英语翻译
英语翻译
各个民族由于宗教信仰,政治制度以及人文历史等方面的不同,造成语言表达上的“真空”地带,这就是文化空缺现象.
例如,在中国有一个家喻户晓的谚语：一个和尚挑水吃,两个和尚抬水吃,三个和尚没水吃,要形神俱备地把这个谚语译成英语并非那么容易.因为中国是一个以信仰佛教为主的国家,佛教对中国人的影响根深蒂固,而英国和其它西方国家是基督教国家,他们对“和尚”这个概念比较陌生,有关三个和尚的典故更是知之甚少.在翻译时,如果只重传意,可套用英语中县城的成语：One boy's a boy；two boys are half a boy；three boys are no boy,或者Too many cooks spoil the broth.如果重形式,则可运用直译加解释：One monk,two buckets; two monks,one bucke; three monks,no bucked,no water——more hands,less work.套译,表达简练,意思清楚.但将喻体“和尚”改为“boy”和“cook” ,且丢掉了几个关键字眼,如“抬水” ,“吃水”等.植入了西方文化：直译,形式较近原文,但传意效果可能稍逊,且译文有点拖拉.如何取舍,则见仁见智.如目的是想尽可能多地把中国文化介绍给西方读者,是以想多了解中国文化的西方读者为对象的,宜采用直译加注的方法.如目的是为了取悦于译文读者,是为一般的西方读者翻译的,宜采用套译.
由于存在着文化空缺,因而有了语言表达上的千差万别.《语言与文化》一书中举了一个生动的例子.一个中国人形容游泳池里人太多,水太脏,会说“简直像芝麻酱煮饺子” ；外国人既没有吃过芝麻酱也没有见过饺子,就丝毫不觉得这个比喻幽默.西方人形容人多拥挤,说的是“It was packed like sardines”（塞得像沙丁鱼罐头）；而没有见过沙丁鱼罐头的中国人也不一定能欣赏其妙处.这正是王佐良所指出的“翻译里最大的困难”——一种文化里不言而喻的东西,在另外一种文化里却要费很大力气加以解释.至于像中国文化里的农历七届,天干地支,阴阳八卦等等,在翻译过程中若不加以详细的解释,恐怕就更难以理解.
because different nations have different religious faith, political system, art history and so on, so they have "Vacuum Zone". we call this Culture vacancy phenomenon.for example, here in China, we have a well-known proverb. it goes like this: One boy is a boy, two boys half a boy, three boys no boys. it is really not that easy to express it in a vivid way, for china is a nation that believes in Buddhism. Buddhism influences chinese people deeply. while England and other western countriesbelieve in Christianism, so they are unfamiliar with the word "monk", and they also have no idea about the allusion of monks. when we do the translation, if we only pay attention to the meaning, we can use the existed phrase One boy's a boy；two boys are half a boy；three boys are no boy,or Too many cooks spoil the broth. if we pay attention to the form, we can translate it as this One monk, two buckets; two monks, one bucke; three monks, no bucked, no water——more hands,less work.Equivalent translation can express something in a short way, and we can understand easily. if we use "boy" or "cook " to take place of the vehicle "monk", we will lose some key words, such as "to bring water" and "to drink water", and in such way, we put some western culture into translation.word-for-word translation, the form is close to original text, but maybe it can not express the meaning clearly, and the translated text can be tediously long. as to how the choose the way to translate, different people have different ideas. if we want to introduce our chinese culture to westerners who want to know more about china, and we can choose word-for-word translation added some description. if our aim is to please ordinary wenterners, we had better adopt Equivalent translation.for there is Culture vacancy phenomenon, we can see various expressions in different languages. in the book Language and Culture, there is a vivid example. if there are so many people in a swimming pool, and the water is very dirty, a chinese may describe it as to cook the dumplings in sesame paste. but as a foreigner, he has no idea of sesame paste and dumplings, so he will not feel funny at such description. if a foreigner want to describe a crowded scene, he will say “It was packed like sardines". and for our chinese, if we do not know sardine, we can not appreciate it either. this is called "the biggest challenge in translation" by Wang Zuoliang.something we can understand easily without any explanation in a culture, but in another culture, we will try our best to explain. as to the the traditional Chinese calendar, Chinese era, and Eight Diagrams , if we do not add some detailed explanation, it is really hard for foreigners to understand.(终于翻译完了,希望能帮到你.o(∩_∩)o )