翻译的标准          The criteria(standard)of translation

信达雅              Fidelity(faithfulness)  Fluency(expressiveness)  Elegance(flair)

透彻的理解          have a thorough understanding

准确的表达          precise(accurate) expression

意译                free (liberal) translation

直译                literal translation

死译                word-for-word translation

活译                dynamic equivalence translation

重译                repetition

增译                (contextual) amplification

减译                omission

词类转移            conversion

词序调整            inversion

分译                division

正说反译/反说正译   negation

语态变换            the change of the voice

归化/异化           Foreignizing/ Alienation; Domesticating/ Adaptation             

对等                equivalence

形式对等            formal correspondence

动态（灵活）对等    dynamic equivalence

意义对等            equivalence in terms of meaning

风格对等            equivalence in terms of style

意合                Parataxis

形合                Hypotaxis

欠额翻译（过载翻译）under translation  (overloaded translation)

校核                rectification

释义                paraphrase

翻译学              translatology

翻译科学            science of translating

神似                be alike in spirit (be an excellent likeness)

化镜                sublimity (perfection)

已入化境            reach(attain) perfection

和谐                harmonious

和谐一致            in perfect harmony

不仅形似而且神似    be alike not only in appearance(form) but also in spirit

宁信而不雅          It is better to be faithful than to be elegant

宁顺而不信，宁信而不顺

It is better to have a smooth version than a faithful one

Rather be faithful (in thought) than smooth (in language)

保持原文的丰姿      keep the full flavor of the original work

忠实通顺            Faithful(ness) and smooth(ness)  (clear and coherent)

忠实的译文          translation true to the original

忠实于原文          true(faithful) to the original

句子不通            the sentence doesn’t read smoothly

他的翻译通顺易懂    his interpretation is coherent and intelligible

（泰特勒Tytler提出的）翻译三原则：1， 译文应完整地再现原文的思想内容

                That the translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work

2， 译文的风格，笔调应与原文的性质相同

    That the style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original

3， 译文应象原文一样自然流畅

    That the translation should have all the ease of the original composition

Generally speaking, a qualified translator should have

                 1, a good command of the source language                      

                 2, a good command of the target language

                 3, a wide range and scope of knowledge

                 4, a high political consciousness

                 5, a necessary knowledge of basic techniques (skills) used in translation

 

 

翻译的几个一般性问题及其常用英文表述

 

    本材料选自不同翻译论著，全是关于翻译的几个一般性问题的常用英文表述方法，语言较为通俗易懂，在讨论翻译时也较为常用，涉及下面六条内容：

    1．何谓翻译

    2．外语学习的目的和翻译的重要性

    3．译者的必备条件

    4．翻译标准

    5．直译和意译

    6．我国翻译史简介

要说明的是，英文材料的段落后有(1)，(2)，(3)，(4)或(5)等编号时，这编号指本章后References and Further Reading项下的书目编号，说明此编号前所引引文的出处。

Some Views on Translation in General

1.                                       1. What Translation Is

Translation is an art, a bilingual art. Like painting, transla­tion enables us to reproduce the fine thought of somebody, not in colors, but in words, in words of a different language. It is no easy job, not so easy as it is supposed. Do not think that any one who knows a foreign language, say English, can invariably trans­late and translate well. No, not at all. Many can speak and write English well, but they cannot translate. And this difficulty is greatly multiplied by the wide difference in vocabulary and sentence construction between the Oriental and Occidental lan­guages.

Translation is difficult to be mastered. Many experienced translators complain that they have had insurmountable difficul­ties in their work. Indeed, few people can translate a book with­out more or less making mistakes. Very few translated works can be recommended and taken as models. Strange to say, it is rather easy for one to translate an article from Chinese into English than to translate an article from English into Chinese, if one’s English is good enough to do translation work.

As we know, translation is a representation or recreation in one language of what is written or said in another language. Strictly speaking, translation is a kind of science because it has a whole set of rules governing it and certain objective laws to go by in the process of translating just as other sciences do. From an artist point of view, translation is also an art, a bilingual art, for in translation, certain skills and technique are needed in order to attain clearness of style, and fluency in language.

English and Chinese are two entirely different languages. Each has an individual and distinct system. On the one hand, there are some similarities between the two languages, as in the word order of subject and predicate and that of transitive verb and object. On the other hand, there are lots of dissimilarities be­tween them both in morphology and in syntax. Because of this, we have to be familiar with both languages, especially with the wide difference in vocabulary, grammatical relations and sentence construction between these two languages.

