题目：Translation Practice and Gains
from It
院 系：外国语学院 专 业：英语专业 姓 名：xxx 学 号：xxx 指导老师：xxx
2011 年 3 月 16 日
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翻译心得及翻译实践
摘要
翻译是一项将陌生信息转化为接受者熟悉能理解的信息的处理过程和方法，它包括语言文字，图形符号的翻译转化等多样形式。而语言翻译则是其中的一种较为形象和具体的翻译形式，它不仅仅对译者雄厚的英语语言功底和技能提出了很高的要求，更需要他对西方和本国文明历史以及文化生活有充分的了解和认识，只有将翻译作为拥有不同文化背景的人们进行交际的桥梁，并深入了解掌握本国与异国的民族文化差异，同时在翻译语中找到相应准确通达的语句搭配，才能使异国文化在翻译语中再现其貌，才能真正翻译好一篇文章。本文则是针对两篇有关文化交际方面的学术论文而引发的对翻译方法技巧等的心得体会。一篇是关于文化差异和外语教学的学术文章《中西文化差异探源与外语教学》，而另一篇则是由罗恩·韦特写的《牢记你的格言》---有关商务信函在人际交往中的应用。而在传统的翻译标准上，好的翻译必须做到“信”、“达”、“雅”，即准确、通顺、优雅，那么运用合理的翻译技巧和翻译方法就显得格外重要。其核心的方法还是以直译翻译法和意译翻译法为主，其间通过转换，异化与归化，增译、简译、省略以及句子拆分等方法和策略，在上下文的紧密衔接的基础上对词与句进行翻译。将翻译心得和翻译实践整体的翻译是一次真正意义上的理论结合实际的契机，它不仅要求对理论知识有认识性的把握，同时要灵活运用这些方法技巧，合理地进行全篇翻译。
关键词：翻译 翻译方法和技巧 句词处理 心得体会
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Abstract Translation is a proce and method to deal with information, converting strange information into the information which recipients can be familiar with and understand.It includes multiple forms involving the translation and conversion of languages and characters, that of graphs and symbols and so on.The language translation is a sort of translation form which is relatively visual and concrete.It not only puts forward high requirements towards a translator in terms of his strong English language skills and knowledge, but also requires him of having sufficient knowledge and understanding of civilization, history, culture and life both in his own and western countries.Only will people regard translation as a bridge of communication where people have different cultural backgrounds, and deeply have understanding of cultural differences between the domestic and foreign national on translation, finding the corresponding accurate and flowing collocation of words and sentences, they can reappear the origin appearance of exotic culture in the language translation, and truly translate an article well.Directing at two academic papers about cultural communication, this paper greatly triggers my gains of translation methods and skills etc.an article is an academic one about cultural differences and foreign language teaching, The Exploration for the Differences between Chinese and Western Culture and Foreign Language Teaching, and the other one is Minding Your Maxims, written by Ron White - about the application of busine letters in interpersonal communication.In the traditional translation standards, a good translation must satisfy the three standards \"xin\", \"da\", \"ya\", namely, faithfulne, expreivene and elegance, therefore reasonable use of translation skills and methods of translation is of great importance.The core methods are still mainly literal translation and free translation method.Free translation is easy to use, but the latter is somewhat difficult, where we use some translation methods and strategies, such as conversion, foreignization and domestication, amplification, simplification, ellipsis and sentence division etc, to translate the words and sentences based on the closely related context.The translation, as a whole of translation gains and translation practice, is actually a good opportunity
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for combining the theory with the practice, which not only requires of grasping the understanding of theoretical knowledge in cognitive way, but also carrying out a total translation properly with the flexible use of those translation knowledge and skills.
