Ⅱ. Is Translation ea Some people think translation is easy: As long as you know somegrammatical rules of a foreign language you can translate with the help of a dictionary. Is it really so? Now look at the following seemingly easy sentences and see ifyou can translate them easily. Can you see what is wrong with the translationsprovided in brackets?) l) He is easily the best student in the class.她很容易地成了班上最好的学生。) 2) Thestranger robbed his wife(那个陌生人抢了他的妻子。) 3) I cant agree more.(我不能同意更多的了。) 4) They gave the boy the lie.(他们对男孩说谎。) 5) This is a very good price.(这是一个非常好的价钱。) 6) Her mother died of difficult labor.(他母亲劳累而死。) There doesnt seem to be any new words for most students and none ofthe sentences is very complicated in grammar. Now, lets analyze them one byone. ) He is easily the best student in the class(她很容易地成了班上最好的学生。) e is the best student in the class with ease.(她很轻松地成了班上最好的学生。) The word"easily" in Sentence I is not of the usual sense and can' tbe translated as容易地. It means“ by far". So the sentence should be translated as她绝对/无疑是班上最好的学生c 他比班上别的学生要好得多 2) Thestranger robbed his wife(那个陌生人抢了他的妻子。) The meaning of ft f ftj fin the translation of Sentence 2 is ambiguous. It may mean thestranger took away the woman and made her his own wife. But what was actuallytaken was not the woman but her money or personal belongings.. So a clear translationshould be那个陌生人抢了他妻子的钱(东西) 3) I cant agree more.(我不能同意更多的了。) entence 3 uses a negative form to express the meaningof the superlative degree. The translation is wrong because"agree" here is anintransitive verb( when used as a transitive verb, it often followed by athat-clause)and"more" is not its object but its adverbial. So the sentenceshould be translated as我完全同意, or more vividly我 4) They gave the boy the lie.(他们对男孩说谎。) Sentence4 is an idiomatic way to express certainideas. Here"give" does not mean" make somebody possess something", but rather scold"or" punish”.他们指责男孩说谎(他们指 责男孩编造的这个说谎言) 5) This is a very good price.(这是一个非常好的价钱。) e Some people tend to think a word in one language mayalways be turned into a corresponding word in another language. So they make anequation between"labor"and"1z".As a atter of fact, "labor"has some meaning that is not coveredby Chinese 20. In sentence 6 it means"give birth to a baby, emphasizing the process". So thesentence actually means it tif 亲死于难产。(劳累o苦工 canbe translated as"hard labor"or" hard work”.)Don' t be too sure of yourselves and consult thedictionary more. II. The classification of translation In view of language of translation, it can be classified into intralingual translation and interlingualtranslation Intralingualtranslation or rewording (change the wording of sthspoken or written)is an interpretation of verbal A Signs by means ofother signs of the same language, e. g...Interlingual translation isan interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language, e. g.. 2. In view of the way of translation, it canbe classified intointerpretation(consecutiveinterpretation and simultaneous interpretation) and translation. Consecutive interpretation: the interpreter takes notes while the speaker speaks then renders (interpret)a speech in a diffe ge after the speaker Simultaneous interpretation Simultaneous interpretation is used in varioussituations such as business conferences, graduation ceremonies, any situationwhere there is not pause 3. In view of the style (xi) of translation, it can be classified intoliterary translation and non-literary translation. Literary translation: translation of novels, poems, essays and plays. Non-literary translation: translation of political essays, news texts, scientific and technical texts, financial and commercial texts, practical writing N, The standard of translation he term"standard of translation"in fact covers two aspects: the principleof translation and criterion of translation. If the translator hopes to succeedin translation, he or she must ollow some principles; if the reader or criticwants to judge whether the translation is successful or not, he or she has todepend on certain criterion. Actually, the so-called principles andcriteria of translation are the two sides of the same thing. The former laysemphasis on the translator who should follow them while translating, while thelatter on the reader or critic, who may use the criteria to evaluatetranslation works. There are five criteria mentioned here, butthe former two of them are influential criteria accepted by most of thetranslators There are two influential criteriaaccepted by most of the translators. 