1、Rules of Language Comparisons翻译的语言对比规律,Differences between English and Chinese,I. Semantic differences II. Differences in lexicology III. Syntactic differences IV. Differences of mode of thinking,General introductionDifferent language families: English belongs to Indo-European language family or Ind
2、o-Germanic system (including Europe, Western Asia and India). Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan language family (including Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese). English is an alphabetic character (拼音文字), Chinese is an ideographic character (表意文字).,Different nature of language: English is a comprehensive lang
3、uage. So-called comprehensive language refers to that the meaning of the language is expressed by the change of the form of the word itself such as case, number, tense and so on.Chinese is an analytic language.So-called analytic language means that the relationship of words is expressed not by the f
4、orm of word itself-but by empty word ,particle and word order and so on.,Difference of sentence structure: English sentences are well-knit, close and compact In English, nouns, especially the abstract nouns and prepositions are widely used, just like a series of Grapes. Chinese sentences are concise
5、 and explicitIn Chinese, verbs are widely used, just like a Bamboo,I. Semantic differences,1. Full correspondence Only found in generally adopted technical terms or coincidence among common wordsRadar=雷达 New York =纽约 Tianjin University=天津大学The U.S. State Department =美国国务院The Pacific Ocean =太平洋helico
6、pter =直升飞机,2. Partial correspondence or mostly correspondence marriage 娶、嫁 sister 姐、妹 gun 枪、炮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；Morning: 早晨、上午,部分对应造成翻译时的选择，如对于morning 的翻译：Late in the morning 接近晌午Early in the morning 一大早Mid-morning: 上午十点左右 Mid-afternoon: 下午三、四点,3. Non-corresponde
7、nce or almost non-correspondence Teenager: 13至19岁的青少年 Clockwatcher: 老是看钟等下班的人Dink = double income no kids 丁克家族,糖葫芦 Tanghulu, a sugar-coated fruit on the stick 文房四宝 the four treasures of the study (writing brush, inkstick, inkstone and paper) 文明礼貌月 Socialist Ethics and Courtesy Month 特困生 the most nee
8、dy students 一穷二白 poor and blank,乌纱帽 an official post 五岳 the Five Sacred Mountains 五经 The Five Classics (The Book of Poetry, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites and The Spring and Autumn Annuals),. Word collocationcut ： cut wheat 割麦子 cut cake 切蛋糕cut finger-nails 剪指甲wear ：He wo
9、re dark glasses, and thick jersey, and stopped up his ears with cotton wool.他戴黑眼镜，穿厚毛衣，耳朵里塞了棉花。,II. Differences in lexicology,古英语： Synthetic language词与词的关系是靠词本身的形态变化来表现的,汉语：Analytic ,nltk language通过词序或 虚词（助词）等手段来表示的。,英语：synthetic +analytic language 通过形态变化包括性、数、格、时、体、语态、语气、人称、比较级等来表示的。,English: Tense
10、 ; Chinese: Particle,汉语有几类时态助词：（） Preposed adverbs 前置的时态副词（过去， 曾经，已经，现在，正在，将要）（） tense auxiliary words 附着的时态副词（过，着，了，起来）（） postposed auxiliary words 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: Mr. Smith used to be an army officer, but he is in prison now.史密斯先生过去是一个军官，而现在在监狱里。,2. measure words:Unit word
11、s of nouns (个，只，份，把，块，张） Unit words of verbs （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）,3. Modal particle：auxiliary words that indicates moods: emotional particles 语气助词； 英语借助语调（intonation)翻译时需要译者加以增补 1) declarative mood: 的，了，呢，罢了，而已，啦 2）question mood: 吗，吧，啦，啊，么 3）imperative
12、mood: 吧，罢，呀，啊，啦,4.Pronouns She and heHe asks, she replied. It ,theye.g. The first point about chores is that they are repetitive. And once done they require after a certain time to be done again.关于家务事，第一点要说的就是它们的重要性。它们差不多每天都有，而且做完后隔一段时间还得再做。家务事的第一个特点就是反反复复，几乎每天都有，而且做完后隔一段时间又要重做一番。,英语里的指示代词处理方法：,1) p