Key words: translation
translation methods and strategies
handling sentences and words
experience and gains
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Contents 摘要…………………………………………………………………….....i Abstract………………………………………………………………….ii 1.The depiction for translation materials……………………….........1 2.Translation methods and strategies
2.1 Conversion…………………………………………………………………....2 2.2 Foreignization translation…………………………………………………...2 2.3 Domestication………………………………………………….......................3 2.4 Extension……………………………………………………………………...3 2.5 Literal translation……………………………………………………………4
3.Handling sentences and words 3.1 Handling long sentences……………………………………………………… 3.2 About some translation skills for sentences…………………………………
4.Gains from translation…………………………………………….....5.Bibliography…………………………………………………………..6.Original English material……………………………………….…… 7.English-to-Chinese translation……………………………………….8.Original Chinese material…………………………………………… 9.Chinese-to-English translation……………………………………….
1.The depiction for translation materials For the first article, the cultural globalization is put forward ahead to emphasize the influence brought about by the difference of culture in Chinese and western
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countries.The new ways of electronic communications make us enter a new era.People seek for global extensive cooperation in the economic and political fields, and meanwhile through cultural exchanges, break the original shut and narrow situation, mutually promoting and developing colorful culture, cooperating efficiently and effectively on the global problems, to walk forward to the open and multivariate and form a new pattern of cultural globalization.The tides of cultural globalization attack both English-teaching and confer new requirements and awarene on people.Therefore, to transcend the obstacle of cultural factors in foreign language teaching, first we must understand these factors behind the languages, making clear definitions of culture and the causes of producing cultural differences.And for culture, it is a complex concept with extremely extensive coverage, generally speaking, there are two arguments including the broad culture and the narrow culture.Moreover, many causes of formation of culture can be referred to, yet we can ascribe them to several following aspects: the ways of thinking, religion, living environment, customs, social etiquette and habits.Consequently, focusing on the differences between Chinese and western culture in foreign language teaching and enhancing cultural introductory is not only the requirements of the times, but also develop a broader vision for our foreign language teaching and inject fresh vitality into it.While the other one is a pure English eay written by a native English speaker, who hopes that his points for the application and writing skills of busine letters in interpersonal communication, namely minding our maxims, are focused on to inform people that readers‟ responses can indicate the individual differences in the way where the maxims are interpreted, as well as the problems given rise to by the task specification and the use of models in busine letters teaching.Then to give a distinct explanation and account of these problems, there are four angles arising from them: the applicability of pragmatic principles in cro-cultural settings, authentic readers‟ responses, task specification in writing claes, uses of models in the teaching of writing.To sum up, writers will learn to mind their maxims in ways which ought to enable them to optimize the effects they wish to have on their readership.
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2.Translation methods and strategies As we know, there are two basic translation methods, that is to say, literal translation and free translation method.Literal translation is a translation method to translate directly without any modification, which is asked not to alert the figures of speech but to retain the original structures, ideological content, style and forms of sentences.While free translation is different from that.Though they have something in common, such as the similarity of retainment of original figures of speech, sentence structures, and sentence form, the latter strees the smoothne and the communicative effect of translated version, regardle of the conversion of structure and pattern.For the free translation, we usually use the following translation methods and strategies as aistance, like conversion, foreignization translation, domestication, amplification, simplification, and extension.Let me make it clearer with some detailed examples.
2.1 Conversion Conversion in language translation is a translation tip for some difficult sentences.Additionally, it is always used in the change of parts of speech or the meaning of words to make the sentences more fluent and authentic.Examples: Cg1. C: 西方的思维方式可以追溯到苏格拉底开创的逻辑思辨方式,表现在哲学上则为多主张“人物分离”,崇尚个体思维,认为整体只有在个体对立中才能存在。
E: The western way of thinking can be traced back to the logic speculation pattern which Socrates creates, mostly aerting \"figure-object separation\" shown in the philosophical speculation way, advocating individual thought that the whole only exist in the individual contradiction. From my translation, we can see “人物分离”in Chinese with traditional Chinese four-word form.Through some conversion, I use \"figure-object separation\" to expre
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the meaning of separating people from common objects for short.
Cg2. E: In an attempt to account for the way participants read into an utterance meanings and intentions other than those obvious from the surface forms themselves,„„
C: 为了说明参与者理解显而易见的意义和目的的方式，而不是那些显而易见的表面形式， Of all the words, we can see a typical and peculiar words \"those obvious\", which ought to be regarded as a noun not an adjective word for origin, namely“ 那些显而易见的表面形式”in Chinese.
