《你是我的不二闺蜜—女性朋友间的话语解读》（第六章）翻译实践报告

A Report on the Translation of You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the
Language of Women’s Friendships（Chapter 6）
By
Li Qiuyu
A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School
of Sichuan International Studies University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Translation and Interpreting
Under the Supervision of Associate Professor Xia Xindong
May, 2018
《你是我的不二闺蜜——女性朋友间的话语解读》
（第六章）翻译实践报告
摘 要
本翻译报告的原文选自 《你是我的不二闺蜜——女性朋友间的话语解读》一书中第六章。

该书由美国语言学教授黛博拉·坦嫩所著，探讨了过分亲密给友谊带来的潜在伤害。

本报告分为四章：第一章是介绍翻译报告的背景、目标、和结构。

第二章是介绍源文文本相关内容，包括介绍作者、源文内容以及对源文特征的分析。

根据彼得·纽马克的文本类型理论，源文属于信息型文本，翻译该类文本时，应该确保译文的可读性。

第三章主要是对翻译指导理论的选择和应用，同时本章还提到翻译过程中的相应策略。

本翻译报告以彼得·纽马克的交际翻译为理论基础，并结合自身翻译实践，探讨了其在翻译过程中的指导作用。

第四章是对翻译报告的总结，包括翻译过程中积累的经验教训及遗留的个别问题。

关键词： 翻译报告；信息型文本；交际翻译；翻译技巧
A Report on the Translation of You’re the Only One I Can Tell:
Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships（Chapter 6）
Abstract
This is a report on the translation of Chapter 6 of You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships authored by Deborah Tannen, an American academic professor. The book is about general information of intimacy and its potential harm to friendships. This translation report is mainly classified into four chapters: Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to project background, objectives and structure of the translation report. Chapter 2 consists of the author’s basic information, publishing facts and main ideas of the original text. Based on Peter Newmark’s text theory, the source text belongs to informative texts. The translation of such text focuses on the accuracy. Chapter 3 contains a careful description of guiding theory and its direction to this translation project. For the reason that the source text is categorized into informative text, the translator adopts Newmark’s “communicative translation” strategy as guidance. Chapter 4 concludes with the experience and lessons from the translation as well as the problems to be resolved.
Key words: translation project report; informative text; communicative translation; translation skills
Acknowledgements
Upon the completion of the project report, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who have helped me a lot in the two years.
First of all, I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Xia Xindong, who is very amiable and patient. She has spent much time reading through each of my draft and pointed out mistakes in the paper patiently. With her enlightening instructions and careful modifications, I have finished my paper.
I also would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers who have taught me over the past two years. They helped me to know translation better. Their words and deeds also have enormous influences on the formation of my personality.
Moreover, I am deeply indebted to my parents and my friends, who are very considerate and kindhearted. They have accompanied and encouraged me in the writing of the translation project.
Last but not least, my indebtedness also goes to those who are willing to spend their time and energy in reading this paper.
CONTENTS
摘 要....................................................................................................................... i i Abstract . (iii)
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. i v Chapter 1 General Introduction (1)
1.1Background of the Report (1)
1.2Objectives of the Report (2)
1.3Structure of the Report (2)
Chapter 2 An Introduction to the Source Text (3)
2.1About the Author (3)
2.2 About the Source Text (4)
2.2.1 Publishing Facts of the Source Text (4)
2.2.2 Content of the Source Text (4)
2.2.3 Linguistic Feature of the Source Text (5)
Chapter 3 Theoretical Basis, Translation Difficulties and Solutions (6)
3.1 Guiding Theory (6)
3.1.1 Introduction to Communicative Translation (6)
3.1.2 Application of Communicative Translation (7)
3.2 Translation Difficulties (9)
3.3 Translation Methods (11)
3.3.1 Inversion (11)
3.3.2 Conversion (12)
3.3.3 Amplification (14)
3.3.4 Sentence Division (15)
Chapter 4 Conclusion (17)
4.1 Lessons Learned from the Translation Practice (17)
4.2 Problems to be Resolved (18)
References (19)
Appendix I Source Text (20)
Appendix II 中文译文 (36)
Chapter 1 General Introduction
This chapter makes an introduction to the translation project, involving project background, objectives and structure of the report.
1.1Background of the Report
According to a survey, most college students nowadays belong to the only child group. Those spoiled children tend to be self-centered and always fail to take others’ feelings into account. When they go to college, they find it hard to get on well with their roommates. In recent years, the media reported several tragic cases which resulted from disharmonious relationship among roommates. Since there are tragic accidents happening in dormitory, people begin to pay more attention to college students’ mental health. As for a generation of the only child, many college students have problems with people and some don’t even know how to interact with others. It is necessary for college students to gain some knowledge of interpersonal communication to deal with tricky things in their life. Thus, based on the translation of Chapter 6 of the book You’re the Only One I Can Tell, the significance of the project is mainly embodied in the following two aspects: firstly, it can make college students realize the subtlety of interpersonal communication and call their attention to behave themselves. Besides, by translating the book, it is hoped to instruct the translation practice and provide guidance for others in the future.
