山東經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院學(xué)士學(xué)位論文PAGEPAGE11山東經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院學(xué)士學(xué)位論文IntroductionTranslationvirtuallyisthetransformingofthecontentofthoughtdeliveredinonelanguageintoanotherlanguageinanaccurateandintactway.Itismessages’conversionbetweentwodifferentlanguages.English-ChinesetranslationistoturnthecontentexpressedinEnglishorChineseintotheotherone,andtobuildabridgeofcultureandideologybetweenthetwogroupsoflanguages’users.Duringthisprocess,thetranslatorshavetoknowthetwolanguagesandthecultureofthetwocountrieswell,begoodathandletheinternallogicbetweenthetwolanguages,andsucceedtofindthebestbondingpointoftheirexpressingstylesandgrammarcustoms.TherearegreatdifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinese.Andliteraltranslationandliberaltranslationaretwoimportantmethodswecantakewhenweturnonelanguageintotheother.Bothofthesetwowaysoftranslationareindependentwhileaccompanywitheachother.Takingtherightwayoftranslationattheopportunemomentisdifficult,andexpertshavedebatedforalongtimethatwhichwayshouldbetakenintranslationpractice.Insomesituation,thereisnoprobleminhowtotranslate,takethissentenceforexample,“Ilikethismovie.”Itcanbetranslatedinto“我喜歡這個電影.”Itcomesintobeingthesameconsequenceinbothtranslatingways.ButthegreatdifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesegiverisetotwochoiceswhentranslating,andonesentencecanbetranslatedinboththetwoways.Thissituationwouldintroduceaquestion:ifboththetwowaysaresuitable,thenwhichoneshouldbechosen?Weshouldanswerthisquestioninawiderrange.Thereisnovaluablesignificancetotalkaboutliberalorliteraltranslationwithouttheconsiderationofthefactorssuchascontext,register,typeofliterature,thereaders,andsoon.GuZhengkun,aprofessorfromPekingUniversity,hasabrilliantexpositiononliteralandliberaltranslationwhendiscussingaboutliteraturetranslation.Hesaidthatbothwordforwordandfreetranslationhasitsownbeauty,andtranslatorsshouldtranslateliteraturesinthewaywhichismoresuitableaccordingtotheirfunction,estheticsandreadership.Agoodtranslatorshouldbeonewhocankeeptothebeatentrackandrebelagainsttheorthodoxyatthesametime.Scholarsintranslationcircleshaveanendlessdebateonthatofliteraltranslationandliberaltranslation,whichonisbetterinuse.ThedebatehascontinuedforthousandsofyearssincetheEasternHandynasty.Inthisthesis,Itrytotalkaboutthecharacteristicsofliteralandliberaltranslations,andhowtousethemindifferentsituations.ChapterOneTheConceptionofLiberalandLiteralTranslationsLiteraltranslationandliberaltranslationaretwobasictechniquesintranslationpractices,bothofthemareveryimportantinuse.Therearegreatdifferencesintheirconceptions.