翻译的语言对比规律(语义.词法.句法.思维)

Chapter5

RulesofLanguageComparisons第五章翻译的语言对比规律

I.SimilaritiesbetweenEnglishandChinese

Thesimilaritiesbetweenthetwolanguagesprovideapossibilityandbasisforthetranslationbetweenthem.

1.Vocabulary1)Similarcategorization/divisionofpartsofspeech：

Noun,verb,adjective,pronoun,adverbandnumeralexistinbothlanguages.2)Sameorsimilarreferenceoftheconceptexpressedbyaword(equivalenceinmeaning)

propernames:PRC,TheAtlantic

commonwords:helicopter,dog,sky,breakfast2.Syntax1)Similarsentenceelements

subject,predicate,object,attribute,adverbial,complement2)Similarbasicsentencepattern

SV/SVO/SVOCII.DifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinese

1.Differentlanguagefamilies:EnglishbelongstoIndo-EuropeanlanguagefamilyorIndo-Germanicsystem(includingEurope,WesternAsiaandIndia).ChinesebelongstoSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily(includingChinese,TibetanandBurmese).Englishisanalphabeticcharacter(拼音文字),Chineseisanideographiccharacter(表意文字).2.Differentnatureoflanguage

EnglishisasyntheticLanguageSo-calledsyntheticLanguagereferstothatthemeaningofthelanguageisexpressedbythechangeoftheformoftheworditselfsuchascase,number,tenseandsoon.

Chineseisananalyticlanguage

So-calledanalyticlanguagemeansthattherelationshipofwordsisexpressednotbytheformofworditself-----butby

emptyword,particle

and

wordorder

andsoon.3.Semanticdifferences

1)FullcorrespondenceOnlyfoundingenerallyadoptedtechnicalterms

orcoincidenceamongcommonwordsRadar=雷达

NewYork=纽约

TianjinUniversity=天津大学

TheU.S.StateDepartment=美国国务院

ThePacificOcean=太平洋

helicopter=直升飞机2)Partialcorrespondenceormostlycorrespondence

AcharacterorphraseinChinesemaysemanticallycorrespondtoseveralwordsinEnglishorviceversa.cousin堂兄（弟姐妹），表兄（弟姐妹），姨兄（弟姐妹）wife:妻子、爱人、老伴、内人、贱内、夫人、老婆；president:总统、主席、校长、议长、会长、社长；3)Non-correspondenceoralmostnon-correspondenceTeenager:13至19岁的青少年

Clock－watcher:

老是看钟等下班的人

Dink=doubleincomenokids

丁克家族

糖葫芦

Tanghulu,asugar-coatedfruitonthestick文房四宝thefourtreasuresofthestudy(writing

brush,inkstick,inkstoneandpaper)文明礼貌月SocialistEthicsandCourstyMonth乌纱帽

anofficialpost五岳theFiveSacredMountains五经TheFiveClassics(TheBookofPoetry,TheBookofHistory,TheBookofChanges,TheBookofRitesandTheSpringandAutumnAnnuals)４)Wordcollocation

cut

：cutwheat

割麦子

cutcake

切蛋糕

cutfinger-nails

剪指甲

wear

：Heworedarkglasses,andthickjersey,andstoppeduphisearswithcottonwool.

他戴黑眼镜，穿厚毛衣，耳朵里塞了棉花。--Hekilledtheman/thedog.--Theykilledtheproposal.--Pleasekilltheengine.--Heisdressedtokill.

--Youarekillingme.--Shekillsherchildwithkindness.他们断然拒绝了这个建议。请把发动机熄灭。他穿得很时髦，十分吸引人你说的话笑死我了。/你的动作笑死我了。她宠坏了小孩。--Hetookasnacktokillhishunger.--Hekilledtimeeverydayatthepark.--Hekilledthemotionwhenitcamefromthecommittee.--Hekilledthespiritofthegroup.--Thenewskilledtheirhope.--Theseflowerskilleasily.--Hekilledthreebottlesofwhiskyinaweek.他吃零食充饥。他每天上公园消磨时间。他否决了委员会提出的动议他抹杀了团体精神。这消息使他们的希望破灭了。这些花很容易枯死。他一周内喝了三瓶威士忌。4.Differencesinlexicology

