
2. Semotactic marking: The collocation and the relationship of the juxtaposed words(紧邻相连的词)governs the specific meaning a word.
3. Referential clusters: All those words that mean a great help to understanding and judging the specific meaning of a word.
Example:
* If when I tell you, dearest dear, that you agony is over, and that I have come here to take you from it, and that we go to England to be at peace and at rest, I cause you to think of your useful life laid waste, and of our native France so wicked to you, weep for it, weep for it!
亲爱的宝贝儿，我要告诉你，你的痛苦已经结束，我来此把你带出海，同往英格兰共享人间清平，这会（如果这样做）使你想起你那虚掷年华（蹉跎岁月），想起你的故土法兰西对你如此不公，果真如此，（那么）亲爱的，你就哭吧，尽情的哭吧！
With the help “果真如此”,“那么”，“如果这样做,…那么”, the logical relationship of the context is clearly shown in the translation.
*But the actual achievement of this campaign, which is still misunderstood, should never be underestimated. It brought about the first defeat of a German army in the Second World War.
这一战役的实际成果,至尽仍为被人们准确理解,但决不应低估,因为在这场战役中,德国军队遭到了第二次世界大战开始以来的首次失败.
Polysemy in English-Chinese Translation
The difference shown in words of the two languages lies in the following aspects: English words are characteristic of a great vacillation(游移性)and flexibility(灵活性与可塑性);the meaning of a word may range widely and depends much on the contextual relationship as is said “Words do not have meaning, people have meaning for words(词本无义,义随人生)”.
Consequently, we sometimes find it difficult to make appropriate adaptations from English into Chinese words and no wonder Yan Fu said “A new term established, ten days or a month spent.”
Let’s start with the word “identity”.
The word “identity” is elucidated in dictionary as follows:
1) sameness of essential or generic character in different instance;
2) sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing; oneness;
3) the condition of being the same with something described or asserted;
However , in the modem English, the meaning of “identity” varies with the changing contexts.
1. He also had been demanding that all Irishmen living in Britain be required
to carry identity cards.
当时,他还一直在要求所有居住在不列颠的爱尔兰人必须携带身份证,
2. Their sexual identity, like that of all women competitors, had been officially confined by the Olympic “femininity control clinic.”
她们的性别鉴定,像所有的女运动员的性别鉴定一样,已由奥林匹克 “女 性医务监察部”正式核实.
3. Lee has again and again stressed the need for his tiny nation to develop its own Singaporean—as opposed to Chinese—identity.
李光耀再三强调他的这个小小的国家有必要发展新加坡人自己的特点,以有别于中国人.
4. The Europe Communists are in the middle of an identity crisis and are taking up the mask of a certain reformism
欧洲共产党人现处在党性转变的十字路口,她们现在正戴上某种改良主义的面具.
5. In Poland, loyalty to the church became the only means of defending national identity
在波兰,效忠教会现成为保卫民族意识的唯一手段.
6. Hongkong thus enjoy the identity, the wealth and the trapping of a city-state-without a state’s responsibility for its long-range destiny.
这样,香港就具备了一个城市国家的身份,财富和外貌.但却不必对自己的长远命运负一个国家应负的责任.
7.A young nation struggling to establish its identity produced leaders, such as Jefferson and Jackson, dedicated to a democratic process which, however, excluded Indians and blacks.
年轻的美国在奋力确定国家体制之际,产生了诸如杰弗逊和杰克逊那样的领袖人物, 他们 致力于民主制度的建立,不过,排斥印度人和黑人.
8.But investigators say they have no clues to the whereabouts of the alleged accomplices and are not even certain of their identities.
然而,负责调查的官员说,他们还未获得任何有关这些所谓同谋下落的线索,他们甚至还不知道这些人姓甚名谁.
9.Since I had said good-bye to him on Thursday, we had gone through greater emotions than any mystery story could provide. The unusual thing about this thriller was that the villain changed his identity.
自从星期四向他告别之后,我们经历了比任何惊险小说所描写的都更为激动人心的场面,这种经历的异乎寻常之处就是反派角色变化了本来面目.
10.But politics would be his life from then on. In politics, and politics alone, he would find his identity.
从那时起,政治成为他的生命,他打算在政治生涯中,也只打算在政治生涯中,确立其名声.
Note the different meanings “story” shares in the different contexts:
1.This war is becoming the most important story of his generation.
2.It is quite another story now.
3.Last December, the Post first reported that probes were being made in each of those cities, but officials refused to confirm the story.
4.Some reporters who were not included in the session broke the story.
5.He’ll be very happy if that story holds up.
6.The story about him became smaller and by and by faded out from the American television.
7.The Rita Hay worth story is one of the saddest.
8.A young man came to Scott’s office with a story.
9.Tell me the story of what happened to you.
10.The story of the opera was printed in the program.
Word Discrimination & Translation
Generally speaking, almost all of English words share meanings in three aspects.
1.The structural meaning 结构意义
2.The referential meaning 指示意义
3.The situational meaning 语境意义
Since an English word may share a lot of meaning such as extended meaning(引申意义), intentional meaning(内含意义),connotative meaning(内涵意义) and denotative meaning (外延意义), the most reliable way is to distinguish by means of situational meaning.
Please weigh the various meaning of “green” collocated with different words.
a green eye 嫉妒的
a green wound 未愈合的伤口
a green winter 温暖的冬天
green corn 嫩玉米穗,甜玉米
green crop 青饲料作物
green feed 青绿饲料
green-fingered 具有高超种植花木蔬菜技能的
green hand 生手
green tea 绿茶
green with envy 十分嫉妒
green thumb 园艺技能
green as grass 幼稚,无经验
in the green wood (tree) 处于佳境
Many English words possess synonyms which express more or less the same meaning. For example: wife—woman, better half, helpmate, helpmeet, grey mare and squaw.
The same is true with Chinese
妻子,夫人,太太,老婆,老伴,屋里人,媳妇,那口子,内人,内子,内助,内当家,内掌柜的,婆姨,娘子,浑家,娇气,仁妻,良人,玉雪,敞房,荆房,荆布,拙荆等等.
Similarly, there are a lot of synonyms to “laugh” as follows:
smile 微笑
grin 咧嘴而笑，露齿笑
chuckle 暗笑，轻声笑
giggle 痴笑，吃吃地笑
chortle 哈哈大笑
laugh titter 傻笑，嗤嗤地笑
snigger 嬉皮笑脸地笑
guffaw 哄笑，放声大笑
cackle 尖声笑，咯咯地笑
roar 狂笑
All these words share the meaning of “laugh”, but they are different from one another in manner, volume, degree, mood, connotation, passion, and appeal(方式，音量，程度，心情，涵义，感情，以及感染力).
*To have one’s translation faithful to the original in accuracy, one must be well acquainted with the shades of difference of synonyms.
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