The key is English ability.
If English-Chinese translation can only be faithful and elegant if it is in line with China, then Chinese-English translation should be in line with the world, that is, English writing should be as natural and fluent as possible. Although it is impossible for us as foreigners to be as proficient as native English speakers, this is not the reason for the existence of a large number of dead translations. This is very important. Translation is a test of comprehensive ability. All kinds of phenomena and difficulties in translation are reflected in the concreteness of words and expressions, but in the final analysis, they will all reflect this point: English foundation, or basic English level, is the basis for doing a good job in translation. It can be seen from students' homework and candidates' papers that Chinese-English translation can best expose students' expression defects. The Chinese and English exams cover a wide range of subjects and comprehensively use basic English skills. Translation is an indispensable part of communicative competence. Learning Chinese-English translation is conducive to consolidating and improving students' comprehensive English level. On this basis, they can master basic translation skills and English application ability, successfully pass various social tests and exams, such as job hunting, qualification determination, professional title evaluation, postgraduate entrance examination, etc., and be competent for various business translation needs after employment. If the formulation of the composition topic may be restricted by various conditions and easy to be similar and dependent, then it is not easy to prepare specific sentences in advance in Chinese-English translation exercises and exams. In actual translation, problems often appear in various situations instead of different categories, and it is difficult for students to remember frame phrases in advance, so it is difficult to distinguish grades. Translation is the key to good Chinese-English translation. Only when you are fully familiar with both Chinese and English and actively apply them to your study and work can you gradually master specific skills. It is impossible to really master the tool of Chinese-English translation around some "secrets" through two or three months of surprise.
2. Follow common methods and do more exercises.
Translation is an artistic re-creation that reproduces the overall effect of the original text according to its sentence pattern, spirit, meaning and emotion. Actually, it takes more time and effort than writing. Because writers are active in writing and can play freely, but they are limited by the original text in translation, so they can't avoid this and that and play freely. To improve translation skills, we can't just read books on translation theory and skills. As Mr. Mao Dun said, if you don't have enough language skills at both ends, you don't need those rules; However, if you have a deep foundation, those rules will become an unworkable framework.
Various translation techniques are just tools. Whether they are used well depends on your proficiency. From students' translation work and some publications translated by the author, it is often noticed that "translation style" is serious in English-Chinese translation, but Chinglish is rich in Chinese-English translation. In many cases, you can't see anything just by looking at English translation, but once you compare it, you will find that translation is obviously based on simple Chinese ideas and uses English words, which has not really translated the original intention, which greatly reduces the publicity effect of customers.
Both English and Chinese are analytical languages to varying degrees, so it is necessary to analyze the structure, word order, context and vocabulary in both theoretical discussion and translation practice. At the same time, from the perspective of learning translation skills, it should be applied in combination with the mastery of English, and it is not appropriate to delve into it. In connection with the above, we should emphasize learning English in a down-to-earth manner. Sometimes the "sense of language" naturally acquired by deep language accumulation is more important, such as paying attention to the division of parts of speech and the different emphasis on time sequence and structural relationship between Chinese and English. After all, adults learn foreign languages, so paying attention to some skills can get twice the result with half the effort. But the skills are summarized and refined after a thorough understanding of the similarities and differences between Chinese and English. If you don't carefully ponder the truth in the textbook and try to look at the reference answers when doing the questions, then these skills are still external in the end.
In short, it is of little practical significance to know only the basic principles and common skills of translation. Translation, like other professional practitioners, needs persistent training, and practice makes perfect. Judging from the previous written test, most people still have some shortcomings in applying what they have learned, that is, their comprehensive application ability is often poor. Translation is a highly skilled art, which can only be gradually improved through a lot of practice. However, blind practice is inevitable and needs theoretical guidance; On the other hand, the theory divorced from reality is empty and useless; Therefore, the two must be closely combined and promote each other.
3. Target readers and service consciousness
The target audience of Chinese-English translation is a wide range of foreigners from all walks of life. In order to adapt to the tolerance of ordinary foreign readers, translation strives to provide rich, popular, understandable and acceptable translations for target readers. The author thinks that when you do Chinese-English translation, you might as well assume that the target readers will be treated at a lower level.