1)Partofspeech(词性)中文中没有的:articles:a,an,therelativewords(pronouns:who,whom,whosethat,which,as;adverbs:when,where,why;)英文中没有的:measurewordsmodalparticles

measurewords:Unitwordsofnouns

（个，只，份，把，块，张）

Unitwordsofverbs（趟，遭，次，遍，场，回）翻译时要作适当增补：一张纸，一块肥皂，一条巧克力（表状态特征）一个忠告，一条消息，一段时间（表抽象名词）Particle汉语有几类时态助词：（１）Preposedadverbs前置的时态副词（过去，曾经，已经，现在，正在，将要．．．）（２）tenseauxiliarywords附着的时态副词（过，着，了，起来．．．）（３）postposedauxiliarywords后置的时态语气词（了，来着．．．）翻译时应使用这些时态结构助词来表示原文的时态意义.①Mr.Smithusedtobeanarmyofficer,butheisinprisonnow.

史密斯先生过去是一个军官，而现在在监狱里。2)Preferenceofusepartsofspeech

E:nouns,adjectives,prepositionsC:verbs

3)wordorder

ironandsteelourselvesandtheenemyfireandwateroldandnewrightandleftsoonerorlaterbackandforthtwosandthreestablesandgraphics5.SyntacticdifferenceshypotaxisvsparataxisComplexvsSimplexEnd-weightvsTop-heavySubject-prominentvsTopic-prominentStaticvsDynamicSentenceorder

1)hypotaxisinEnglish;parataxisinChinese

AsE.A.Nidapointsoutinhis“TranslatingMeaning”,…sofarasEnglishandChineseareconcerned,themostimportantdifferencelinguisticallyisthecontrastbetweenhypotaxisandparataxis.Hypotaxis：

Hypotaxisreferstoaconstructionwhereconstituentshavebeenlinkedthroughtheuseofconjunction.所谓“形合”就是主要靠语言本身语法手段。

英语句子的特点是强调形式和功能，因而英语句法特征是形合.句子成分之间的关系要求用形式标记表明：英语名词的性、数、格;谓语动词的时态、语态;主句与从句之间的关系代词、关系副词和连词等形态和形式词;

都行使其语法功能,起着纽带作用，将句子各成分衔接在一起。英语语法外显性的表现。Parataxis：

Parataxisreferstoaconstructioninwhichthememberswithinasentence,orelseasequenceofsentences,areputoneaftertheotherwithoutanyexpressionoftheirconnectionorrelations.所谓“意合”主要靠句子内部逻辑联系。汉语句子的特征是“以意统形”，强调逻辑关系与意义关联(logicandsemanticcoherence),

不在意词语之间和句际之间形态和形式词等的形式连接(formalcohesion)，靠词语与句子本身意义上的连贯与逻辑顺序而实现的连接，汉语语法隐含性的一种表现(covertness)。汉语语法隐含性还表现在:词类无标记动词无时态或语态标记名词和代词的主格和宾格没有形式变化主语和谓语只要求在意义上一致，无需在形式上对应等方面。Thatisourpolicyandthatisourdeclaration.——W.Churchill这就是我们的国策。这就是我们的宣言。

Thesnakecatchesthetoadthateatstheinsectthatnibblesthegreengrass.

蛇吃癞蛤蟆，癞蛤蟆吃虫子，虫子吃绿叶。

Ifwintercomes,canspringbefarbehind?

冬天来了，春天还会远吗？Themanycolorsofarainbowrangefromredontheoutsidetovioletontheinside.彩虹有多种颜色，外圈红，内圈紫。2)Complexvs.Simplex

TheEnglishcomplexsentencesareoftenlikechainswithclauseslinkingclauses.TheChinesesentencesorclausestendtobeshortandsimpleinstructure.Theyareflowingandsimplex,withoneclausefollowingtheotherratherinaline.Themoonissofarfromtheearththat

evenifhugetreesweregrowingonthemountainsandelephantswerewalkingabout,wecouldnotseethemthroughthemostpowerfultelescopeswhichhavebeeninvented.(treestructure)

月球离地球非常遥远，即使那边山上长着大树，有大象在移动，我们用当今发明的最高倍率的望远镜，也不能看见它们。(bamboostructure)Anypersonleavinglitteraboutinsteadofputtingitinthisbasketwillbeliabletoafineof5pounds.废物入筐，违者罚款5磅。3)End-weightvs.Top-heavy

InanEnglishsentence,theshorterelementsusuallygobeforelongeronesinarrangementorder,thustheweightofthesentenceisputattheend,andthewholesentencelookslikeapyramid.ThatalsoexplainwhytherearesomanyinvertedsentencesinEnglish.ThearrangementofaChinesesentenceseemsquitetheopposite,wheretheimportantelementsareoftensaidatthebeginningofasentence.Soitlookslikeaninvertedpyramidortriangle.1.GonearethedayswhenweChinesepeopledependedonforeignsteel.中国人民靠洋钢的日子已一去不复返了。2.Thetimehascomewhenordinarypeoplecanuseelectroniccomputersbothintheofficeandathome.