Translation, like painting, enables us to reproduce the fine thought of an author, not in colors, but in words of a different language. A translator must be quite at home in the two lan­guages concerned and quite familiar with their characteristics, similarities and differences. He must have a thorough under­standing of the original, its artistic features and the historical sit­uation in which it was written. At times even a word or phrase takes much time to establish in translation. Yan Eu once said: “It often takes as long as ten days or even a full month to estab­lish a term. “ This is the common experience all veteran transla­tors have shared. So translation requires patience and skillful treatment and various sorts of techniques...

Whoever has a mastery of the art of translation can certainly produce fine translations. Those who know nothing about trans­lation theory and techniques will never be able to turn out any satisfactory work. It is because translation is not only a science with its own peculiar laws and methods but also an art of repre­sentation and recreation.

In his talk on literary translation published in 1954 Guo Moruo pointed out, “Translation is creative work. Good transla­tion is as good as writing and may be even better than it. Some­times translation is more difficult than writing. A writer must have experience in life, but a translator has to experience what the writer has experienced. At the same time, a translator must not only be proficient in his mother tongue but also have a very good foundation in a foreign language. Therefore, translation is not easier than writing at all. “His analysis is really penetrating!

As you all know, translation is an art, not a science. In sci­ence theories or general principles play a very important role. Not so in art. I’m not saying that they don’t count in art. But I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that translation is largely a matter of practice.

2.                                       2. Aim of Foreign Language Study and the Importance of Trans­lation

What is the object of studying foreign languages? ... A for­eign language is now to be studied, not to serve the foreign impe­rialist, but to serve our own people, not for the sake of foreign­ers, but for the benefit of ourselves. To illustrate this, let us quote the following:

“Learning a foreign language is not easy but it is worth­while. It makes you able to read foreign scientific and technical literature, and that might be useful. It makes you able to read some of the world’s best writers in their own languages and this is a great pleasure. But the most important thing is that it gives you a better understanding of your own language.”

“Engels who knew a number of foreign languages, including Russian, thought that you could know your own language only if you compared it with other languages.

“N. K. Krupskaya says that it is wrong to separate the study of foreign languages from the study of one’s own language, and that the knowledge of foreign languages makes one’s own lan­guage more flexible and expressive. Speaking of Lenin who knew five foreign languages and could read dictionaries hour after hour just for ‘rest”, she adds: ‘Those who study the language of Lenin know how rich, vivid and expressive Lenin’s language was.”

Thus the study of a foreign language is connected with that of one’s own. And translation is the very course for foreign lan­guage students to meet this end.

Translation is of value to the foreign language learner only when he has in the main mastered the mechanisms of the source language as well as those of the target language. A translator or an interpreter can hardly meet with success if he is unable to compare the ways of thinking and the modes of expression of the two languages concerned...

So far as its function is concerned, translation undoubtedly proves a valuable aid to the foreign language learner, because it gives him a better understanding of the two languages in ques­tion. One knows one’s own language better only if he compares it with other languages. The knowledge of foreign languages can make one’s own language more flexible and expressive. Needless to say, actual practice in translation helps a translator or an inter­preter brush up his foreign language used as either the source language or the target language.

Now, . .. the people of all nationalities throughout the coun­try are determined to raise the scientific and cultural level of the entire Chinese nation. We must strengthen scientific and techni­cal cooperation and academic exchanges with other countries. Ob­viously, though we have our own inventions in science and tech­nology, we still need to learn from other countries. And there is nothing queer about international academic exchanges. Joseph Needham stated positively: “Certain it is that no people or group of peoples has had a monopoly in contributing to the develop­ment of science. Their achievements should be mutually recog­nized and freely celebrated with the joined hands of universal brotherhood.”

Karl Marx was fond of saying: “A foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life.” Now, we Chinese people, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, are setting out on a new Long March to achieve the general task for new period. In order to raise the scientific and cultural level of the Chinese na­tion and to strengthen scientific and technical cooperation and a­cademic exchanges with other countries, we are in need of not on­ly one but, many foreign languages. Experience over years has proved that to acquire a mastery of a foreign language is not as easy as falling off a log. Nor would it be practical for each of us to pick up one or two foreign languages in brief space of time. Hence a great need for translation. The English language has spread all over the globe since 1850. It scores as being the prima­ry medium for twentieth century science and technology, too. It stands to reason, therefore, that we are to occupy ourselves with translation from English into Chinese and vice versa. Everything is for socialist modernization. Translation, as it ought to be, is no exception.

