《英汉互译》慕课Unit 1课件
Unit 1 A General Introduction to Translation 翻译概述
Chapter 1 History, Function and Definition of Translation
翻译的历史、功能和定义
1. History of Translation 翻译的历史
Translational activities of human beings have been around for thousands of years, and it’s hard to tell the exact time when translation first appeared. Yet it can be said that translation has existed since people began to use different languages to communicate with one another.
The earliest written record of translation in the west, however, is the translation of Odyssey from Greek into Latin by the liberated Greek slave Livius Andronicus in about 240 B.C.
And in China the record of translation dates back to the Zhou Dynasty (1066 B.C. -- 256 B.C.) according to The Book of Rites (《礼记》) when translators were called Ji in the east, Xiang in the south, Didi in the west, and Yi in the north
西方最早的有史料记载的是公元前240年的安德罗尼柯的第一部译作荷马史诗《奥德赛》，中国最早的翻译活动记录出现在《礼记·王制》中：“五方之民，言语不通，嗜欲不同。达其志，通其欲，东方曰寄，南方曰象，西方曰狄鞮，北方曰译。”
According to the famous Chinese scholar Guo Moruo, the history of translation in China before 1949 can be divided into three important stages:
郭沫若把1949年之前的中国翻译历史分为三个重要阶段：
1.The first stage is the introduction of Buddhist scriptures from India to China, starting from the East Han Period and lasting till the Song Dynasty, when clashes of different religious thoughts finally reached a compromise.
第一阶段是东汉至宋的佛经翻译
2.The second stage is the translation of Bible, along with the introduction of western philosophical thoughts and natural sciences, etc., to China, starting from the end of the Ming Dynasty and lasting till the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.
第二阶段是明末至清的圣经汉译，及西方哲学和自然科学的翻译。
3. The third stage is the introduction of western literary works to China, starting from the Opium War and lasting till the end of the Qing Dynasty, which ushered in the great era of literary translation.
第三阶段是战争至清末的西方文学作品的翻译，开启了伟大的文学翻译时代。
2. Functions of Translation 翻译的功能
1.翻译帮助人们更好地沟通。
First of all, translation helps people better communicate with one another. Since people in the world speak different languages, there is no denying that we need translation to help us exchange our thoughts.
2.翻译促进不同民族文化和文明的发展。季羡林曾说：“只要语言文字不同，不管是在一个国家或民族内，还是在众多的国家或民族间，翻译都是必要的。否则思想就无法沟通，文化就难以交流，人类社会也就难以前进。”
Secondly, which is more important, translation facilitates the development of culture and civilization of all nations, as the great Chinese scholar Ji Xianlin once remarked, “Wherever there are differences in speeches and languages, either within one nation or among numerous nations, translation is quite nec
essary. Otherwise, thoughts cannot be exchanged, culture cannot be communicated and the human society will not be able to make progress.”
3.翻译促进全球经济发展。
Thirdly,translation promotes global economic development. With the world becoming a global village, the role of translation has become increasingly important. Translation has greatly enhanced business transactions and boosted economy.
4. 翻译丰富了译入语的思想和表达形式。
Last but not the least, translation enriches the ideas and expressions of the target language. Thanks to translation, we now enjoy a colorful Chinese language. For example, the translation of Buddhist scriptures introduced numerous words into Chinese: transliterated words（音译词）such as “佛”“魔”“僧”“禅”“塔”“刹那”“阎罗”“菩萨”“涅槃”“罗汉”“菩提”“舍利”, etc., or coinages (新词)like “平等”“吉祥”“烦恼”“信心”“法宝”“知识”“世界”“过去”“现在”“未来”，etc. Another example is the book of western science translated from Greek into Chinese 《几何原本》by Xu Guangqi and the Italian priest Matteo Ricci（徐光启和利玛窦）, which created a great number of maths terms such as点、线、面、直角、锐角、钝角、垂线、对角线、曲线、曲面、立方体、体积、比例, etc. It greatly broadened the knowled
ge scope of Chinese people back then.
3. Definition of Translation 翻译的定义
Finally, we will discuss the definition of translation. Actually, a great number of scholars have put forward various definitions of translation.
A well-known definition was brought forth by the famous American linguist and translator Eugene Nida,
Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.
尤金·奈达：所谓翻译，是指从语义到文体在译语中用最切近而又最自然的对等语再现原语的信息。（《奈达论翻译》，谭载喜编译，1984）
Nida’s definition is based on his rich experience in Bible translation, yet this definition still remains on the level of language itself. With the Culture Turn in the 1980s, our understanding of translation has been significantly deepened. More and more scholars are studying translational activities from diverse aspects, such as the style and genre of the original text, the social and cultural background of translation, the translator’s ideology, the purpose of translation, the expectation of the readers, the patr
onage of translation, to name just a few.
