【英语论文】中国成语英译汉翻译策略A Tentative Study on the Strategies of Translating Chinese Idioms into English.docx

中国成语英译汉翻译策略a tentative study on the strategies of translating chinese idioms into englishsubmitted by student id number supervised by a paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of bachelor of arts摘要中国成语是该国人民五千多年智慧的结晶。它不仅是中国人民的宝贵财富，同时也是属于世界人民的珍贵遗产。另外，随着中国在国际舞台上扮演着日益重要的角色，学中文以便更好地了解中国，巳经成为一种时尚。而成语是中文的灵魂。因此，将中国成语翻译成英语是很有重要的。可是，由于中英两国人民有着不同的价值观、 宗教信仰、 历史环境、 地理状况，这些增加了中文成语翻译成英语的困难。本论文目的是以贝克的翻译策略为基础,通过对比从红楼梦中精心挑选出来的三十个成语与其相应的英语译文，探讨如何有效的运用五种翻译策略进行成语汉译英的翻译。在本论文的导言之后，作者首先给出了与翻译成语有关的定义。而后介绍了张培基总结的十三种将中国成语翻译成英文的方法。然后在贝克翻译策略的基础上，五大成语英译策略被提出来了。这些策略构成了本论文的理论支柱。 接着作者描述了本文语料的来源、类型、容量。之后，作者通过对红楼梦中三十个成语与其相应的英语译文的对照和分析，说明前文中提到的五种策略是如何有效地运用在成语汉译英的翻译中。随后，作者归纳语料分析结果并提出了相关建议。最后是全文的总结。通过语料分析，可以看出有五种翻译策略在进行成语汉译英过程中非常有效。它们分别是：使用意思和形式都相似的成语翻译；使用意思相似但形式不同的成语翻译；解释翻译；省略法；混合法。那么，在成语汉译英的翻译实践中，哪一种策略优先使用呢？作者认为最关键的是要考虑到译文的目的，其它还包括尽量保持译文语言的原汁原味、生动、流畅。 关键词：中国成语; 翻译策略; 原文含义abstractchinese idioms are the great intellectual achievements of its people for more than five thousand years. it is also the precious heritage of the world people as well as chinese. in addition, with china playing an increasingly important role in the world stage, learning chinese is becoming a fashion for knowing china better, and the idioms are the soul of chinese. therefore, it is a strong desire to translate chinese idioms into english. however, due to different value concepts, religious beliefs, historical environment, geographical conditions between china and english speaking countries, translating chinese idiom into english is not an easy work. in the thesis, the author aims to explore the strategies of translating chinese idioms into english based on bakes strategies by contrasting thirty chinese idioms from hong lou meng with its correspondent english translation either from the story of the stone or a dream of red mansions.after the introduction, this paper begins with relating definitions of translating chinese idioms, and introducing thirteen methods of translating chinese idiom into english summarized by zhang peiji in the literal review. then, based on mona bakers methods, the author presented five strategies which are the rationale of the thesis. what follows is the description of data type, size, and its source of this paper. after this, the author elaborates strategies of translating chinese idioms into english by contrasting thirty chinese idioms from hong lou meng with its correspondent english translation. then the results and suggestions are put forward. finally, the author draws the conclusion of the research.from the data analysis, it can be inferred that five strategies are employed in the translation process. they are “using an idiom of similar meaning and form”, “using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form”, translating by paraphrasing, translating by omission, and integrating translation respectively. which one strategy is given the priority when translating chinese idioms into english? the author suggests that the purpose of the translation is the vital factor to be considered. the other factors may include the flavor of origin, the vividness, and the fluency of the language in the translation.the author sincerely hopes that the research contributes to the translation field by facilitating those who translate chinese idioms into english. key words: chinese idioms; translating strategies; the original meaningtable of contentspage1. introduction -11.1 research background-11.2 research objective-11.3 research significance -11.4 organization of the research-22. rationale-22.1 definition of chinese idioms-22.2 definition of english idioms-52.3 definition of translation-52.4 the difficulties of translating chinese idioms-52.5 literature review-62.6 strategies of translating idioms-83. data description-114. data analysis-134.1 using an idiom of similar meaning and form-134.2 using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form-144.3 translating by paraphrasing-164.4 translating by omission-174.5 integrating translation-185. results and suggestions-205.1 results-205.2 suggestions-226. conclusion -23bibliography-25appendix-271. introduction1.1 research backgroundchinese idioms are the great intellectual achievements of its people for more than five thousand years. they are also the precious heritage of the world people as well as chinese. in addition, with china playing an increasingly important role in the world stage, learning chinese is becoming a fashion for knowing china better, and the idioms are the soul of chinese. therefore, it is a strong desire to translate chinese idioms into english. however, due to different value concepts, religious beliefs, historical environment, geographical conditions between china and english speaking countries, translating chinese idioms into english is not an easy work. 1.2 research objective-in the thesis, the author aims to explore the strategies of translating chinese idioms into english based on bakes strategies by contrasting thirty chinese idioms from hong lou meng with its correspondent english translation either from the story of the stone or a dream of red mansions.1.3 research significancemany chinese scholars have suggested a lot of strategies. however, the author feels that these methods are either not systematic enough or complicated although inclusive. in this thesis, the author will explore the translation strategies by using a relatively clear and comprehensive classification of translation approaches. the author sincerely hopes that the research contributes to the translation field by facilitating those who translate chinese idioms into english. 