2.2 Foreignization translation In the proce of translation, both the Chinese-to-English one and English-to-Chinese one, we confront many examples carrying intense national culture, customs and religion.Hard as some are, I try to make use of foreignization translation combined the local history and native meaning to expre the exact meaning. Examples: Cg1. C: 佛教传入中国已有一千多年的历史,人们相信有“佛主”在左右着人世间的一切,与此有关的习语很多,如“借花献佛”、“闲时不烧香,临时抱佛脚”等。
E: Buddhism was introduced into China for more than one thousand years, and people believe there is \"the Lord of Buddha\" in the world to control everything around, when many related idioms emerge, such as \"Jiehuaxianfo\" meaning to borrow something to make a gift of it： 借花献佛, \"Xianshibuhsaoxiang, linshibaopojiao\" meaning to make efforts at the last moment when not free etc. The expreions“借花献佛”and“闲时不烧香,临时抱佛脚”are both Chinese proverbs which carry strong Chinese traditional religious characteristic, thus I choose to use suffixal translation as additional remarks for them, such as \"Jiehuaxianfo\" meaning to borrow something to make a gift of it.
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Cg2. C: 用国学大师季羡林教授的话来说就是:“一言而蔽之,东方文化体系的思维模式„
E: Quoted by the Chinese master profeor Ji Xianlin‟ words:\" a word for short, that is to say, the mode of thinking in the oriental cultural system is integrated “一言而蔽之”is a traditional archaism, so based on understanding of ancient Chinese culture, I feel the meaning can equal to “用一句话说就是” in Chinese，which can be translated as “a word for short, that is to say” in English.
2.3 Domestication translation Domestication translation is a new conception corresponding to the foreignization translation, which first was put forward by Lawrence Venuti, an American translation theorist.The connotation is to minimize the exotic in translation, and provide readers with a natural and fluent translation.From that, we can see the importance of having a good knowledge of cultural background carry a substantial weight in domestication translation.Examples: Cg1. E: Letter B (Appendix I) is a reply to a complaint by a customer who was pick-pocketed at a shop belonging to the chain of which the writer is „Customer Relations Manager‟.
C: B类信(附录1)反映的是，一位客户投诉自己在一家商店被扒手模了钱包，而这家店的连锁店里的商店作家是它的客户关系经理。 From the context, the chain here is apparently not the original meaning, which I think is endowed with a new conception, namely, multiple shops(连锁店).
Cg2. E: Central to Brown and Levinson‟s theory is the concept of face (cf.Goffman, 1955) which may be defined as the public self-image that every one wants to claim
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for him or her self.Brown and Levinson somewhat confusingly distinguish between what they call negative and positive face, summed up as follows: Positive face the want to be desirable, accepted
concern with being thought of as a normal, contributing member of one\'s social world
the desire for common ground
Negative face the want to be unimpeded by others
maintaining right of independence, freedom of action within one\'s own territory
the right not to be imposed upon
C: 布朗和列文森的理论中心是威信的概念 (参考Goffman,1955年),这个概念被定义为每个人想向公众证明自我的一种公众自我形象。布朗和列文森在区分他们所谓的“消极和积极的威信”上多少有些迷惑和不确定,总的可归结为以下几点: 积极的威信
•一种想要被接受和认可的渴望
•关心自己是否被自己所生活的社交界认为是一名正常且做出了贡献的成员 •渴望有共同的背景 消极的威信
•一种想要被别人阻碍的希望
•在自己的领地中对独立的权利和行动的自由的维护 •享有不被施压的权利
The face here is not an organ of body, if translated as “面部”, the real meaning of which will be lost.Consequently, in my opinion, the face is used to expre the
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prestige of someone that can be divided into twofold, the positive and the negative.