Ⅰ.TheMeaningofLiteralTranslationLiteraltranslationplaysanimportantroleinEnglish-Chinesetranslationasthemostwidelyusedmethod.Sometimeswecallliteraltranslationas“wordforwordtranslation”,buttheyaredifferent.Literaltranslationmeanstotranslatethetextaccordingtoitstrictlyinordertomakeithappenthatthewordsandsentencesinthetwolanguagescanbecorrespondingonthewhole.Differently,theword-for-wordtranslationisword-based,whichstrivetomakeeverywordoftheversionbeabsolutelyequivalentwiththeoneintheorientaltext.Theword-for-wordtranslationcan’tbeappliedbetweendifferentlanguage-families.AndEnglishandChinesebelongtodifferentlanguage-families(EnglishbelongstoIndo-Europeanfamily,whileChinesebelongstoSino-Tibetanfamily),sowecan’ttranslatestrictlywordforwordinEnglish-Chinesetranslation.Takethesentencebelowforexample:“Manyofhisideasareespeciallyinterestingtomodernyouth.”Ifwetranslateitintheword-for-wordway,itwillbeexpressedas“他的許多思想對當(dāng)代青年特別有趣”.Itisobviouslywrong,andevencannotbetreatedasatranslationstrictly.Thissentenceshouldbetranslatedas“許多當(dāng)代青年對他的某些思想特別感興趣”.Literaltranslationusuallyusedtodosimpleexpressions,anditwillbeveryconvenientinpracticeifwehandlethegrammarofthetwolanguageswellandconveytheideacorrectly.Buttherearealsolimitations.Aversionmadethroughliteraltranslationmaybetediouslongandobscure,orcannotconveytherealmeaningoftheoriginaltextcorrectlysometimes,orevencometotheoppositemeaning.Therewillbeerrorwhenweignorethecircumstanceandthedifferencesbetweenthetwolanguages.Sometimesaversiontranslatedwordforwordisdifficulttounderstand,andthenwecandotheworkbyliberaltranslation.Ⅱ.TheMeaningofLiberalTranslationLiberaltranslationisalsocalledasfreetranslation.Whentranslatinginthisway,wetakethetargetlanguageasourguidance,andexpressthemeaningoftheoriginaltextinthetargetlanguagenormatively.Itvaluesthenaturalandsmoothverymuch,andmaynotretainthestructureandfigureofspeechintheoriginaltext.ZhangPeiji,aChinesescholar,saidthateverynationhasitsownwords,syntacticstructure,andexpressions.Sometimestheideologicalcontentoftheoriginaltextisincontradictionwiththeexpressionofthetranslation,andthentheliberaltranslationwillbebetterthanliteraltranslation.Freetranslationdoesn’tequaltorandomtranslation,itshouldcorrectlyconveythecontents.Freetranslationcanbeusedinthetranslationofproverbsandallusions,wittysayings,andsomespecialexpressions.Forexample,“HemethisWaterloo”shouldbetranslatedas“他吃了大敗仗”.ChapterTwoTheCharacteristicsandAdvantagesofLiteralandLiberalTranslationsEitherliteralorliberaltranslationhasitsownbeautyandcharacter.Nidausedsaid“Sourcetextalsodiffersgreatlyintheexcellenceofstyle.Generally,anexcellentstylealsomeansgreaterproblemfortranslationindoingjusticetotheassociativemeanings”.Literaltranslationcankeeptheoriginalstyle,andliberaltranslationcanmakesomephrasesmoreunderstandabletothetargettextreaders.Ⅰ.TheAdvantagesofLiteralTranslationLiteraltranslationhasmanyadvantages.Firstly,literaltranslationisloyaltotheoriginaltextasmuchaspossible,whichcanavoidultravires,andmakethereadersunderstanditbetter.Taketheproverb“astimidasahare”asanexample,mostofthepeopletranslateitas“膽小如鼠”,whichisaderogatoryterminChinese.ButinEnglish,boththewords“timid”and“hare”arenotsoderogatoryas“coward”.Wecantranslateitinto“羞怯如兔”,whichisbetterthan“膽小如兔”,andcangivethereadersmorespacefortheirownimagination.Secondly,literaltranslationmayretaintheculturalcharacteristicsofthesourcelanguage.Forexample,thephrase“一石二鳥”comesfromtheEnglishsaying“tokilltwobirdswithonestone