中英翻译

谈第五种语言技能--翻译

A Talk on the Fifth Language Skill

(outline)

金陵

February 21, 2000

翻译：将一种语言表达的意义用另一种语言表达出来，就叫翻译。

1.     Translation and Interpretation
Translation (translator)
Interpretation (interpreter) 　sight translation (ST) (视译)
　　　　　　　　　　　   consecutive interpretation (CI) (连续传译/逐步传译/口译)
　　　　　　　　　　   　simultaneous interpretation(SI) (同步传译/口译)
　　　　　　　　　　   　whispering interpretation(WI) (耳语传译/口译)

2. Literal /Verbal Translation(直译) and Free Translation(意译)

(1) A contented mind is a perpetual feast.
(直译)知足的心是永恒的享受。
(意译)事能知足心常惬，人到无求品自高。

(2) Who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl.
与狼为伍将学会狼嗥。近朱者赤，近墨者黑。

(3) . . .that government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
这个民有、民治、民享的国家，将不会从地球上消失。
使民有、民治、民享的政府，能长存于世。

(4) The love of money is the root of all evil.
爱财是万恶之源。劝人不必苦贪财，贪得财来天降灾。

(5) The mills of God grind slowly.
上帝的磨磨得慢。善恶到头终有报，只争来早与来迟。

(6) One swallow does not make a summer.
一只燕子不能造成夏季。一燕不成夏。偏不概全。

(7) He is between the devil and the deep sea.
他在魔鬼与深海之间。他进退两难、进退维谷、进退不得。

(8) The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts.
舌头不是钢，但能切割。良言一句三春暖，恶语伤人六月寒。

(9) To err is human; to forgive, divine.
犯错是人之常情，宽恕是超凡的。错为人之事，恕为神之业。

(10) Every human life is insignificant unless you make it great.
每个人的一生都是平凡的，除非你使它伟大。
将相本无种，男儿当自强.

3. Transliteration(音译)
carnation / boycott / AIDS / hysteria / hysterics / ultimatum / aspirin / gene
sonnet / George Bush(布什,布什) / Margaret Thatcher(柴契尔，撒切尔)

4. Chinglish Translation(中式英文翻译)

(1) 余小子，不知天高地厚，请指教。(astronomy, geology)

(2) 华陀再见(古文=再现)

(3) 交通规则： Left (左) is right (对，右) 。 Right (右，对) is wrong (错)。

(4) 郭沫若幽默回应外籍人士称赞其为文学家，艺术家，政治家等时说：

「处处为家，无家可归。」

5. Principles of Translation：hsin, ta, and ya 信、达、雅
严复：译事三难：「信，达，雅.」
. . . that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
这个民有，民治，民享的国家，将不会从地球上消失。(信、达)
使民有，民治，民享的政府,能长存于世。(达、雅)
". . . that government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall be able to exist in the world forever.”
Translation is the third language. English(1)－Chinese－English(2)
English(2) ≠ English(1)

(1) 余英时：faithfulness, comprehensibility, and elegance.

(2) 赵元任：fidelity，fluency，and elegance.

(3) Ronald A. Knox： accurate, intelligible, and readable.

(4) Alexander Fraser Tytler：

a. The translation should be a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work.

b. The style and manner of the writing should be of the same character with that of the original.

c. The translation should have all the ease of the original composition.

6. Prerequisites for Being a Translator

(1) Mastery of both source language(原语) and target language(译语).

Source language

a. Familiarity breeds contempt. (proverb)

(a) 熟悉而生轻视之心。亲昵生狎侮。(牛津高级英英英汉双解辞三版)

(b) 亲昵生狎侮。近庙欺神。(文馨当代英汉辞典)

(d) 亲昵生狎侮。亲不敬、熟生蔑。(建宏多功能英汉辞典)

(e) 虎生犹可近，人熟不堪亲。(本人译增广昔时贤文中句)

b. " But this life is half made up of partings...."
　　　　　　　　　－Charles Dickens

c. "Never the time, never the place." －Robert Browning

d. a piece of chalk/ bread/ cake/ coin/ advice/ furniture/ linen/
music/ news/ painting/ poetry/ prose/ paper/ string, etc.

Target language

"I want to spend a penny, papa."
"O.K. I'll wait for you."
Then the boy went to a public convenience.

Grammar & Rhetoric

a. 他加重语气地说：「我从未见过这样好的女孩。」

b. 他没有对我说一句话。
他一句话都没有对我说。

(2) Understanding of cultural background, national character and customs.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834, English essayist )
theater / quiet room / (bus) stop (bus) request / double decker / bus riding / sea watching /
Kruger National Park ( in the Republic of South Africa)

(3) Practice makes perfect.

a. 天苍苍，野茫茫，风吹草低见牛羊。
( vast, cattle, oxen, stroll, walk)
The sky is very, very blue;
The land is very, very vast.
Over the grass that the wind has blown low,
One sees oxen and sheep stroll.
春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。 (无主词)
举头望明月，低头思故乡。 (无主词)
落花人独立，微雨燕双飞。 (有主词)
破户生蛛网，空梁落燕泥。 (有主词)
红豆啄余鹦鹉粒，碧桐栖老凤凰枝。 (有主词，但不明显)

b. 云破月来花弄影。

c. 一夕之间风云变色。

d. 慢走！(送客时客套语)

7. Tips for Translators

(1) 字酌句斟：两(二)句三年得，一吟双泪垂－贾岛。为求一字妥，捋断数根须。
鸟宿池边树，僧敲月下门(推)－贾岛。

(2) 一词多义

a. 佳、良、好（人）

b. A student of mine cut me dead on the campus yesterday.