2.4 Extension Omiion, a high-cla writing skill, is always used in formal or informal writing, to make the whole paage more incisive and concise, yet bringing some trouble for translation.Hence, we try to restore the intact original sentence in clear meaning, and the extension translation is good choice.Through adding some neceary words into sentences, the whole sentence will be easier to be understood.Examples: Cg1. E: As noted earlier, two of the texts in this study were written by students: in one case, the writer is a Polish undergraduate who aspires to join the UDS, while in the other he is a Hong Kong busine man, who is already a practising participant in the UDS.
C: 正如前面所提到的那样,这项研究中有两篇文章出自学生之手:其中一个情况是,其作者是来自波兰的一名希望加入UDS的大学生,而另一个作者则是一位来自香港的商人,并且他已经是UDS的加盟成员了。 The part “As noted earlier,” is an elliptical sentence, the subject of which actually can be extended from the whole paage.That is “正如前面所提到的那样,”for translation.Another one, “while in the other”, need be extended, which leave out the “writer” after “the other”.
Cg2. E: Although three of the five letters are authentic, having been written by real managers to a real customer, two are non authentic, having been written for display, albeit while having to satisfy certain contextual constraints specified in the prompt provided.
C: 虽然每五封信中有三封信是真实的，是由真正的经理写给真正的客户的，但是其他两封信都是不真实的，是用于展示的，并且还不得不满足提示中具体说明的前后相关的某种限制。
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Similarity to the first example, the word “two” in “two are „” is a omiion leaving out the word “letter”.But in fact, we all know it refers to letters.
2.5 Literal translation Literal translation is the easiest one in all the translation methods, according to the basic meaning of the surface of sentences, which can be translated directly without any modification.Examples: Cg1. C: 英汉民族的思维方式的不同也决定了两个民族的审美情趣的不同。
E: The difference of way of thinking between Chinese and English also determines on the difference of appreciation of the beauty in two nations.
Cg2. E: In many cases (but not all) it is based on an aement of the frequency of interaction and the kinds of material or non-material goods exchanged between the parties concerned.
C: 在许多情况下(但并不是全所有的都这样)它都是基于对相互作用以及在不同当事人之间交换的物质和非物质商品的频率的评估而存在的。
3.Handling sentences and words 3.1 Handling long sentences For long sentences, we always face a sentence with 20 or more words which itself is so complex both in programmer and structure.So we must analyze the whole sentence by dividing the sentences to several parts, catching the main and abandoning the subordinate.Only seeing from the whole sentence, related to the context closely, the sentences can be precisely translated. For example, “thus, the impreion of symmetry in the social relationship
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between reader and writer is created, even if, as both parties will acknowledge, there is no actual basis for such solidarity.” For this, it has complicated structure and accompanying adverbial modifier puzzling the readers‟ minds.And after I divide it to several parts and put them to translation, I begin to integrate them in logic.The translation is “因此,要创造出在读者和作家之间的社会关系中的一种对称的相互印象,即使当双方都意识到, 这样的团结其实没有现实的依据。” Another example is that the original sentence, “Since both are communicating in a non native language acro cultural boundaries, inter-cultural differences between themselves and their readership will be relevant in terms of defining the what is acceptable within the constraints of the writing tasks they have been set”
is so long which contains different kinds of clauses, giving our translator great challenges.There is my own translation for some reference--“由于它们都是跨越文化界限通过一种非母语语言进行交流，所以他们与他们的读者之间形成的文化差异,与对在写作任务已经得以限定的情况下可以予以接受的东西的定义是有关联的。”
3.2 About some translation skills for sentences In my C-to-E translation, I find I come acro the four-word form words which always upset and trouble me because there are no distinct and explicit methods and skills for me to translate them, yet just for my own understanding combined with some habits of English expreion and local language use.For instance, I confront a hard sentence, “汉语的审美优势存在于四字结构、意合力强、形式齐整、音律悦耳、词格丰富、意境性强,重整体感应; 英语上的优势则存在于结构严密、修辞生动、明快简洁、词藻丰富、表现力强(如引申、转换等) ,重客观描写”, and I contemplate for a long time but in vain.With the help of my girlfriend and dictionary, I gradually begin to take shape.After modification, my translation comes up--The aesthetic advantages in Chinese lie in four-words structures, strong parataxis force, neat forms, sweet melody, rich word lattice, powerful artistic conception, and emphasizing overall induction; the ones in English are lively and concise, in compact
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structures, vivid rhetoric , verbal riches with strong expreivene (such as implication, conversion etc), and regarding the objective description.—Indeed, I choose the form “adjective+noun” to solve the problems.