”.AlthoughthisEnglishproverbhasthesamemeaningastheChineseidiom“一箭雙雕”,itwaswidelyapprovedbytheChinese.Therearemanymoreotherexampleslikethis,suchas“toshedcrocodiletears”(掉鱷魚眼淚),“chainreaction”(連鎖反應(yīng)),“dollardiplomacy”(金元外交),andsoon.Thirdly,literaltranslationalsopromotesthecommunicationanddevelopmentbetweenthetwolanguages.Ontheonehand,thismethodoftranslationgivesusthechancetogetintouchwithmuchmorelivelyexpressions,wordsandsentenceslikethephrasementionedabove.Herearetwomoreexamples:ⅰ.topullsb’schestnutoutofthefire(火中取栗)ⅱ.toturnswordsintoploughs(化劍為犁)Thoughthereareready-to-wearphrasesinChinese(“為他人做嫁衣裳”“化干戈為玉帛”),thetranslatorschoiceofliteraltranslationletusknowthattherearesameexpressionsinforeigncountries.Ontheotherhand,italsolettheforeignpeopleknowmoreaboutthewisdominChinese.TheoldChinesesaying“五十步笑百步”hasasimilarexpressioninEnglish:Thepotcallsthekettleblack.Butthetranslatorstranslateditinto“thesoldierswhoretreatedfiftypaceslaughedattheonewhohadfallenahundredpaces”.Thissentencemaybetoolong,butitshowedthespecialwayofexpressioninChinese,andwasacceptedbytheforeigners.Similarly,iftheChinesephrase“天下沒有不散的筵席”(Nofeastlastsforever)istranslatedastheEnglishsaying“Allgoodthingsmustend”or“Thebestoffriendsmustpart”,thenforeignerswon’trealizetheuniquewisdomofChinesepeople.Fourthly,sometimesliteraltranslationismorevividandimpressed.Somerhetorictechniquessuchasmetaphor,metonymyandcontrastinsentencescanmakeatextlivelier,andliteraltranslationcanconveytheoriginalcharmperfectlyinsomecases,especiallyinadvertisingtranslation.Fifthly,literaltranslationcanpromotethelanguagediversity,thusavoidingplatitudeandendueversionswithasenseofnovelty.Takethissentenceforexample:Homersometimesnods.Therewillbeanewperspectiveifwetranslateitinto“荷馬有時也會打盹”.Thecommontranslation“智者千慮，必有一失”maybemoreclearlyanddefinitely,andcandisplaythesuperiorityofChinese.Butwemaybetiredofthisversionafterweuseditthousandsoftimes.Theformertranslationgivesusaninterestingchoice.Hereisanexamplealike:Abrewer’swifemaydrinkofatun.Thetranslation“釀酒人的妻子不愁酒”ismoreimpressedthanthat“近水樓臺先得月”.Ⅱ.TheBeautyofLiberalTranslationLiberaltranslationgivesfullscopetothetranslationofproverbs,idiomsandtheirstories,wittysayingandsomespecialwords.Firstly,thereareagreatnumberofidiomsandtheirstoriesinbothEnglishandChinese,andliberaltranslationofthemcanmakeiteasiertounderstand.Becausetherearemanyculturedifferencesexist,somesayingsmaybedifficulttounderstand,andthat’swhentheliberaltranslationplayitsrole.Forexample:現(xiàn)在合同已經(jīng)簽了，真是木已成舟，生米煮成了熟飯，只好如此了。Translation:Asthecontracthadbeensigned,what’sdoneisdoneandcannotbeundone.Ifwetranslatethesentencewordforword,itwillbedifficulttounderstand.Secondly,therearemanywittysayingsinEnglish,andliteraltranslationcannotexpresstheirmeaningcompletely.Thenliberaltranslationwillbemoresuitable.Lookatthesentencebelow:Whenthegoinggetstough,thetoughgetsgoing.Translateitwordforword,itwillbe“當(dāng)進(jìn)行中遇到困難，困難才能通過”.Thisisdifficulttounderstand,whiletheChineseinherentsaying“狹路相逢勇者勝”or“滄海橫流方顯英雄本色”canbeeasierunderstandtotheChinese.Thirdly,liberaltranslationwillmaketheversionmoresmoothlyandnotcreateambiguitieswhentranslatingsomespecialwords,suchas“Alandofhoneyandmilk”,whichmeans“魚米之鄉(xiāng)”but“有蜂蜜和牛奶的地方”and“Everylifehasitsrosesandthorns”,whichmeans“人生有苦有甜”.