Lecture 2 English vs. Chinese

英语专业翻译教程

Lecture 2 English vs. Chinese

英语专业翻译教程

Introductiona reflection of cultural differences English and Chinese belong to two distinct language families: English ― the Indo-European family Chinese ― the Sino-Tibetan family Far more differences than similarities: # Similarities: synthetic-analytic language (English) analytic language (Chinese) # Differences: reflected at three levels (lexical, syntactic, textual)

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Word Level (1)Inflectional (English) vs. Non-inflectional (Chinese) English nouns / pronouns: gender, number, case, etc. English verbs: tense, aspect, voice, mood, etc. e.g. We hoped that you would come. We were hoping that you would come. e.g. It has been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do. A: 大家看到凡是起死回生的人或者幸免一死的人，他们对所做的任何事情，总是兴趣盎然。

B: 人们已经注意到大凡受到死亡威胁的人或是死里逃生的人对于他们做干的事情总是兴趣盎然。

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Word Level (1) Translation of Plural English NounsPlural concept English: inflection Chinese: words1) Omitting the plural meaning 2) Supplying additional words (esp. numerals and unit words)e.g. He stretched his legs which were scattered with scars. 他伸出双腿，露出腿上的道道伤疤。 e.g. The lion is the king of animals. 狮子是百兽之王。 e.g. Newsmen went flying off to Mexico. 记者纷纷飞到墨西哥去了。

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Word Level (2)Heavy Use of Pronouns (English) → Brevity e.g. The shopman offers you a third apple; but, before biting it, you examine it, and find that it is hard and green, and you immediately say that you will not have it, as it must be sour. Nominalization & Word-Building (English) # English has a greater power of word-building than Chinese with the help of its affixes. (e.g. deinstitutionalization) # English has a preponderance of nouns (esp. abstract n.) over verbs while Chinese relies heavily on verbs. e.g. His acceptance of bribes led to his arrest. 他因受贿而被捕。 e.g. That would be the confirmation that it was in general use.这将证实它的使用是十分普遍的。

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Word Level (3)Different Types of Function Words # English: articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, connectives # Chinese: particles, propositions, and connectives Word Meaning: More flexible, more context-dependent (English) English words generally have a wider semantic scope than Chinese characters do, so they are more dependent on the context for their exact meaning and specific use. In addition, a lot of English words are polysemantic. And they are used more in their connotative sense than in their denotative meaning. e.g. death

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Word Level (4)Predominance of Disyllables & Quadrisyllables (Chinese)e.g. She is eighteen and beautiful. e.g. China is a vast country with rich natural resources and a large popu

lation. e.g. 当风和日丽时，举目远望，佘山、金山、崇明岛隐隐 可见。 On a fine day, one can even see Mount Sheshan, Mount Jinshan and Chongming Island in the distance, though not very clearly.

英语专业翻译教程

Difference at the Sentence Level (1)Hypotaxis (English) vs. Parataxis (Chinese) overt cohesioncohesive ties, esp. connectives an “architecture style” of long or subordinate structures

covert coherencetemporal or logical sequences a “chronicle style” of short or composite structures

e.g. When I try to understand what it is that prevents so many Americans from being as happy as one might expect, it seems to me that there are two causes, of which one goes much deeper than the other.为什么如此众多的美国人不能如想象中那样幸福呢？我认为原因有二， 而两者之间又有深浅之分。

英语专业翻译教程

Difference at the Sentence Level (2)# Translation techniques:Divide English complex sentences into Chinese simplex sentences in E-C translation. Combine Chinese simplex sentences together into English complex sentences in C-E translation.

Inanimate (English) vs. Animate Subjects (Chinese) English: Inanimate subjects (passives, introductory it, abstract nouns) Chinese: Animate subjects (personal subjects, subjectless sentences) # Translation techniques:Convert English impersonal subjects into Chinese personal subjects; Convert English passives into Chinese actives.

英语专业翻译教程

Difference at the Sentence Level (3)Passive (English) vs. Active (Chinese) The heavy reliance on impersonal subjects in English sentences contributes a lot to the frequent use of passives, while the predominance of personal subjects in Chinese sentences entails the use of active voice. Static (English) vs. Dynamic (Chinese) English: 1) predominance of nouns over verbs 2) frequent use of adjectives and prepositions 3) non-finite verbs Chinese: preponderance of verbs e.g. He is a good eater and a good sleeper. e.g. A small plane from Kunming carried us over the mountains and sent us to Jinghong.

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Sentence Level (4)Substitutive (English) vs. Repetitive (Chinese) English usually avoids repetition while Chinese generally requires some form of repetition. e.g. He hated failure; he had conquered it all his life, risen above it, and despised it in others.他讨厌失败，他一生中曾战胜失败，超越失败，并且藐 视别人的失败。

Frequent Use of Antithesis & Parallelism (Chinese) e.g. Men are good in one way, but bad in many.人之善者同出一辙，人之恶者殊途多方。

e.g. A diamond last forever.钻石恒久远，一颗永流传。

英语专业翻译教程

Differences at the Sentence Level (4)Word OrderThe focus of information in a sentence usually falls on the conclusion, assertion, result or fact that the speaker intends to convey. English: either at the beginning or …… 此处隐藏：5997字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……