Here, I want to emphasize that translation is a science and a skill, but in a market economy, it is first and foremost a service. In customer-oriented and reader-oriented interfaces, translation needs to serve two guests at the same time: the original author and the target reader. No matter how deep or shallow your knowledge is, you should try your best to have the author in your eyes and the reader in your heart when translating. Be careful when reading the original text; The wording of the translation should be as suitable as possible for the target audience. It is best to treat every original work and translation with the attitude of "providing first-class service". In the process of revising students' translation exercises and proofreading the exhibition materials of translation enterprises, it is found that if the above points can be achieved, even if more than half of the discussion on translation standards is forgotten, many expression problems in the translation are expected to be eliminated before printing.
4. Frequently asked questions of the target readers of this article
The target readers of this paper should have studied most of the basic courses of economy and trade, and some readers have translated various articles and even contracts for the company. However, the translation qualification examination may involve a wide range of specific professional contents.
Some readers may need to improve their English attainments. Many people report that they have a basic understanding of the general idea of an English sentence or paragraph when translating, but they can understand its meaning after reading it, but they cannot express it in accurate and decent English. Some people know that they are not ready, but they don't know what to do, and more people can't objectively evaluate their translation.
In examination papers and translation assignments, in many cases, English-Chinese translation has a strong "translation style", but Chinese-English translation is serious Chinglish. There are many reasons for translation errors, but the main reason is that the text is not thoroughly understood, the differences between the two cultures are not understood, and the corresponding training is lacking, which leads to poor translation ability. As mentioned above, the fundamental problem is the lack of English accumulation and poor expression ability.
This is too general; From the operational level, according to the author's experience in teaching translation theory and practice, the main problems that students have in Chinese-English translation are: scribbling, case and spelling mistakes, abuse of definite articles and so on. There is no way to do this, but I can only remind you: meticulous and serious. Words fail to express their meaning: improper use of words and insufficient mastery of polysemous words. One of the reasons for finding a lot of mistakes in Chinese-English translation is that the translator's English vocabulary is limited, which is manifested in the weak expressive force of the translation, the lack of flexibility in sentence patterns and the poor grasp of the correlation between polysemous words and common words. Many students have passed CET-4, CET-6 and CET-8, but the translation level in actual translation is far from the requirements of Chinese-English translation of general journal articles. Reading the text creates meaning: sitting in the right position, that is, mechanically "translating" words. For example, when it comes to "diet drinks", they are all diet drinks. In fact, diet drinks are more satisfying. Cultural differences: reflected in the language, hidden in almost every sentence. Lack of professional characteristics: there is no way but to hope for "compound education" and "quality education".
5. How to do Chinese-English translation well
Translation is not a marginal science, but it involves more subjects than any other major. Natural science, social science, everything; Astronomical geography, three religions and nine streams, local customs, culture and entertainment, food, clothing, housing and transportation are all involved; Prose reports, legends and anecdotes, poems and songs, everything, are really "miscellaneous" studies. Many kinds of knowledge and genres often appear in the same information at the same time. Learn with an open mind, ask more questions, look up more materials, make field trips when necessary, understand the original text, express it in relevant jargon, and have the ability to express ideas freely in concise, fluent and accurate language.
After learning a Chinese-English textbook, passing CET-2, or receiving a Chinese-English translation task or order at work, there are still some things that need attention when starting translation, which can be summarized into three aspects: vocabulary, knowledge and expression. In order to enhance operability, here are a few examples from the reader's point of view. The following examples seem to be more economic and trade, for reference only.
5. 1. You can't count on reference books.