Ⅲ.ChoosetheRightWayofTranslationBothliteraltranslationandliberaltranslationareimportant,andthereisanendlessdebateonwhichoneofthetwowaysisbetter.Differenttranslatorshavetheirownunderstandingandexperiences,andtheyneverreachanagreement.Wecansaythatthedebateonliteralandliberaltranslationrunsthoughthehistoryoftranslationinourcountry.Morethan2,000yearsago,earlyintheEasternHanDynasty,themonkstranslatingtheBuddhistscriptureswereneverflexible,andcreatedmanyobscureversions.Afterthis,thereweremanydivergencesofviewsontheBuddhistscriptures’translation.Theargumentwaswhichonewasbetterbetweenliteraltranslationandliberaltranslation.InMingandQingdynasties,thetransitiononBuddhistscriptureshadreduced,andpeopleturnedtothetranslationonthescientificandliteratureworksofwesterncountries.Yanfu,thefamoustranslatoroflateQingdynasty,putforwardhisthreetranslatingprinciples,namely“fidelity”,”expressiveness”and“elegance”,inhistranslationtheoryofnaturalselection.Amongthethreeprinciples,fidelityismostimportant,andthenexpressiveness.Andtheprincipleelegancehadbeenenduednewimplicationafter.ThentheMay4thmovementbroughtamovementtotranslate.Translatorshoveredbetweenfidelityandsmoothness,whichactuallyisthehesitationonliteraltranslationandliberaltranslation.ThisdebateplayedanimportantroleinChinesetranslationhistory,andLuXun’sopinion,betterfidelitythansmoothness,pointedarightwayforthebeginners.Since1949,translationhadgreatdevelopedinourcountry,andtranslatorsputforwardmoreprinciplesontranslation,whicharehigherandmorereasonable.FuLeiattachmoreimportanceontheversions’spiritsthanonforms;QianZhongshuthoughtthathighestheavenoftranslationis“化”;Andthereweresomeotheropinionssuchasmakingtheundertoneoftheoriginaltextclear,andsoon.Maybethesourceofthisdebateliedinthelimitationsofpeople’sunderstandingontheliteralandliberaltranslationintheory,andthedeviationsinpractice.Therearemanytranslatorstranslateword-for-wordinliteraltranslation,andrandominliberaltranslationinhistory.Andthedebatewasmostlybetweenthepeoplewhoadvocatedliteralorliberaltranslationandtheonesinsistedonrandomorword-for-wordtranslation,forwhichthedebatecouldnotbeavoided.Thenwhatshouldwedoinpractice? ChapterThreeTheApplicationofLiteralandLiberalTranslationsⅠ.HowtoUseLiteralTranslationCorrectlyFirstly,ifitispossibletotranslationliterally,translateitwordforword.Theadvantageofliteraltranslationistokeepthelivelinessofthetextwhichhasrhetoricinit.Theliberaltranslationcanonlyconveythemeaningoftheoriginaltextanddepartfromthelifelikenessofit.Soweshoulduseliteraltranslationprimarilyinpractice.Takethetwosentencesbelowforexample:ⅰ.FormyfatherknowandIknowthatifyouonlydigenough,apasturecanbemadefree.Literaltranslation:因為我父親知道，我也知道，只要挖到一定程度，早晚可以在這里辟出個牧場的。Freetranslation:因為我父親知道，我也知道，功到自然成。ⅱ.ForKinoandJuana,thiswasthemeaningofmorningoftheirlives,comparableonlytothedaywhenthebabyhadbeenborn.Literaltranslation:在Kino和Juana看來，這是他們一生中最了不起的早晨，只有寶寶出生額那一天，才可以與之媲美。