1. One is set up by Yan Fu(2)on the basis of"faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance"(faithfulness: to be faithful to the contentof the original; expressiveness: to be as expressive as the original, elegance: to be elegant if a translator uses words or sentence pattens before Han Dynasty.X信、达、雅).(信:意义不倍(背本文,忠实于原文;达:尽译文 语言所能事以求原义明显,不拘泥于原文形式,信、达二者统一;雅:脱离原文而片面追求译文本身的古雅。他认为只有译文本身采用“汉以前字法句法” 际上即所 谓上等的文言文,才算登大雅之堂。)(加上课本p8中间的内容评论) 2. The other is put forward by Lu Xun(鲁迅) on the basis of" ratherbeing faithful in thought than smooth in language"(宁信而不顺 3. The new China witnesses two important scholars on translation. One is Fu Lei and the other is Qian Zhongshu. The former suggests achieve thespiritof theoriginal or expression resemblance”(神似).(译文同原文如果能在形式上和精神上同时一致起来,或称能达到“形似”和“神似”,这是翻译的高标准。Mr. QianZhongshu puts forward the ideas of" transfiguration or conversion" which aimed at" perfection″化境)(所谓“化境”‘就是原作向译文的“投胎转世”,文字形式虽然换了,而原文投胎的 思想、感情、风格、神韵都原原本本的化到了译文的境界里了,丝毫不留下翻译的痕迹,让读者读译作就完全像在读原作一样。化境是比传神更高的翻译标准。) They two follow the principle of faithfulness. 4. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there appeared another translator, the monk Dao An(Fi). He suggested"preaching according to the original without anydeduction or addition' (案本而传,不令有损言游字:按照原文的本意) In the history of western translation theories, there appeared a lotof translation theorists. Here we only mention some representative opinions ontranslation criteria. Alexander Fraster Tytler proposed the famous three principlesin his essay on the principles of translation, in which he thought that thetranslation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the originalwork; the style and the manner of writing should be of the same character withthat of the original; the translation should have all the ease of originalcomposition”(一、译作应完全 复写出原文的思想;二、译作的风格和手法应和原作属于同一性质;三、译作应具备原创作品的通顺) Exactly the three principles based on faithfulness What's the common point of these translation criteria?Ⅱ. Is Translation Easy? Some people think translation is easy: As long as you know somegrammatical rules of a foreign language you can translate with the help of a dictionary.Is it really so? Now look at the following seemingly easy sentences and see ifyou can translate them easily. (Can you see what is wrong with the translationsprovided in brackets?) 1) He is easily the best student in the class.(她很容易地成了班上最好的学生。) 2）Thestranger robbed his wife.(那个陌生人抢了他的妻子。) 3) I can’t agree more.（我不能同意更多的了。） 4) They gave the boy the lie.（他们对男孩说谎。） 5) This is a very good price.（这是一个非常好的价钱。） 6) Her mother died of difficult labor.（他母亲劳累而死。） There doesn’t seem to be any new words for most students and none ofthe sentences is very complicated in grammar. Now, let’s analyze them one byone. 1) He is easily the best student in the class. (她很容易地成了班上最好的学生。) He is the best student in the class with ease. (她很轻松地成了班上最好的学生。) The word “easily” in Sentence 1 is not of the usual sense and can’tbe translated as容易地. It means “by far”. So the sentence should be translated as她绝对/无疑是班上最好的学生or 他比班上别的学生要好得多. 2）Thestranger robbed his wife.(那个陌生人抢了他的妻子。) The meaning of 抢了他的妻子in the translation of Sentence 2 is ambiguous. It may mean thestranger took away the woman and made her his own wife. But what was actuallytaken was not the woman but her money or personal belongings. So a clear translationshould be 那个陌生人抢了他妻子的钱（东西）. 3) I can’t agree more.（我不能同意更多的了。） Sentence 3 uses a negative form to express the meaningof the superlative degree. The translation is wrong because “agree” here is anintransitive verb (when used as a transitive verb, it is often followed by athat-clause) and “more” is not its object but its adverbial. So the sentenceshould be translated as 我完全同意,or more vividly我举双手赞成. 4) They gave the boy the lie.（他们对男孩说谎。） Sentence 4 is an idiomatic way to express certainideas. Here “give” does not mean “make somebody possess something”, but rather“scold” or “punish”. 他们指责男孩说谎（他们指 责男孩编造的这个说谎言）. 5) This is a very good price.（这是一个非常好的价钱。） “Good” is a typical word whose meaning is often vague.Sentence 5 is an utterance by a customer. So it would be better to translate itsimply as 真便宜. 6) Her mother died of difficult labor.（他母亲劳累而死。） Some people tend to think a word in one language mayalways be turned into a corresponding word in another language. So they make anequation between “labor” and “劳动”. As a matter of fact, “labor” has some meaning that is not coveredby Chinese 劳动.In sentence 6 it means “give birth to a baby, emphasizing the process”. So thesentence actually means 他母 亲死于难产。