In the course of the translation of this sentence, there are both
addition and omission. They are not arbitrary, but depend on the intrinsic characteristics of the two languages under discussion. The Chi
nese“马是有用的动物”and the English“The horse is a useful
animal" or "Horses are useful animals" are exact equivalents to each
other in meaning and function. Thus the contradiction in translation
gets to its dialectical unity and we may say that in the translation be
tween English and Chinese the method of proper addition and proper
omission is one of the corresponding laws, which can all be found out
by a thorough and careful comparative study of these two languages.
The existence or non-existence of articles is a basic difference be
tween English and Chinese as discussed in the above. Another basic
difference existing between the two languages, as pointed out in A
Course of English-Chinese Chinese-Fnglish Translation by Prof. Gu Yanling and Prof.Xiong Xiling, lies in the fact that more verbs and fewer
nouns and prepositions are used in Chinese than in English while more
nouns and prepositions and fewer verbs are used in English than in
Chinese. This phenomenon appears to be just a difference in the use of
different parts of speech,but in fact it shows the special features of ei
ther language in diction,syntax,conventional ways of expression,etc.
Secondly, as in the case of English, words in noun or adjective form
are often used to express the idea of action,thus serving as verbs. Such
words, in fact, are not very rare. Furthetmore, collocations with such words, which bear the meaning and the character of a verb,as the key
words,are to be found at every turn.
In order to illustrate what has just been said about the features in
the above is true, let's take an example from Theory and Examples of English-Chinese Translation by Ti Xi et al., which runs as follows:
Gates Avenue families carried their pails to the hydrant at the
curb.住在盖茨街的家家户户都得提小桶到街边水龙头去取水。
In the English sentence,there is only one verb,but in the Chinese there appear as many as six. Out of this comparative study,we can find another important method of translation---conversion of parts of speech. From the analysis of the two simple sentences as shown in the above we see that even in translating very simple sentences there is so much worth studying. It goes without saying what profound knowledge and proficient skill it demands of the translator when he is to render a whole piece of writing. Anyhow, it will never do for one to translate word for word and meananically adhere to the superficial
similarities in words, phrases and grammatical structures. He must follow the scientific process from thorough understanding to accurate
representation. That's to say, the translator must first comprehend the content and style of the whole work before he sets his pen to paper,and then creatively reproduce the original as it really is by using the corresponding laws and proper methods of translation in a flexible way so that the translation may be lifelike as well as intelligible.
After we have discovered the characteristics,differences and similarities of the two languages concerned, we can naturally find out their intrinsic laws and interrelation,thus bringing about some practicable methods of translation. Now we may well conclude that translation is indeed a science with its own peculiar laws and methods, a science related to lexicology, grammar, rhetoric and other branches of linguistics.
责任编辑：admin
上一篇：综述性译文的编译步骤和技法
下一篇：“形状”的科技英语表示法及翻译例句
微信公众号搜索“译员”关注我们，每天为您推送翻译理论和技巧，外语学习及翻译招聘信息。