Freetranslation:Kino和Juana認(rèn)為，這一天非常重要。Thefreetranslationsonlysimplyexpressedthegeneralmeaningoftheoriginalsentenceswithoutthemetaphor.Inthisway,thesentenceslosttheirflashpoints.However,theliteraltranslationsareclosertotheoriginalsentencesandmoreclearlyandlively.Sometimesitisdifficulttoretaintheintrinsicalthoughtsandlanguagestylebecauseoftheculturaldifferencesbetweenthetwolanguages.However,wecandothisthroughliteraltranslation.That’sthereasonwhythetranslatorstendtoliteraltranslation.Secondly,somesentencesaredifficulttotranslateliterallyinsomecircumstances.Everynationhasitsownculture,languageandcustom,anddifferentlanguageshavedifferentwaysofexpression,metaphorsandidioms.TopeopleinEnglishspeakingcountries,somesayingsinChinesearedifficulttounderstand.Andliteraltranslationinthissituationisunacceptabletotheforeigners.Theycan’tgettheexactlymeaningoftheoriginallanguage.Forexample:Oursonmustgotoschool.Hemustbreakoutofthepotthatholdsusin.Literaltranslation:我們的兒子一定得進(jìn)學(xué)校，他一定得打破這個把我們關(guān)在里面的罐子。Freetranslation:我們的兒子一定要上學(xué)，一定要出人頭地。Inthissentence,theliteraltranslationisunreadable.Wecannotuseliteraltranslationifthepresentationoftheversiondoesn’tconformtothatofthesourcelanguage.Wecanfindanidiominthetargetlanguagewhichhasthesamemeaningwiththesayinginthesourcelanguage.Inaword,literaltranslationisthebasictechniqueintranslationpractices.Itcankeeptheoriginalform,includingsentences’structureandthefigureofspeech.Butsometimesitneedssomenecessarychangestomakethewaysofexpressionbeconsistentinthetwolanguages.Ⅱ.HowtoUseLiberalTranslationCorrectlyFirstly,translatethetextsliberallywhenit’sdifficulttotranslatethemliterally.Wehavementionedabovethatwhentherearedifferencesonthewaysofexpressingbetweenthetwolanguages,weshouldusefreetranslation.Furthermore,insomesentences,thoughliteraltranslationcanmakeitunderstandable,itcannotexpresstheprofoundmeaningunderthewords.Underthissituation,freetranslationcanhelpusgetabetterresult.Forexample:Castpearlsbeforeswine.Literaltranslation:把珍珠扔到豬面前Freetranslation:對牛彈琴Secondly,neverappendourownemotiontothetranslation.Asuccessfultranslationmustbetheonewhichcangivesameimpressionstoboththetwolanguages’readers.Freetranslationgivesthetranslatorsmorefreedomtoexertthemselves.Andthetranslatorsshouldgetwellunderstandingofthetextandtranslateitfaithfully.Butiftheyaddtheirownemotionstoit,thetwoversion’sreaderswouldhavedifferentfeelingsononesamework.Thirdly,thetechniqueoffreetranslationneedsthetranslatorspossessesabundantknowledgeonboththetwolanguages.Thetranslatorsshouldlearnthegeneralknowledgeofboththetwocountriesasmuchaspossible.Thiscanmakeiteasierforthetranslatorstounderstandtheoriginalwork.