This book is not like those theory-oriented ones. It offers many real-life examples which is easy to understand and more instructive. From casual chatting to intimate confiding, from talking about problems to telling what you had for dinner, Tannen uncovers the patterns of communication and miscommunication that affect friendships at different points in our lives. She shows how even the best of friends—with the best intentions—can say wrong things, and how words can repair the damage done by words. Through Tannen’s insight, humor, and ability to present pitch-perfect real-life dialogues, readers will see themselves and their friendships on every page. So, to translate this book will provide references for college students to better understand one another.
1.2Objectives of the Report
The translation report is based on the Chapter 6 named “Too Close for Comfort” which deconstructs the ways in which women friends talk and how those ways can bring friends closer or pull them apart. The project helps readers grasp the notion of “cutoffs” and “poaching” in friendship which are rarely realized by them and makes them understand friendship better. The translation of this text also aims to explain the multiple roles of friendships and to benefit college students who want to gain some knowledge of interpersonal communication from real-life examples. In addition, it is hoped that the translation of the text can help the author to understand Peter Newmark’s communicative translation better and make a summary of two-year studies as a postgraduate.
1.3Structure of the Report
The translation report includes the following chapters. Chapter 1 makes an introduction to the translation project, which involves project background, objectives and structure of the report. Chapter 2 gives a brief introduction to the author and an analysis of the source text, containing publishing information and main contents of the original. Chapter 3 offers a detailed description of “communicative translation” theory, followed by its guidance to this translation project. At the same time, this chapter also points out the difficulties encountered in the translation and the application of translation methods. Chapter 4 is the conclusion, which summarizes the lessons learnt from the translating process and the problems left to be solved.
Chapter 2 An Introduction to the Source Text
This chapter is about the author and the analysis of the source text, containing publishing information and main contents of the original.
2.1 About the Author
You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships is written by Deborah Tannen, who is an American academic and professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C..
Deborah Tannen focuses on the expression of interpersonal relationships especially in the conversational interaction. Tannen has researched conversational interaction and style differences at various levels and related to different situations, involving differences in conversation styles in connection with gender and cultural background. Particularly, Deborah Tannen has done many gender-linked researches and writing which put stress on miscommunications between men and women.
Tannen also wrote some general-audience books about interpersonal communication and public discourse. She became a household name in the United States after the book You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, which was published in 1990. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for almost four years (eight months at No.1) and it was rendered into 30 other languages. She has also written several other books, such as:
That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships(published by William Morrow Paperbacks in 2011);
The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words (published by Ballantine Books in 1999); and
I Only Say This Because I Love You: Talking to Your Parents, Partner, Sibs, and Kids When You're All Adults(published by Ballantine Books in 2002).
2.2 About the Source Text
2.2.1 Publishing Facts of the Source Text
In 2017, You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships was first published in the United States by Ballantine Books and in Great Britain by Virago Press. The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post highly recommended the book. ISBN:9781101885802. Up to now, there is no Chinese version published.
2.2.2 Content of the Source Text