1.4 organization of the researchthe research has six parts. the first part is the introduction. in the second part, the author will define the terms of chinese idioms, english idioms and translation. the difficulties of translating chinese idioms into english are also explained. besides, the author will describe thirteen methods summarized by zhang peiji in the literal review, and present five strategies of translating idioms based on bakers approaches. in the third part, the author will describe the data type, size and its source of this thesis. in the fourth part, the author will elaborate strategies of translating chinese idioms into english by contrasting thirty chinese idioms from hong lou meng with its correspondent english translation either from the story of the stone or a dream of red mansions based on five strategies. in the fifth part, according to the data analysis, the author will summarize the strategies of translating chinese idioms into english, and give suggestions for the choice of translating strategies in the practice. finally, the author will draw the conclusion of the thesis.2rationale2.1 definition of chinese idiomszhang peiji mentioned in his book that “idioms are also called shu yu”. (zhang peiji, 1979: 1; translated by the author) they consist of set phrases whose implicit meaning cannot be deducted from its composed words. (modern chinese dictionary, 2005: 1267; translated by the author) in broad sense, idioms include idioms (cheng yu), common sayings (su yu), proverbs (yan yu), two-part allegorical sayings (xie hou yu), and vulgarities (cu su yu). (zhang peiji, 1979: 1; translated by the author) these terms are explained one by one in the following. idioms (cheng yu) are set, concise and meaningful phrases or short sentences. most of them consist of four chinese characters. they have historical origins and long public usages. therefore, some of their meanings can only be understood based on knowing their sources or the stories behind them such as three in the morning, four in the evening-play fast and loose and the shadow of a bow in a cup mistaken for a snake-be jittery with imaginary fears. however, the meaning of other idioms is obvious, for example, trivial topic, long article and late comers become the first. (modern chinese dictionary, 2005: 173-174; translated by the author) 人们长期以来习用的，简洁精辟的定型词组或者短句。汉语的成语大多数由四个字组成,一般都有出处。有些成语从字面上不难理解，如“小题大作”，“后来居上”等。有些成语必须知道来源或典故才能懂得意思，如“朝三暮四”、 “杯弓蛇影”等。（现代汉语词典) common sayings, concise and vivid folk adages, are fixed sentence which are used widely. most of them are coined by common people. thus they reflect peoples experience and desiring, for example where there is a will there is a way. (modern chinese dictionary, 2005: 1300; translated by the author) 通俗并广泛流行的定型的语句，简练而形象化，大多数是劳动人民创造出来的，反映人民的生活经验和愿望。如“天下无难事，只怕有心人”。（现代汉语词典）proverbs (yan yu), popular short pithy sentence, express thought-provoking insights, for instance three fools make one wise man and every profession produces its own leading authority. (modern chinese dictionary, 2005: 1573; translated by the author) 在群众中间流传的固定语句,用简单通俗的话反映深刻的道理。如“三个臭皮匠，赛过诸葛亮”，“三百六三行，行行出状元”，“天下无难事，只怕有心人”。（现代汉语词典）two-part allegorical sayings (xie hou yu) have two parts in a sentence based on its meaning. the first part is a riddle which always is spoken out, while the last part is the key to the riddle which is not often spoken out, for example like a clay idol fording a river-hardly able to save oneself, let alone anyone else and the nephew lighting a lantern- illumining his uncle (uncle(舅) and as before(旧) have the same pronunciation in chinese) (modern chinese dictionary, 2005: 1505; translated by the author) 由两个部分组成的一句话，前一部分像谜面，而后一部分像谜底，通常只说前一部分，而本意在后一部分。如“泥菩萨过江自身难保”，“外甥点灯笼照旧（舅）”。（现代汉语词典）zhang peiji pointed out vulgarities (cu su yu) are coarse languages which are often used orally. (zhang peiji, 1979: 2; translated by the author) in the thesis, the author only focuses on idioms (cheng yu). in other words, the author will explore translation strategies about chinese idioms (cheng yu).2.2 definition of english idiomslongman dictionary of contemporary english defined idiom as “a group of words with a meaning of its own that is different from the meanings of each separate word put together: under the weather is an idiom meaning ill.” (longman dictionary of contemporary english, 2002: 706)it is clear that the definitions of idiom between chinese and english are not exact equivalence. chinese idioms may be more complicated since it perhaps covers more scope. however, they two share some common features. for example, they are all set phrases or sentences. besides, their meaning may not be understood literally. in this thesis, the author only concentrates on translation strategies of translating chinese idiom (cheng yu) into english. 