普通人在办公处和家庭中使用电子计算机的时代已经到来。4)Subject-prominentvs.Topic-prominent

InanEnglishsentence,prominenceisusuallygiventothesubject.TherearefivebasicsentencepatternsinEnglish:SV,SVC,SVO,SVO1O2,SVOC,allwithSVasitsessentials.AnEnglishsentenceisbuiltonthesubject-predict-pivot,withthesubjectandpredicateinagreement.AChinesesentenceoftenlaysemphasisonthethoughtornotion,soitisbasedonthethoughtpivot.1.……1到了铁公祠前，2朝南一望，只见对面千佛山上，梵宇僧楼，与那苍松翠柏，3高4下相间，红的火红，白的雪白，青的靛青，绿的碧绿，更有那一株半株的丹枫夹在里面，5仿佛宋人赵千里的一幅大画，作了一架数十里长的屏风。（刘鹗：《老残游记》，齐鲁书社，1985，14页）

When

hereachedthetemple,helookedsouthwardsandsawontheothersideofthelaketheMountofaThousandBuddha.Thereweretemplesandmonasteries,somehighandsomelow,scatteredamongthegreyedpinesandgreencypresses:theredwereasredasfire,thewhiteaswhiteassnow,theblueasblueasindigoandthegreenasgreenasemerald,whilehereandtherewereafewredmaples.ItlookedlikeabigpaintingbyZhaoQianli,theSong-dynastypainter,onlymadeintoascreenadozenmileslong.——(fromTheTravelsofLaoCan,tr.ByYangHsienyiandGladysYang,PandaBooks,1983,p24-25)5)Staticvs.Dynamic

Englishtendstouseless

verbsthanChinese.InasimpleEnglishsentenceorinanEnglishclause,onlyoneverbisusedasthepredicateofthesentenceorclause.InaChinesesentence,anumberofverbscanbeusedasitspredicateatthesametime.

英语在表达意义时，喜欢使用静态词汇，如名词（抽象名词）、介词短语、形容词、副词以及表示状态的弱式动词（be,have,become,grow,feel,go,come,get,do等）和虚化动词（havealook,takeawalk,payavisit,doshopping,dosomereading等）来表示动作意义；而汉语则多使用动态词汇，英译汉时常常把原文中表示动作意义的静态叙述转换成汉语的动态叙述。2.Youdon’tgrowthegrainyoueatandyoudon’tmaketheclothesyouwear.

你吃的粮食不是你自己种的，你穿的衣服也不是你自己做的。

1.AmasteryofChineseandEnglishisessentialforE-CorC-Etranslation.

做英汉/汉英翻译必须掌握好汉语与英语。2.Youdon’tgrowthegrainyoueatandyoudon’tmaketheclothesyouwear.

你吃的粮食不是你自己种的，你穿的衣服也不是你自己做的。

6)Sentenceorder

(1)inversion(2)attributives(3)adverbials(4)negation(1)Invertedsentence

英语的倒装句，用汉语的正常“主谓”结构

Howbeautifulthehillslookwiththecloudsbehindthem!衬着后面的云彩，这些山看起来多美呀！(2)Attribute定语的位置①单词作定语somethingimportant

重要的事情

theancientChineseprintingtechnique

中国古代的印刷术②短语作定语

acandidatewithlittlechanceofsuccess

一个当选希望极微的候选人

（3）Adverbial

英语的状语：谓语动词之后

汉语的状语：一般在谓语动词之前，强调时，放在主语之前

①单词作状语

Modernscienceandtechnologyaredevelopingrapidly.

现代科技正在迅速发展。②短语作状语HewasborninFurthonMay27,1923.

他是1923年5月27日在菲尔特出生的。

Tomlefttheshopwithoutaword.

汤姆一声不吭地离开了商店。（4）Negativeword－not