3. Prerequisites for a Translator

In a nutshell, in order to achieve genuine (not feigned) com­petence in translation, we in China must eliminate the pernicious-­influence of the “doctrine of immediate effect” peddled by Lin Biao and the “gang of four”. We must bear in mind that translation, too, means honest, solid knowledge, allowing not an iota of false­hood, and that genuine knowledge comes from practice. We must, in the final analysis, follow conscientiously the instructions given by our respected and beloved Premier Zhou Enlai — to strengthen our “basic training” in the three essential aspects: the enhancement of our political consciousness, the betterment of our command of the relevant languages, and the broadening of the range and scope of our general knowledge.

As translation is a bilingual art, we have to know both lan­guages, if we are going to do translation work with competence. We have to know the language to be translated from and the lan­guage to be translated into. In the case with the student in the English Department both Chinese and English must be mastered. Many books are said to be poorly translated because some Eng­lish terms, idioms, slang or fictions in them are misunderstood or misinterpreted. Other books are equally poor because they are not well expressed in Chinese. Most of the translators are poor in Chinese, so they cannot do justice in expression to their translat­ed works, which would contain sentences in Chinese characters but in English construction, quite contrary to good usage of the Chinese language.

Besides a good knowledge of the two languages, acquain­tance with the subject matter covered in the book or article is al­so an indispensable factor in doing translation work well. Sup­pose you are going to translate a textbook on physics, you have to know something more about the science than the book deals with, otherwise you will run the risk of making mistakes in the subject matter imperceptibly. Just imagine how much harm your work will do the readers, who usually take for granted that the book is one hundred percent correct!

To sum up, as a good translator, one has to know well the foreign language, the Chinese language, and the subject matte

4. Criteria for Translation

Speaking of translation, we tend to think of Yan Fu who ad­vocated for the first time the three words as translation criteria, namely, “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. “ Yan Fu’s “faithfulness” means the full and complete conveying or trans­mission of the original content or thought. His “expressiveness” demands that the version must be clear and flowing without any grammatical mistakes or confused logic and sense. So the first two words as translation criteria are acceptable. But his “elegance” is unadoptable because it refers to the use of classical Chinese before the Han Dynasty. Yan Fu held that only the lan­guage before the Han Dynasty could be considered elegant and old vocabulary, old structure of Chinese must be used in order to represent the original fully and adequately. Therefore he can be said to object to the use of the vernacular or popular language of the people. As a matter of fact, the vernacular began to be in fashion when Yan Fu lived. Facts prove the vernacular or the popular language of the people can be used to translate any for­eign language in the world. But Yan Fu opposed the application of the vernacular in translation, that is why many people criticized his “elegance. “ Of course Yan Fu’s explanation of the translation criteria is limited by the age he lived in. Therefore we must look at his criteria with a critical eye.

Furthermore, Yan Fu’s “elegance” can only be regarded as one style. Its opposite is the style of “boldness and unconstraint­edness. “ “Elegance” and “boldness” constitute two different styles. Of course there are many other styles in translation. So “elegance” as an overall translation principle may give rise to di­verse interpretations.

Mr. Lu Xun, the greatest modern Chinese writer proposed “faithfulness” and “smoothness” as translation standards and at­tached importance to the preservation of the original flavor. But he once said, “Rather be faithful (in thought) than smooth (in language).” This was only put forward in opposition to Zhao Jingshen’s saying: “It’s better to have a smooth version than a faithful one”. And this is, of course, understandable.

Criteria for translation constitute the yardstick for measur­ing a piece of translated work. The common criteria applied in translation can be summarized in the following two words: faith­fulness and smoothness.

1) “Faithfulness” first refers to the content of the original work. The translator must bring out the original meaning both comprehensively and accurately without any distortion or casual addition or deletion of the original thought.

Faithfulness also includes the keeping of the original style, as Mr. Lu Xun put it, “keep the full flavor of the original work.” Sometimes, even the original emotions or feelings such as anger or distress, satire or irony, joy or happiness should not pass unnoticed.

2) “Smoothness” requires that version must be clear and dis­tinct, flowing and easy to read without signs of the mechanical word-for-word translation, of obscure and crabbed language, of grammatical mistakes, confused structure and turbid logic. By smoothness we mean that we should make the language forceful, clear and idiomatic. Different languages have different ways of expression. The translator must try to follow the custom and good usage of the languages used and not stick to the mode of ex­pression of the original.