2.3 definition of translationnida and taber defined translation as “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. (nida and taber, 1969: 12) thus, it is reasonable that in this thesis the author adopts the translation methods which remain the original messages of the chinese idiom but may change the original form.2.4 the difficulties of translating chinese idiomsthe most painstaking problem for the translators is that the target readers do not have the same background knowledge as a native do. to be more specific, they two have different value concepts, religious beliefs, historical environment, geographical conditions, which cause difficulties for the target readers to comprehend the meaning of chinese idiom. (zhang peiji, 1979: 10-17; translated by the author) for instance, the chinese idiom “no ivory can come out of a dogs mouth”(狗嘴里吐不出象牙) expresses a negative feeling since chinese usually has bad associations with the word dog. on the contrary, the same word is a commendatory glossary in the english speaking countries. (wu jingrong & cheng zhenqiu, 2005: 538) thus, the opposite concepts about the same object results in barriers in translating chinese idiom into english. another example, in the idiom醍醐灌顶 (ti hu guan ding), the target readers will be puzzled about the words ti hu (醍醐) since it is a special term in buddhism, the religious belief in china while christianity is the popular religious belief in the target countries. next example, the target readers are also supposed to be confused about the literal meaning of the idiom “dong shi imitating xi shi”(东施效颦) since dong shi and xi shi are historical persons in yue dynasty of china. (yang & gladys, 1994: 602) the fourth example, 雨后春笋(yu hou chun sun) refers literally bamboo shoots after a spring rain. as china and britain have their own unique geographical conditions, bamboo is not produced in britain which blocks the target readers to understand the meaning of the chinese idiom.in the thesis, the author will research effective methods to conquer the difficulties of translating chinese idiom into english.2.5 literature review in the book of a revised edition of how to translate chinese idioms into english, zhang peiji(张培基) summarized thirteen methods of translating chinese idiom into english. the first method is literal translation which refers to transfer chinese idiom into english word-for-word, for example, “draining the pond to get all the fish(竭泽而渔)”. (zhang peiji, 1979: 50-87) in this way, the translation not only keeps the chinese flavor but also enriches the english language. the second method is borrowing from the similar meaning of english idiom, for instance, “at the end of ones rope”(山穷水尽). (zhang peiji, 1979: 88-115) although the original images mountain(山) and water(水) are replaced by the new image rope, the same implying meaning that someone cannot do anything about it is clear. this method will enable the translation to be more readable. the third method is free translation. (zhang peiji, 1979: 116-143) peter newmark pointed out “free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original.” (newmark, 2001: 46). for example, in the chinese idiom “unnecessary anxiety”(杞人忧天), the connotation meaning is given directly. (zhang peiji, 1979: 120) the fourth method has the advantages of literal translation and free translation by combining the two methods, for example, “when the lips are gone, the teeth will be exposed to danger”(唇亡齿寒) in which the first part of the idiom is literal translation while the last part is free translation. (zhang peiji, 1979: 143-148) the fifth method is adapting the english idiom temporarily, for instance, “to wait for gains without pains”(守株待兔) which was adapted from the english idiom no gains without pains. (zhang peiji, 1979: 148-151) in this way, the translation is clear and readable. the six method is omission, for example, “wall of bronze” (铜墙铁壁) in which the meaning of last part wall of copper (铁壁) is omitted to avoid redundancy. (zhang peiji, 1979: 151-162) the seven method is addition, for example, “longevity enduring as the mountain, happiness deep as the sea”(寿山福海) in which the words “enduring as ” and “deep as” are added in the literal meaning of the idiom to help the target readers understand the idiom more better. (zhang peiji, 1979: 162-174) the eight methods is avoiding mixed metaphor. specifically, when two or above metaphor are opposite or have different nature but have the same meaning, only one metaphor is supposed to be kept in translation. such as in the sentence let us march forward valiantly”(让我们乘风破浪，奋勇前进), the first idiom, to ride the wind and crest the waves(奋通前进), is omitted to avoid confusing since the two idioms have the same meaning but having different nature. the literal meaning of the former idiom is an action on the sea while the latter is on the land. (zhang peiji, 1979: 174-176) the ninth method is reinstating. for example, the meaning of chinese idiom “to pull the chestnut out of the fire”(火中取栗) which is originally borrowed from english idiom was retrieved. (zhang peiji, 1979: 176-180) the ten method is supplying explanation, such as “cursing bald heads to a monk.”, adding explanation “monks and nuns in china shaved their heads” (对着和尚骂贼秃) in which the explanation helps the target readers gain the meaning of the idiom more better. (yang xianyi & gladys yang, 1972: 173) (zhang peiji, 1979: 180-186) the eleven method is using figure of speech, for example, “put aside the armour and pick up the hoe”(解甲归田) in which the translator replaces an abstract concept, to return to the field, with a concrete object “the hoe” by metonymy. thus, beautiful rhyme is expressed by c