Ⅲ.TaketheProperMethodinDifferentCircumstancesFlexiblyInmyopinion,translationpracticeshouldnotrigidlyadheretoonesingleway,andwecanusedifferentwaysoftranslationinonetext.Noonecanassertcategoricallythatliteraltranslationisbetterthanfreetranslation,andviceversa.Bothofthetwotechniquesarenotworsethaneachother.Intranslationpractice,weshouldchoosethepropertechniqueaccordingtothecontext,theconcretelanguagecircumstanceandculturalbackground,andcombinetheexpressingcustomofboththetwolanguages.Contextplaysanimportantroleintranslation.Wemustunderstandthetextwellbeforetranslatingit,andthecontextcanhelpustodothis.Forexample:MaybeKinohascutoffhisownheadanddestroyedhimself.Inthissentence,wecantranslatethephrase“cutoffhisownhead”literallyinto“割掉自己的腦袋”accordingtotheanalysistothecontext,whichislivelierthantheliberaltranslation“走上絕路”.Theknowledgeoftwocountries’history,geologyandculturalbackgroundisalsoveryimportant.Atranslatorcanfindthebestcorrespondenceofthetwolanguagesonlyifheknowsthetwonations’commonknowledgewell.Andagoodtranslatorshouldbeadaptedtothelanguagecircumstances.Let’takethesentencebelowforexample:Oneboyisaboy,twoboyshalfaboy,threeboysnoboy.Theliteraltranslationis“一個男孩是男孩，兩個男孩抵半個，三個男孩什么都不是”.Thisismeaningless,andthereaderswon’tgettothepoint.NowwecanfindanintrinsicproverbinChinesewhichmeansalikewiththissentence,andtranslateitinto“一個和尚挑水吃，兩個和尚抬水吃，三個和尚沒水吃”.DengXiaoping,oneofthegreatestleadersofChina,oncesaidthat“不管黑貓白貓，捉住耗子就是好貓”,thiscanbetranslatedinto“itwouldbeanemployablecatnomatterwhatcolorisitifitcancatchtherats”literally.HereIquotethissayingjustwanttoshowtherelationshipbetweenliteralandliberaltranslation:notgoodorbad,butsuittothecircumstanceornot.Infact,peoplewhofavorliteraltranslationareactuallynotopposeagainstliberaltranslation.Whattheyopposeisrandomtranslation.Andwhatthepeoplewhobacktoliberaltranslationopposeisword-for-wordtranslation.Theaimofboththetwotechniquesistoconveythecontentsexpressedinthetextfaithfully,andtheyarenotexcludingwitheachother.Agoodtranslatorshouldhavethecompetencytocombinethetwotechniquestogetherintranslationpracticeandcanhandlebothofthesetwomethodsaswell.Takethesentencewe’vementionedinpartoneasanexample:Oursonmustgotoschool.Hemustbreakoutofthepotthatholdsusin.Inthefirsthalfofthesentence,whichisasimpledeclarativesentence,wecantranslateitinto“我們的兒子一定要上學(xué)”literally.Whilethesecondhalfappliedrhetoricaldevice,andifwetranslateitliterally,itwillbedifficulttounderstand.Nowwecanfigureitoutwiththephrase“出人頭地”inChinese,whichhasthesamemeaningwiththesimileinthesecondhalfofthesentenceabove.ConclusionLiteraltranslationandliberaltranslationaretwobasicmethodsintranslationpractice.Literaltranslationemphasizesboththeformandmeaningofthetext,whileliberaltranslationlaysstressontheconveyingofthespiritofthetext,andneednotkeepitsform.Thoughtheyhavedifferentpointofemphasis,theyareinterdependent,andcan’tbesegmentedwitheachother.Theybothhavetheirownbeauty.Literaltranslationcankeeptheoriginaltexts’expressingstylesandfigureofspeech,andcanachieveformalequivalencebetweenthetwolanguagessoastogivethesentencesasenseofeaseandgrace.Anditcanbemorevividinexpression.Translatorsmustconveythestyle,thefigureofspeechandtherhythminthesourcetextcorrectlywhentranslatinginthisway,especiallyinpoetrytranslation.Thebeautyofliberaltranslationliesinitsinnovationontheform,artisticconceptionandfigureofspeech.Itdoesnotpaysomuchattentionondetailsofthesourcetext,anditdemandsthetranslatorstohandlemorecommo