The existing reference books are far from meeting the needs. The general situation is that English-Chinese translation is extensive, massive and complete, while the number of Chinese-English translation of reference books is small, the word repetition rate is high, especially the English translation of scientific vocabulary is poor. There are many professional Chinese-English dictionaries on the market now, but there are indeed many objective problems that have not been solved when it comes to a device and a product. First, they are similar to each other or even verbatim, and the industry characteristics are not obvious. Even Jinshan is disappointing. Second, there are few words that truly reflect the characteristics of China. For example, the "chunks" that China people have been talking about for decades have never been included. Another example is the word "super life". The sketch "Super Guerrilla" has been performed in CCTV for many years, but a Chinese-English dictionary has only two explanations: 1. Reincarnation; 2. spare someone's life; Be merciful, these two meanings are rarely used now, or people in need don't need to express them in English. Third, there are few new words, and many new expressions in China media are not reflected. Most Chinese-English dictionaries and reference books on economy, trade and other business aspects are seriously lagging behind social development, and these words are often the most active components in economic activities. This is due to objective factors such as rapid social and technological progress and long publishing cycle of dictionaries, as well as saving trouble and not accumulating seriously. Translators often feel that the error rate of Chinese-English translation in publications is generally much higher than that of English-Chinese translation.
It is a good habit to look up a dictionary, but it is difficult to translate just by looking up a dictionary. Even if you have all the dictionaries at hand, you can't follow them. The decisive authority is context. To thoroughly understand the original text and the differences between the two cultures, we should translate it according to the context and the actual situation of the context, instead of mechanically copying the definitions in the dictionary.
5.2. Multi-translation of the word and diversified expressions.
The culture of each nation has formed a certain style and tradition in its own historical development. English and Chinese are not only different in grammatical structure, but also different in ways of expressing ideas and using different images. When translating, we must be flexible according to the principle of conforming to the expression habits of the target language. This change is so "dead" that it is difficult for readers to get a clear concept and a smooth translation; It should not be changed, it will be too "live" and go against the original intention. Because of the different expressions between English and Chinese, sometimes translation can't stick to the literal meaning of words, and some changes need to be made by mechanical copying or just seeking the equivalence of English and Chinese sentences. To be faithful to the original, we should first pay attention to the above two kinds of wrong tendencies: following the literal structure of the original is called mechanism; Regardless of the original text, just translating and piling up a few words you know is liberalism. Both of these situations have gone to extremes, divorced from the original intention of translation.
Expanding knowledge is embodied in the concrete, so we should pay more attention to the phenomenon of multi-translation of one word (rather than "polysemy"). If the translator can fully grasp the relevant situation, the translation will be more handy and the translation expression may be more vivid. For example, the same meeting can be translated into conferences, congresses, forums, sessions, seminars and even reception; By industry, level and scale; The same "meeting" can be talking with xxx or xxx in (city, conference, country, etc.), talking with XXX in (city, conference, country, etc.), discussing with XXX in (city, conference, country, etc.), meeting with XXX in (city, conference, country, etc.) and meeting with XXX in a ceremony in (country, etc.). ) according to the actual situation.
Diversification of expression is not the same as multi-translation of a word. In other words, even if the vocabulary is available, the translator still needs to master it flexibly at the sentence level. Here only from the perspective of "how to learn Chinese-English translation". I hope you can always remember this string in the next class. You can flexibly choose sentence patterns, words and their tenses, voices, singular and plural numbers according to the specific text content. Translation methods can be mastered flexibly, and different sentence structures can be selected from different angles according to different situations, and literal translation, free translation and the combination of literal translation and free translation can be adopted.
5.3. Get as much background information as possible.
Mastering a lot of background information is very important for doing a good job in translation. It is necessary to understand and master some basic knowledge extensively and deeply. If the translator does not understand all the relevant contents in the translated text, it will be difficult to translate it accurately for others to understand. When translating, you should master as many first-hand materials as possible, otherwise, the English translation itself may be impeccable compared with the Chinese original, but compared with the facts, it is found that the text is irrelevant. For example, the text descriptions of the two pictures are "piercing the blue sky" and "rising from the ground" respectively. After reading the photos, I know that the former is the roof of a building with several satellite antennas installed on it, and the latter is a tall building that is about to be capped. "Piercing the blue sky" is much lower than "rising from the ground". In this way, we can translate the former into a telecommunications facility in the sun, and the latter into another skyscraper, or a new high-rise building under the blue sky that is relatively close to the realistic and pragmatic environment. That is to say, "stabbing the blue sky" is actually "sunbathing" and "rising from the ground" is actually "stabbing the blue sky".
