| affectee: n. 受影响者 |
| doer: n. 行为施动者 |
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文化与翻译--Part II 补充阅读--第三页
1. Cultural Differences in Translation between English and Chinese |
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| C ． Helping so1ve problems in grammar In English a lot of words in the same grammatical structure may have different referential meanings( 所指意义 ). The so-ca Ⅱ ed referential meaning means the meaning of a word that language gets when we use the word to refer to some material thing or some identical concept ． We should stress that the meaning is from social occasion and not from language itself ． In this case we should associate it with culture to understand them so that we can avoid misunderstanding and mistranslation ． For instance, the pronoun ，“ his ”， has the following functions ： (1)activity (2)entity (3)status, (4)possession (5)characteristics (6)relations ． For example ， his watch ， his father ， his wife ， his leg ， his arrival ， his punishment ， hi s partner ， his old servant ． These phrases have the same grammatical structure ， but their referential meanings are quite different ． Now let ' s analyze these phrases ' differences in meaning: His watch, “ his ” means “ ownership ” . It means ：“ He possesses the watch ” ．“ He bought the watch and he can sell it ”． His father ， here “ his ” doesn ' t mean “ ownership ” ． Dr. Nida said ， “ of course ， he doesn't possess the father. If anybody possesses ， the father possesses the son ， not the reverse ； so these two simply related sociologically and biologically ．” His wife ， if “ his watch ” means “ he possesses watch ” , “ his wife ” doesn ' t mean “ ownership ” , but a kind of legal arrangement, a kind of equal relationship between people. His leg ， means the relationship between the part and the whole ， not “ ownership ” ． It means ： The 1eg is a part of the person ． He can buy a watch and sell his watch ， but he can ' t buy a leg and sell his leg ． His arrival ， means activity and entity. It means: he (has) arrived. Here “ his ” doesn ' t mean “ ownership ” , but a doer of an action. His punishment means “ He was punished ” . “ His ” is the affectee of an action ． His partner, means the relationship based on business between “ he ” and someone else and it does not mean “ he owned someone ” . It means ： two persons are engaged in some kind of joint activity or enterprise ． His old servant ，“ his ” shows his status is an owner ． The relationship between “ he ” and servant is owner and servant. “ Servant ” has complex meanings ： activity or entity ；“ old ” shows servant ' s characteristics ． It means long TIME 0R OLD AGE ． So this phrase has two meanings ： (1)The person who serves him is old ． (2)The person has served him for many years ． D ． Helping readers know the mode of thinking of the English people Because of the differences in the mode Of thinking ， English people choose different ways to express themselves ． Some sentences should not be translated word by word ． But they may be translated from the context ． For example ： (1)Steve was the only good thing on her horizon ． Version ：见到史蒂夫是唯一使她心情愉快的事。 (2) I ' m going straight ． Version ：我再也不偷了。 ( 或我决定洗手不干了 ) (3) Here we go ， she thought apprehensively ． Version ：她忧心忡忡地想：倒霉的事又来了。 (4) She shrugged and spread her hands ，“ Beats the heck out of me. ” Version ：她双肩一耸，两手一摊说：“我也莫名其妙”。 Ⅲ．Conclusion The above are only some effects of cultural differences in translation between English and Chinese ． Generally speaking ， cultural differences do ex ist everywhere between two peoples ． Sometimes they are not so obvious or s o striking ， but they are also important and should be treated carefully while we are doing translation ． So as a translator he should have both bi li ngual competence and bicultural competence ． That can help him find a best way to promote cultural exchange through translation ． |
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