13、ronoun equivalent 2) omission 3) noun equivalent 4) “其, 之”,5 词序iron and steel ourselves and the enemy fire and water old and new right and left sooner or later back and forth twos and threes tables and graphics,III. Syntactic differences,1 hypotaxis vs parataxis 2 Complex vs Simplex 3 End-weight vs
14、Top-heavy4 Subject-prominent vs Topic- prominent 5 Static vs Dynamic 6 Sentence order,1. hypotaxis（形合） in English; parataxis （意合）in Chinese,As E. A. Nida points out in his “Translating Meaning”, so far as English and Chinese are concerned, the most important difference linguistically is the contrast
15、 between hypotaxis and parataxis.,形合（Hypotaxis）Hypotaxis refers to a construction where constituents have been linked through the use of conjunction.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（hypotaxis）.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。,意
16、合 (Parataxis) Parataxis refers to a construction in which the members within a sentence, or else a sequence of sentences, are put one after the other without any expression of their connection or relations. 汉语句子的特征是“以意统形”，强调逻辑关系与意义关联(logic and semantic coherence), 不在意词语之间和句际之间形态和形式词等的形式连接(formal coh
17、esion)，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。 e.g. If winter comes, can spring be far behind? 冬天来了，春天还会远吗？e.g. He has never been back to Beijing since he left five years ago.离开北京五年了，从未回去过。,E.g. I went to dance w
18、ith a girl who is from Russia and who has a Southern accent.我同一位操南方口音的俄罗斯姑娘跳舞。 E.g. The snake catches the toad that eats the insect that nibbles the green grass.蛇吃癞蛤蟆，癞蛤蟆吃虫子，虫子吃绿叶。 E.g. If you have never tasted the bitterness of gall, how can you know the sweetness of honey?不吃苦中苦，哪知甜中甜？,2 Complex vs
19、. Simplex,The English complex sentences are often like chains with clauses linking clauses. The Chinese sentences or clauses tend to be short and simple in structure. They are flowing and simplex, with one clause following the other rather in a line.,1. The moon is so far from the earth that even if
20、 huge trees were growing on the mountains and elephants were walking about, we could not see them through the most powerful telescopes which have been invented. 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。,Any person leaving litter about instead of putting it in this basket will be liable t
21、o a fine of 5 pounds. 废物入筐，违者罚款5磅。,3 End-weight vs. Top-heavy,In an English sentence, the shorter elements usually go before longer ones in arrangement order, thus the weight of the sentence is put at the end, and the whole sentence looks like a pyramid. That also explain why there are so many inver
22、ted sentences in English. The arrangement of a Chinese sentence seems quite the opposite, where the important elements are often said at the beginning of a sentence. So it looks like an inverted pyramid or triangle.,1. Gone are the days when we Chinese people depended on foreign steel. 中国人民靠洋钢的日子已一去
23、不复返了。 2. The time has come when ordinary people can use electronic computers both in the office and at home.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。,3. It is important to study English as well as science and technology for our socialist modernization drive.学科技、学英语，对社会主义现代化建设很重要。 4. Before them lay miles of miles
24、of beautiful plain with lots of wild animals among the grass.美丽的草原，茵茵的绿草，野生动物成群结队，绵延数英里，展现在眼前。,4. Subject-prominent vs. Topic-prominent,In an English sentence, prominence is usually given to the subject. There are five basic sentence patterns in English: SV, SVC, SVO, SVO1O2, SVOC, all with SV as it
25、s essentials. An English sentence is built on the subject-predict-pivot, with the subject and predicate in agreement. A Chinese sentence often lays emphasis on the thought or notion, so it is based on the thought pivot.,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，
