An English-Chine Translation Cour
Introduction
Principle of Translation: faithfulness and smoothness
* Translation is an art, a bilingual art. Like a painting, translation enables us to reproduce the fine thought of somebody el, not in color but in words, words of a different language.
Successful translation depends on the interplay of many factors such as the command of the input and output languages, the knowledge of the culture of the English-speaking countries and the skills of translation, etc. A qualified translator is fully aware that a mistake in translation may lead to a political trouble and bring great loss to the people. He has to improve his tools, the languages in translation. He has to learn the social customs of other countries involved. He has to gain a good knowledge of techniques in translation in order to convey what the author means, exactly and smoothly.
About eighty years ago, Mr. Yen Fu (1853-1921) put forward three words for the principle
of translation: “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”. But Lu Xun (1881-1936) showed disapproval of Yen, and in his opinion “faithfulness” is above all the three in importance. He later put forward two words “faithfulness” and “smoothness”. He held his view: “Rather to be faithful than smooth”; “Be faithful in thought and smooth in language.” In his view both faithfulness and smoothness are important, but faithfulness first, smoothness cond. Today we’d better take his two words as our principle of translation.
Faithfulness means the original thought of the author must be kept as much as possible in translation. Nothing can be added to or taken away from it. This includes the emotions, the feeling, the style as well as all the contents of the original, i.e. they are all conveyed totally and exactly and even precily to the reader.
Smoothness means what we translate must appeal to the readers, i.e. proper words and smooth language. Word-by-word translation must be avoided.
In a word, translation is an honest, solid job, allowing not a bit of falhood.
* Questions:
1. What is the principle of translation according to Mr. Yen Fu?
2. What is the principle of translation according to Lu Xun?
3. What do you mean by faithfulness?
4. What do you mean by smoothness?
Part One Problems in Translation
Section 1 Literal and Liberal Translation
* Literal translation is the technique of making both the content and the form of the original reappear in the translated version, if possible, in order to maintain the style, the structure as well as the contents of the source language.
* Liberal translation reproduces the original n by creating new, idiomatic expressions of the target language, without caring much about the word order, the ntence structure, or the literal meaning of the source language. It is ud especially when the original conte
nt contradicts the form of expression in the target language.
There are a lot of disputes among the translators on the literal and liberal translations. However, it’s difficult to define a conclusion between them, becau each has its broad and narrow n.
* Literal translation in the narrow n refers to word-for-word translation, irrespective of the word order and the ntence structure as well as the idiomatic expression of the target language. e.g.
1. Milky Way
* Incorrect: 牛奶路
* Revid: 银河
2. We saw Tom standing on his head.
* Incorrect: 我们看见汤姆正站在自己头上。
* Revid: 我们看见汤姆正在倒立。
3. Nothing could be done.
* Incorrect: 无事可以被做。
* Revid: 毫无办法。
* Liberal translation in the broad n may depart from the original n, omitting something here and there, only to translate at pleasure or at random. Such an approach of translation will misreprent the author, and therefore is undesirable. e.g.
4. The sun shines brightly.
* Incorrect: 赤日炎炎似火烧。
* Revid: 阳光明媚。
5. This aircraft is small, cheap, pilotless.
* Incorrect: 这种飞机，小巧玲珑，价廉物美，无人驾驶。
* Revid: 这种飞机，体积不大，价格便宜，无人驾驶
6. It was a chilly day in early spring.
* Incorrect: 这是早春二月，乍暖还寒的日子。
* Revid: 这是初春一个寒冷的日子。
7. We found him lying on his back on the lawn.
* Incorrect: 我们发现他在草地上袒腹高卧。
* Revid: 我们发现他仰卧在草地上。
Note: Which is preferable, the literal or the liberal? Each has its merits and demerits. The following examples illustrate that the literal is more vivid than the liberal:
8. I hated him, and I had a feeling he’d surely lead us both to our ancestors.
* Literal: 我狠他， 并预感到他肯定会领着咱们去见祖先。
* Liberal: 我狠他， 并预感到他肯定会领着咱们去送死。
9. Hitler was armed to the teeth when he launched the Second World War.
* Literal: 希特勒在发动第二次世界大战时是武装到牙齿的。
* Liberal: 希特勒在发动第二次世界大战时是全副武装的。