It can be said that the deeper the translator knows about the relevant background information, the more confident he will be in translation. For example, it is hard to say whether the translation of "window cleaner for high-rise buildings" is wrong or bad, but only when we see the machine itself can we know that the machine can't clean windows, and it only plays the role of a basket or a pod, so it should be translated into a window cleaner basket for high-rise buildings, otherwise the buyer will demand compensation.
5.4. Learn some professional knowledge
Pay special attention to the industry characteristics and jargon characteristics of terms. Rubber cleaner may be used for cleaning, leveling and scraping bulk materials in machinery such as buckets and conveyor belts. However, in the introduction of a company dealing in auto parts, auto maintenance equipment and decorations, rubber brush is unlikely to be a rubber brush, but a rubber roller, a simple instrument for scrubbing windshield after being dipped in water. The "transmission system" used in the workshop cannot be transportation (referring to municipal transportation or off-site transportation), nor should it be a transmission system (referring to power or telecommunication transmission), but should be a conveyor or conveying system.
Different industries should choose different words. Such as "connector", is it electric or electronic? Is it a pipe or a cable? Is it plastic or cast iron? There are many corresponding words in English, which one to choose depends on the specific meaning of the original word, which can not always be seen from the company name before the original text and the extension of the surrounding products. A writer is an expert in his own field, but a translator can't master everything. According to different industries, "connector" can be translated into coupler, coupling, connector, connector, terminal, grapple, wire rope barrel, junction box and terminal. Another example is the word "hardening", which can be translated into vulcanization, solidification, hardening, coagulation, cirrhosis, persistence, ossification, hardening, hardening and so on according to different industries.
We should try our best to provide comprehensive and relevant information through translation. Some Chinese words are more general, so it is not a problem to look at Chinese alone, but there will be a lot of hesitation in translation. For example, "graphic binding machine" and "binding machine" seem to be translated into book binding machines, but when you look at the factory, you will know that they are two different things: the former is like a stapler or a circular spiral winder, while the latter is a real "machine" driven by a motor and has a series of mechanical transmission and electronic control. Therefore, it is best to translate "graphic binding machine" into booklet binding machine or booklet binding equipment.
5.5. Translator's learning and accumulation
Since reference books can't keep up with the times and the needs of customers, even if they catch up, they can't be bought in time, so doing it yourself is of course an auxiliary means. If you want to be a famous translator, you should "love the new and hate the old". You should pay attention to collecting new words, professional vocabulary, commonly used abbreviations and abbreviations, humbly ask knowledgeable people for advice, and pay attention to updating and expanding your knowledge. For example, don't translate "Internet companies" as soon as you hear about them, but follow suit and translate them into startups, network companies, network operators, online players, ISP, etc. Another example is the construction of Olympic venues. You don't have to look up all the English words "venue" and "exhibition hall". One venue is enough.
Now the Internet is widely used, and translation can also benefit from it. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Infoseek and Lycos can be used to search for new words. It's too late to study now, at least you can study hard, and a temporary reference can correct many mistakes in time. There will be more new terms in the future, and there will be many new terms in business. Translators should often read some newspapers and books with a strong sense of the times to broaden their knowledge, consciously accumulate new words, pay close attention to them, collect them in time, apply what they have learned, and use English more truly and better.
5.6 Proofread and polish the translation
Judging from some tests and practices I have experienced, many translations need a lot of revision and polishing. Therefore, after translation, you should carefully check your translation to ensure that the syntax, sentence meaning and spelling of the translation convey the content of the original text and conform to the target language norms. In order to improve the quality of translation, translators should develop the habit of rigorous error correction, which runs through the whole process of combing, translating, typing, proofreading and sample reading. Strictly control the translation, so that the text is smooth and tidy, the content is complete and accurate, and you can't "take it for granted"; Strictly proofread, be accurate, read through the manuscript before submission, and often accidentally find some mistakes, such as numbers, tenses, styles, typographical errors and so on.