(3) 词无定译
National Day / national holiday / Mother’s Day / party chairman
chemical process / learning process / psychological process
sunset industry / service industry / sex industry / traditional industry
drug lord / war lord / land lord / international trade / drug trade / sex trade

a. Iranian gunboat attacked an oil tanker, but no one was hurt or killed.
b. Our planes opened fire at the enemy planes, but missed them.
(以上两句中but之不同中译：所幸，可惜，不过)

(4)        Dictionaries
        cloze test－a reading-comprehension test requiring the supply of deleted
        　　　　   words missing from the text.

a. A Dictionary of New English (10,000)

b. The Morrow Book of New Words (8500 Terms Not Yet in Standard Dictionaries)

(5)        It is the most famous scenic spot in the county (country).
     “Temples and statue decay, but books survive (statute) . . . .
     　　　　　　　　　　　　　－Companionship of Books

a. seesaw / The Milky Way

b. eat one’s words 食言？失言？

c. go jump in the lake / (go and) jump in the lake
"You can go and jump in the river."
George was tired of Tom’s advice and told him to go jump in the lake.
(meaning go away and quit being a bother)

d. I am not in a position to do so.
(该书所举误译之例：我没有这个地位…….) －p.36翻译漫谈
(上海现代外国语文出版社，1947/1/1出版)

e. "I am not in a position to judge whether this impression is correct, what I can do, though, is try in this letter to reinforce what Secretary Baker　told your Foreign Minister and eliminate any uncertainty or ambiguity that might exist in your mind about where we stand and what we are prepared to do.”
波湾战争时，国内某一报之未译，及另一报之误译：
(我并不是在论断这种印象是对是错)－1991/1/13
(我现在并非站在评断此项后果对错的立场)－1991/1/14
－Bush's Letter That Iraq Rejected

波湾战争时，国内某报之误译：

f. "Iraq must release immediately all coalition prisoners of war, third country nationals and the remains of all who have fallen.
(伊拉克必须立即释放所有盟军战俘，第三国人民和沦于其掌中的其他所有的人。)－1991/2/28
　　　　　　　　　　　　－Bush's Cease-fire Statement

(6) Translation obviously is not a simple two-way street between two languages. Rather, it is a busy intersection at which at least five thoroughfares meet -- the two languages with all their eccentricities, the cultures of the two speech communities, and the speech situation in which the statement was uttered.

a. university / college
college student, college life
College of Foreign Languages and Literature
School of Foreign Languages and Literature
Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature
My watch is five minutes slow. (五分钟慢 / 慢五分钟)
at sixes and sevens (乱六七糟 / 乱七八糟)
more than nine years (九年多)
more than ten years (十多年)
to drink like a fish (鱼饮/牛饮)
I know it like the back of my hand. (瞭如手背 / 瞭如指掌)
There is no smoke without fire. (无火不生烟 / 无风不起浪)

b. red light district / green light district

c. Wuchang Uprising / this woman (这位女士、妇人，这个女人)
知书达理，秀外慧中；行为放荡，朝秦暮楚
junior high school / cut class
He passed away last summer.
It’ time to go aboard. (place: railway station, airport)
It’s located on the first floor / the ground floor.

8. Six Steps Towards Good Translation

(1) 查生字及片语

(2) 找相等词句或相当词句
The onlooker sees most of the game.
There is no smoke without fire.

(3) 初译

(4) 重组

a. 因果律

(a) The evenings were getting chilly because it was late September.

(b) Because it was late September, the evenings were getting chilly. 　　　　　
　　　　　－p.34, 中国翻译No.2, 1994

b. 时序律
(A good book may be among the best of friends.) It is the same today
that/as it always was, and it will never change.
　　　　　　－p.35, 同上

c. 词序律
Yesterday he died of cancer
He died of cancer Yesterday.

d. 句序律
When he saw her, he was pleased.
He was pleased when he saw her.

(5) 更改

(6) 润饰

9. Ways to Become a Self-taught Translator

※以上为本人演讲大纲。近年来已在政治大学外语学院，政治大学英语系、台北市教师研习中心，台中市中正文化中心，经济部本部，新竹经济部专业人员究研中心，师范大学翻译研究所，台北商专，金陵女中，科见美语台北分校，科见美语台中分校，科见美语高雄分校，美加留学中心，学习出版社开辨之「英语教学专题研习班」四场，高雄市补教恊会，台北大学应用外语系，台大校友会及赵丽莲教授文教基金会，开南大学应用英语系及中国大陆等地演讲四十余场。

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