（劳累or苦工canbe translated as “hard labor ” or “hard work”.）Don’t be too sure of yourselves and consult thedictionary more. Ⅲ.The classification of translation 1. In view of language of translation, it can be classified into intralingual translation and interlingualtranslation. Intralingualtranslation or rewording (change the wording of sthspoken or written) is an interpretation of verbal用文字的signs by means ofother signs of the same language, e.g.….. Interlingual translation isan interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language, e.g.…... 2. In view of the way of translation, it canbe classified intointerpretation (consecutiveinterpretation and simultaneous interpretation) and translation. Consecutive interpretation: the interpreter takes notes while the speaker speaks then renders（interpret） a speech in a differentlanguage after the speaker. Simultaneous interpretation:Simultaneous interpretation is used in varioussituations such as business conferences, graduation ceremonies, any situationwhere there is not pause between each statement allowing time for theinterpreter to relay（传达） information to the interpretee. 3. In view of the style（文体） of translation, it can be classified intoliterary translation and non- literary translation. Literary translation:translation of novels, poems, essays and plays. Non- literary translation:translation of political essays, news texts, scientific and technical texts,financial and commercial texts, practical writing. Ⅳ. The standard of translation The term “standard of translation” in fact covers two aspects: the principleof translation and criterion of translation. If the translator hopes to succeedin translation, he or she must follow some principles; if the reader or criticwants to judge whether the translation is successful or not, he or she has todepend on certain criterion. Actually, the so-called principles andcriteria of translation are the two sides of the same thing. The former laysemphasis on the translator who should follow them while translating; while thelatter on the reader or critic, who may use the criteria to evaluatetranslation works. There are five criteria mentioned here, butthe former two of them are influential criteria accepted by most of thetranslators. There are two influential criteriaaccepted by most of the translators. 1. One is set up by Yan Fu (严复) on the basis of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” (faithfulness: to be faithful to the contentof the original; expressiveness: to be as expressive as the original; elegance:to be elegant if a translator uses words or sentence patterns before HanDynasty .)(信、达、雅). (信：意义不倍(背)本文，忠实于原文；达：尽译文 语言所能事以求原义明显，不拘泥于原文形式，信、达二者统一；雅：脱离原文而片面追求译文本身的古雅。他认为只有译文本身采用“汉以前字法句法”——实际上即所 谓上等的文言文，才算登大雅之堂。) (加上课本p.8中间的内容评论) 2. The other is put forward by Lu Xun (鲁迅) on the basis of “ratherbeing faithful in thought than smooth in language”(宁信而不顺). 3. The new China witnesses two important scholars on translation.One is Fu Lei and the other is Qian Zhongshu. The former suggests “achieve the ‘spirit’ of theoriginal or expression resemblance”（神似）. (译文同原文如果能在形式上和精神上同时一致起来，或称能达到“形似”和“神似”，这是翻译的高标准。)Mr. QianZhongshu puts forward the ideas of “transfiguration or conversion”which aimed at “perfection”(化境).（所谓“化境”‘就是原作向译文的“投胎转世”，文字形式虽然换了，而原文投胎的 思想、感情、风格、神韵都原原本本的化到了译文的境界里了，丝毫不留下翻译的痕迹，让读者读译作就完全像在读原作一样。化境是比传神更高的翻译标准。） They two follow the principle of faithfulness. 4. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there appeared another translator,the monk Dao An (释道安). He suggested “preaching according to the original without anydeduction or addition” (案本而传，不令有损言游字: 按照原文的本意). In the history of western translation theories, there appeared a lotof translation theorists. Here we only mention some representative opinions ontranslation criteria. Alexander Fraster Tytler proposed the famous three principlesin his essay on the principles of translation, in which he thought that “thetranslation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the originalwork; the style and the manner of writing should be of the same character withthat of the original; the translation should have all the ease of originalcomposition” (一、译作应完全 复写出原文的思想；二、译作的风格和手法应和原作属于同一性质；三、译作应具备原创作品的通顺).Exactly the three principles are all based on faithfulness. What’s the common point of these translation criteria?