26、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 he reached the temple, he looked southwards and saw on the other side of the lake the Mount of a Thousand Buddha. There were temples and monasteries, some high and some low, scattered among the greyed pines and green cypresses: the red were as re
27、d as fire, the white as white as snow, the blue as blue as indigo and the green as green as emerald, while here and there were a few red maples. It looked like a big painting by Zhao Qianli, the Song-dynasty painter, only made into a screen a dozen miles long.(from The Travels of Lao Can, tr. By Yan
28、g Hsienyi and Gladys Yang, Panda Books, 1983, p24-25),2. You dont grow the grain you eat and you dont make the clothes you wear.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。,R,5. Static vs. Dynamic,English tends to use less verbs than Chinese. In a simple English sentence or in an English clause, only one verb is use
29、d as the predicate of the sentence or clause. In a Chinese sentence, a number of verbs can be used as its predicate at the same time.so we may say that the English is “static”. while the Chinese is rather “dynamic”,1. A mastery of Chinese and English is essential for E-C or C-E translation.做英汉/汉英翻译必
30、须掌握好汉语与英语。 2. Engineering design is a decision-making process used for the development of engineering for which there is a human need.工程设计是为发展人类所需工程而作决定的过程。,3. A few steps will bring you to the laboratory building.再走几步就到实验大楼了。,4. Laser is one of the most sensational developments in recent years, bec
31、ause of its applicability to many fields of science and its adaptability to practical uses. 激光可以应用于许多科学领域，又适用于各种实际用途，因此成了近年来轰动一时的科学成就之一。,6. Sentence order,(1) inversion (2) attributives (3) adverbials (4) negation,(1)Inverted sentence英语的倒装句，用汉语的正常“主谓”结构e.g. Feminist fell that it is an invasion of th
32、eir privacy to be obliged to indicate via the title “Mrs.” or “Miss” whether or not they are married.女权运动者们认为，必须用“太太”或“小姐”的称呼来表明她们已婚或未婚，这种做法是对她们私事的干涉。e.g. How beautiful the hills look with the clouds behind them! 衬着后面的云彩，这些山看起来多美呀！,(2)Attribute 定语的位置 单词作定语 e.g. something important 重要的事情the ancient C
33、hinese printing technique中国古代的印刷术短语作定语 e.g. a candidate with little chance of success一个当选希望极微的候选人,（3）Adverbial 英语的状语一般在被修饰的谓语动词之后，译成汉语后一般在谓语动词之前，强调时，放在主语之前单词作状语Modern science and technology are developing rapidly.现代科技正在迅速发展。Hes running fast enough.他跑得够快的了。,短语作状语He was born in Furth on May 27,1923.他是
34、1923年5月27日在菲尔特出生的。Tom left the shop without a word.汤姆一声不吭地离开了商店。,（4）Negative word not英语句子的部分否定有否定转移现象，译成汉语的否定时形式上要调整。 She did not marry you because you were a big shot. He is not absent because he is ill. I have not come to you for money. I dont think you have paid for it yet. We dont believe that h
35、e will agree with you.,IV. Difference of mode of thinking,Abstraction vs concretization Inanimate vs Animate (Impersonal vs Personal ) Passive vs active,1 Abstraction Vs concretization,for what can be prettier than an image of Love on his knees before Beauty ? 痴情公子向美貌佳人跪下求婚，还不是一副最赏心悦目的画儿吗？,5.4.2 Ina
36、nimate vs Animate (Impersonal vs Personal ) （英语的无灵主语化为汉语的有生命主语),有灵（animate verbs)动词中，汉语表人名词作主语，英语既可用表人的名词，也可用表物的名词。 e.g. 董事长凭它丰富的经验一眼就看出问题的所在。 The President at once found out by his rich experience what is wrong with the matter. The rich experience of the President told him at once what is wrong wit
37、h the matter.,There is a touch of rough poetry about him.他这人还有那么点诗意呢。 The reward for his work was the discovery of many fantastically beautiful scenes. Famous mountains in various places would find him coming back for revisits during different seasons. 他（徐霞客） 发现了许多奇山秀景；他常常选择不同的时间和季节多次重游各地名山,3. Passive and active,This dialect is known by every linguist in this room. 这间屋子里的每个语言学家都懂得这种方言。,
