Translation concerning negation
Aims: to understand the features of Chine and English as regards negation, the application of negation in the process of translation
Key points: the application of negation in the process of translation
Difficulties: affirmative 肯定in Chine but negative in English, negative in Chine but affirmative in English
Teaching procedures:
Negation being an important conception in one’s expression of thoughts, expressions of negations is to be found in any tongue. This is naturally true of Chine and English. However, the ways of indicating negation are quite different in the two languages. This frequently caus a lot of trouble to translators, who if not careful enough, would often make mistakes.
1. Features of the two languages as regards negation
● 1. Both languages have negatives or expressions formed with negatives. In modern Chine, the much-ud negative words are: 不,没,别. The words express three different meanings: 不signifies表示 denial of a statement;没denial of a being or occurrence(,非and 否can be put under this category);别dissuasion or prohibition(甭,勿,and 莫 can be put under this category)
● The oft-ud negatives in English are “not”, and “no”, in addition to “nothing”, ”nobody” “none”, “without”, “ neither…nor”, “never”, etc.
● Chine negatives are generally capable of producing derivatives, particularly the word 不, 无and 非. Their derivatives are equivalent to English words formed by adding affixes, e.g. 不法unlawful, 不便inconvenient, 无边boundless,非正规军irregulars
● In English, apart from using negatives to express negation, words with a negative n can be formed by adding affixes to root words. The affixes thus ud are mainly “less” suffix “un” “in”, and “non”
● However, English words formed with affixes with a negative, while adjective and nouns formed with “un” such as “unavoidable” and “unbelief” are negative, for instance, verbs formed with affixes such as “unclasp” and “uncork” affirmative.
● In Chine, words formed with negatives are generally negative in n but in some cas they assume new meaning like 非常, which practically means 很.
● In English, the same word formed with a different affix differs in meaning (compare discord with uncord). Sometimes, words formed with different affixes 词缀with a negative n would produce words with different implications含义---derogatory贬义 and the other non-derogatory褒义. For instance, immoral means 不道德,and is therefore derogatory while unmoral means 非道德,无道德观念的,and is therefore non derogatory.
1． Warm-up exercis
2． I don't’ think Tom is correct.
3． I don’t think Xiaoming is coming tomorrow.
4． Are you not going tomorrow?---- No, I am not going .
5． Africa is not kicking out Western imperialism in order to invite other new masters.
6． The world today is far from peaceful.
7． Our PLA is worthy of being called a great army of the people.
8． He tried his best to overcome the lack of technical data.
9． The window refud to open.
10． Yesterday he failed to get to school on time.
11． They excluded children from getting in.
12． The building is in a state of neglect.
13． He is often abnt- minded.
14． To do this is beyond me.
15． Lei Feng’s noble deeds are above all prai.
16． I, rather than you , should do the work.
17． The truth is quite other than what you think.
18． She refrained from laughing.
19． She was refud admitance by them.
20． An opportunity is not likely to repeat itlf.
21． Live up to the expectations of our own people and the people throughout the world.
22． Slips are scarely avoidable when you are new to your work.
23． The meetings were marked by such an abnce of lively discussions that at ti
mes they were almost on the piont of breaking up.
24． Avoid operating the keys roughly.
25． The scientists made a solemn plege at the conference, saying, “We’ll forever live up to what our Party expecs of us.”
26． The evidence is conclusive, excluding all possibilities of doubt.
27． That fellow is far from being honest.
28． Luan Ping stood still, trying vainly (in vain) to answer the battery of questions Yang Zirong raid.
29． That rved to strenghen instead of weaken our determination.
30． But for their help. We should not succeeded in this experiment.
31． All that glitters is not gold.
32． All is not lost.
33． All criminals are murderers.
34． But aal men are born to reign.
35． All that flatter you too much are not faithful friends.
36． Both children are not clever.
37． We never thought of nothing wrong.我们从来没有想到有什么错误。
2.英语为肯定式,汉语译作否定式(affirmative in English but negative in Chine)
● You are quite a stranger here.