4.Gains from translation In this graduation design, I choose English translation because translation not only puts forward high requirements for a translator in terms of his strong English language skills and commands, but also requires him of having sufficient knowledge and understanding of civilization, history, culture and life both in his and western countries.Moreover another reason counts that the use of the academic words, as well as involving extensive related knowledge range, such as Grice‟s maxims, Brown and Levinson politene principles, and C-B-S style of profeional communication etc.As a consequence, I think it is of more challenge.Yet after busy and hard translation work, I welcome the completion of the whole graduate design.Different kinds of moods and feelings hovers my heart in this unforgettable road of translation, which has a big influence of me and my life.From it, I know a good translation must satisfy the three standards \"xin\", \"da\", \"ya\" in traditional translation criterion, namely, faithfulne, expreivene and elegance.Faithfulne is fundamental requirement, and expreivene is eential condition, and elegance is high tidemark .Without them, the translation can‟t exist.So how can we reach these requirements? Reasonable use of translation skills and methods is of great importance.
As I have refer earlier, I use the literal translation and free translation method for the basic methods.As long as it can be translated directly, I use the literal translation.But when I confront the difficult one, free translation will be my best choice.Through conversion, foreignization and domestication, amplification, simplification, ellipsis and sentence division etc, based on the closely related context, I can translate the words and sentences clearer and more accurate.The detailed examples I have listed before are no longer accounted specifically.What‟s more, I think the analysis for the
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sentences, especially for sentence division, are greatly critical to translation because only you understand the sentence, can you understand the whole paage and thus translate them precisely and correctly.This is really a tough work for me, owing to my short time for English translation, as well as the great gap between the theory and practice.But I have mad my best progre to accomplish the work, with sweat and tears interweaved, and finally finish the graduate paper.For this, I still feel very happy and joy, for I know no victory is not through the bramble and difficulty, and this translation is also a good opportunity for combining the theory with the practice, which makes me have a qualitative leap on the understanding of theoretical knowledge in cla or taught by teachers.Through the flexible use of those translation knowledge taught by teachers, I succefully accomplish the English-to-Chinese translation and the Chinese-to-English translation, and obtain much valuable experience, which not only enlarges the range of my knowledge, but also cultivates my strong interest of learning English.\"Nothing is impoible to a willing mind\" translation work is a long-term arduous proce, which needs constant patience and strong perseverance.I believe, as long as a person can make attempt to endeavoring persistently, working down-to-earth, deeply loving the current job, and cherishing hard-won studying opportunity, he will certainly welcome the dawn of succe.Finally, I‟m obliged to my instructor Mrs Kang, who helps me much in my translation work, as well as my girlfriend.Without them, I can not accomplish this paper.My clamates are also helpful when I face much trouble.All the people and all the memory are bound to remain in my deepest soul, and words fails me when I want to expre the heartfelt gratitude to them gain.
5.Bibliography [1] Yong, Ho .1993.Aspects of Discourse structure in Mandarin Chinese [M].New
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York: Mellen University Pre.[2] Peter Newmark P.2001.A Textbook of Translation Foreign Language Teaching and Research.Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Pre.[3] Kelly,L.G.1979.The True Interpreter: A History of Translation Theory and Practice in the West.Oxford: Basil Blackwell.[4] LEFEVERE, Andre.1992.Translation Literature, Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context.New York: The Modern Language Aociation of America.[5] 王宏志，1999，《重释‘信达雅’——二十世纪中国翻译研究》，上海：东方出版中心。
[6] 许钧，2003，《翻译论》，武汉：湖北教育出版社。
[7] 刘宓庆，2003，《翻译教学：实务与理论》，北京：中国对外翻译出版公司。 [7] 桂诗春、宁春岩，1997，《语言方法论》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社。