自二十世纪八十年代的文化转向以来，人们对翻译的认识更为深入。学者们从不同角度研究翻译：原文的风格和体裁、翻译的社会文化语境、译者的意识形态、翻译的目的、读者的期待、翻译的赞助人等等。
As the translation theorist André Lefevere points out,
Translation is the most obviously recognizable type of rewriting, and it is potentially the most influential because it is able to project the image of an author and/ or a (series of) work(s) in
another culture, lifting that author and / or those works beyond the boundaries of their culture of origin.
Chapter 2 Differences between English and Chinese (Part 1)
英汉语差异比较（上）
In this lesson we will discuss three contrasts between English and Chinese:
①synthetic language vs. analytic language;
②hypotaxis vs. parataxis;
③static language vs. dynamic language
1. Synthetic Language vs. Analytic Language 综合语与分析语
The first contrast is tha t English is a synthetic language whereas Chinese is an analytic language. The difference between the two is that synthetic languages compose (synthesize) multiple concepts into each word, while analytic languages break up (analyze) concepts into separate words.
综合语将多种概念组合（或综合）在单个单词中，而分析语将概念分散（分析）到不同的单词中去。
English is characterized by frequent and systematic use of inflected forms to express grammatical relationships, and as    a result, it has ample variations in terms of tense, aspect, number and case，although according to linguists, modern English has become more analytic than it used to be.
Chinese is an analytic language, namely, a language that mainly conveys relationships between words in sentences by way of helper words, that is, particles, prepositions, etc., and word order, as opposed to using inflections.
综合语的特征是运用形态变化来表达语法关系，英语有词缀、时态、语法变化等；分析语的特征是不用形态变化而用词序及虚词来表达语法关系。
< The high-altitude plane was and still is a remarkable bird.
该高空飞机过去是、现在仍然是一种了不起的飞机。
2. Hypotaxis vs. Parataxis 形合与意合
The second contrast is hypotaxis and parataxis.Hypotaxis is the grammatical arrangement of functionally similar but "unequal" constructs, i.e., certain constructs have more importance than others inside a sentence. Parataxis favors short, simple sentences, with the use of coordinating rather than subordinating conjunctions. English features hypotaxis whereas Chinese features parataxis. To put it simple, we can use an analogy to show the difference between the two. English is like a tree whose branches are all intertwined, whereas Chinese is like a bamboo whose stems build upon one another.
< The boy, who was crying as if his heart would break, said, when I spoke to him, that he was hungry because he had had no food for two days.
男孩哭得很伤心。我问他怎么啦，他说他太饿了，已经两天没吃东西了。
In the Chinese translation, the sentence spreads out part by part gradually just like a bamboo.
已经两天没吃东西了。
However, the English sentence has a more complex structure.
The boy who was crying as if his heart would break
said when I spoke to him
that he was hungry because he had had no food for two days
The trunk of the tree, that is, the main clause of the sentence, is “The boy said that he was hungry”. And there are quite a few clauses in this sentence：“who was crying” is an attributive clause to modify “the boy”, and “as if his heart would break”is an adverbial clause to modify the verb “cry”, which indicates the manner. Moreover, “when I spoke to him”is an adverbial clause to modify the verb “said”, which indicates the time. In addition, “because he had had no food for two days”is an adverbial clause to show the reason for “hungry”.
< 人有脸，树有皮。
1）People have faces and trees have barks.
2）The face is as important to a man as the bark to a tree.
3. Static language vs. Dynamic language 静态与动态
The third contrast is static language versus dynamic language. Comparatively speaking, English is mo
re static than Chinese. That is to say, English tends to employ more nouns, adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, etc., than Chinese, while Chinese tends to use more verbs than English. You may easily find the difference in public signs.
< 油漆未干！
1) The paint hasn’t dried! (X)
2) Wet paint!（√）
< 一看见他，我就紧张.
1) As soon as I saw him, I got nervous.
unequal2) The very sight of him makes me nervous.
< Both the Americans and the Russians are anxious to avoid conflict in South Asia.
美国人和俄罗斯人都迫切希望避免在南亚发生冲突。
In English, there are quite a few nouns which indicate actions, such as “glance”, “glimpse”, “look”, “me
ntion”,etc.; and adjectives such as “able”, “afraid”, “angry”, “anxious”, “aware”, “capable”, “good”, etc. Therefore, when translated into Chinese, they may be replaced by verbs to show the corresponding actions.