Sometimes there are contradictions between faithfulness and smoothness, but the translator must try his best to arrive at the unity of the contradictions. The most important thing is, he must first have a thorough understanding of the authors’ ideas and feelings expressed in the original and put them into a different language idiomatically according to some of the fundamental rules and methods of translation. Only thus can he be said to be responsible both to the author and the readers.

In the last decade of the 18th century, Alexander Fraser Tytler, professor of history at Edinburgh University, laid down three fundamentals by which a translation should be made or judged. They were (1) a translation should give a complete tran­script of the ideas of the original work; (2) the style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original, and (3) a translation should have all the ease of original composi­tion. In his book Essay on the Principles of Translation, Tytler il­lustrated those fundamentals with a wealth of examples which put his book in a class by itself...

In his book Les belles infideles, Georges Mounin says that the translation is a pane of glass through which we look at the work of art. He is thinking of Gogol’s definition of the perfect translator as one who becomes a pane of glass which is so trans­parent that the reader does not notice that there is any glass. Ob­viously, it is too difficult to reach such an ideal: even the clearest glass has an index of refraction. A “clear glass” translation, how­ever, can always be effected as it has been done through cen­turies. And the indispensable requisite is that the version must be both faithful to the original work and smooth in the target lan­guage.

... then it is clear that we shall come to a satisfactory con­clusion: unity of contradictions, i.e. a translated work both faith­ful and smooth.

Before 1949 we got from the west almost nothing about the theories on translation except the principles of A. F. Tytler, which were, however, of little help to us. Recently we have learned much from A. B. Feedorov, whose “principles of transla­tion” have, indeed, supplied us a sound system of theory on trans­lation. Adequate translation, as suggested by the Soviet scholar, is, in fact, a translation both faithful and smooth.

5. Literal Translation and Liberal Translation

Practically there are two kinds of translation. One is literal translation and the other is free translation. In fact, the two methods are both necessary. Sometimes you may use the method of literal translation, sometimes that of free translation, and sometimes both of them must be employed together.

Literal translation refers to an adequate representation of the original. When the original coincides or almost tallies with the Chinese language in the sequence of vocabulary, in grammati­cal structure and rhetorical device, literal translation must be used...

Free translation is also called liberal translation, which does not adhere strictly to the form or word order of the original. When there exist dissimilarities or great differences between English and Chinese in the sequence of vocabulary, in grammati­cal structure and artistic devices, free translation should be em­ployed...

We can hardly say which is preferable: literal translation or free translation. Each has its merits and defects. Some people pre­fer literal translation. Mr. Lu Xun represents this class of trans­lators. He said, “Rather to be faithful (in thought) than smooth (in language).” And he did as he said. Others like free transla­tion. Mr. Yan Fu had many classical works thus translated, such as The Origin of Species, The Wealth of Nations. These are good examples of free translation.

6.A Brief Introduction to the History of Translation in China

Translation in China has a long history of about two thou­sand years. During the centuries, quite a number of world-famous translators in China appeared one after another and they made great contributions to China as well as to the world in the devel­opment of translation.

See the following facts:

1. The Eastern Han The Northern and Southern Dynas­ties (25-581)

China invited foreigners or the foreigners came to China by themselves to translate Buddhist Scripture. Among them were An Shih-ko (An-ching) from Persia (now Iran), Indu Dhar­marakcha and Kumarajiva from India.

2. The Sui Dynasty (581—618) — The Tang Dynasty (618— 907): Golden Age of Translation in Ancient China.

Three giants in translating Buddhist Scripture appeared:

1) Xuan Zang (Tang Dynasty) 唐僧

2)  Kumarajiva (Eastern Jin Dynasty) 鸠摩罗什

3)  Paramartha (also called Gunarata) (N. &. S. Dynasties) 真谛 (波罗末他)

3.  The Ming Dynasty (1368—1644)

Xu Guangqi（徐光启）, a Chinese and M. Ricci, (利玛窦) an Italian were co-translators of Euclid’s Elements (or: Euclidis Elemento­rum)

4.  The Qing Dynasty (1644—1911)

There were great translators like Yan Fu and Lin Shu.

Lin Shu:

1)  Camille (or: La Dame aux Camelias)(《巴黎茶花女遗事》)

2)  Uncle Tom’s Cabin（《黑奴吁天录》）

3)    David Copperfield（《块肉余生述》）

……

Yan Fu:

1)  Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays by T. H. Huxley（《天演论》）

2)  An Inquiry Into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations by A. Smith（《原富》）

3)  On Liberty by J. S. Mill（《群己权界论》）

4)   A History of Politics by E. Jenks（《社会通诠》）