Chapter 3 Differences between English and Chinese (Part 2)
英汉语差异比较（下）
In this lesson, we will continue to talk about the differences between English and Chinese. We will discuss another three contrasts between the two languages：
④impersonal subject vs. personal subject
⑤passive voice vs. active voice
⑥complicated sentences vs. simple sentences
4. Impersonal Subject versus Personal Subject
物称与人称
The fourth contrast is impersonal subject versus personal subject. English tends to employ non-animate subjects whereas Chinese tends to use human beings as the subject of a sentence. This difference derives from the different philosophical thoughts of the west and China. Western philosophy separates human beings from the objective universe, while Chinese philosophy is inclined to integrate human beings into the universe.
英语常选择不能施行动作或无生命事物的词语作主语。相对而言，汉语一般则更习惯于人称化的表达。
e g. An idea suddenly struck me.
我突然想到一个好主意。
< A great elation overcame him.
他欣喜若狂。
<他进门时带进一缕雪茄烟雾。
A wave of cigar smoke accompanied him in.
< 翠翠在风日里长养着，故把皮肤变得黑黑的，触目为青山绿水，故眸子清明如水晶。（《边城》，沈从文）
Wind and sun have tanned the growing girl’s skin, her eyes resting on green hills are as clear as crystal. （Border Town, translated by Gladys Yang）
5. Passive Voice vs. Active Voice
主动与被动
The fifth contrast is passive voice versus active voice.English tends to use more passive voice than Chinese. Passive voice is frequently used in informative texts rather than imaginative writing, notably in objective, non-personal scientific articles and news items. This feature is actually closely related to the impersonal subject of English sentences since the passive voice allows one to express ideas without attributing them to a specific individual source.
英语比汉语更倾向使用被动语态，信息型文本（尤指客观的不带个人情感的科学文献和新闻报道）比想象写作更频繁运用被动语态。该特点与英语的物称主语有关，因为运用被动语态无需表明特定的出处。
< Your suggestion has been duly noted.
你的建议已经得到及时关注。
In the English sentence, passive voice is used to highlight the action, rather than the agent of action. Actually it is unnecessary here to show who took this action, and what matters more is what has happened.
< It is universally acknowledged that a single man of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.(Pride and Prejudice)
凡是有钱的单身汉，总要娶位太太，这已经成了一条举世公认的真理。（《傲慢与偏见》）6. Complicated Sentences vs. Simple Sentences
繁复与简单
The sixth contrast is complicated sentences versus simple sentences. As we have already mentioned, English features hypotaxis whereas Chinese features parataxis, which results in the syntactic difference between English and Chinese—English tends to have long and complicated sentences while Chinese tends to have short and simple
ones.
英语重形合以及英语各种替代词与关系词的广泛运用，导致英语较多出现“多枝共干”式长句，复合句。而汉语正好相反，多用短句，简单句。
< *As we lived near the road, we often had the traveler or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry wine, for which we had great reputation, and I confess, with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them to find fault with it. (The Vicar of Wakefield)
*①我们就住在路边，过路人或外乡人常到我们家，尝尝我们家酿的酸果酒。②这种酒很有名气，我敢说，尝过的人，从没有挑剔过。③我这话像历史学家的话一样靠得住。（《威克菲尔德牧师传》）
The original English sentence is a compound sentence combined by the coordinate conjunction “and”in the middle. Moreover, this sentence also contains three subordinate sentences, led by subordinate conjunctions “as”(which shows the reason), “which”(which modifies “gooseberry wine”), “that” (which shows the object of the verb “confess”). Moreover, “with the veracity of an historian” is a parenthesis (插入语) to further illustrate the manner of the action “confess”.
In the Chinese version, the original English sentence is separated into three short sentences. In the Chinese sentence, no conjunctions are employed, which manifests the parataxis feature of Chinese. “As we lived near the road” is rendered into “我们就住在路边”(rather than “因为我们就住在路边”), whic
h implies the reason. The attributive clause “for which we had great reputation” has been turned into a separate sentence “这种酒很有名气”. “and I confess…that I never knew one of them to find fault with it.” has been put together in the Chinese sentence “我敢说，尝过的人，从没有挑剔过”. The parenthesis “with the veracity of an historian” is converted to a separate sentence “我这话像历史学家的话一样靠得住”. The Chinese sentences are much simpler than the original English sentence.

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