Friendship is to us what sunshine to trees. Friendship acts as multiple roles in our lives. Sometimes, friends instruct and encourage us like a mentor or a therapist; sometimes, friends take good care of us like a mother or a big sister. Now that friendship is so important, we should treasure it carefully. The goal of the book You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships is to help readers understand women’s friendships—how they work or fail, how they help and hurt, and how we can make them better.This book also aims to figure out what it means to be a friend and how we connect to other people. Apart from some occasional examples from novels and short stories, all the examples which the author gave are based on real ones.Though Deborah Tannen focuses on women’s friendships, but some of what she writes might also be true of friendships between women and men, and among men.
In the chapter 6 “Too Close for Comfort”, Deborah Tannen explains friendship is like a double-edged sword which is “for your growth” but also “ for your pruning”. Especially when a friendship gets too close, it is more likely to be for your pruning. The translation project selects chapter 6 (10000 words) as the source text which gives a detailed introduction to “cutoffs” and “poaching” and makes some analyses.
2.2.3 Linguistic Feature of the Source Text
Peter Newmark is a famous British translation theorist, who classified texts into three categories: expressive text, informative text and vocative text on the basis of Karl Buhler’s theory of language and Katharina Reiss’s typology.
According to Newmark, informative texts include textbooks, memos, reports, papers and so on, and put stress on the external situation, the topic and the reality beyond the language(Newmark, 1988, p.40), therefore, this type of text is to convey the information and mainly focuses on the content or topic. The target translation of this type calls for receptors’ response and understanding. Thus, Newmark advised adopting the approach of communicative translation, attempting to exert an effect on its receptors as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the source text and stress the truth and accuracy during the translating process. In terms of this aspect, Newmark’s opinion is similar to Eugene Nida’s dynamic equivalence, that’s, the readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciate it.(Nida,1982, p. 118)
In the book You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships, Tannen applies case-study method by interviewing more than 80 women from all over the word ranging in age from 9-97 to explore how patterns of communication and miscommunication have influences on friendships; and the language of the source text is characterized by concision and dialogues. As is known, the focus of an informative text is to deliver plain facts or referential content and topic. The source text can be categorized into the informative text. “The target text (TT) of an informative text should transmit the full referential or conceptual content of the source text (ST). The translation should be in plain prose, without redundancy and with the use of explication when required.”(Munday, 2001, p.73) Thus, in the translation of You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships, the translator should pay attention to the linguistic differences and apply various translation skills so that the version is more understandable and readable for Chinese readers.
Chapter 3 Theoretical Basis, Translation Difficulties and Solutions
This chapter contains a careful description of guiding theory and its direction to this translation project. For the reason that the source text is categorized into informative text, the translator adopts Newmark’s “communicative translation” strategy as guidance.
3.1 Guiding Theory
According to Newmark’s text typology, the source text is under the category of informative text. The focus of an informative text is to deliver plain facts, logical or referential content and topic. According to Katherina Reiss, the ideal translation would be one “in which the aim in the target language is equivalence as regards the conceptual content, linguistic form and communicative function of a source language text.”(Reiss, 1987, p.112) Hence, the translator selects the communicative translation theory of Peter Newmark as the guiding theory of the thesis, where the translator attempts to exert the same effect on the target text readers as the original produced on the source text readers to guarantee the target text readers can receive the same meaning as readers of the original language.
3.1.1 Introduction to Communicative Translation
Peter Newmark is an English professor of translation at the University of Surrey. He is renowned for Approaches to Translation, About Translation and A Textbook of Translation and so on. He put forward two translation models: semantic translation and communicative translation. In A Textbook of Translation, he noted “while semantic translation is used for expressive texts, communicative translation is for informative and vocative texts” (Newmark, 1988, p.47) According to Newmark, “communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original.”(马会娟&苗菊, 2009, p. 33)
“Communicative translation addresses itself solely to the second reader, who
does not anticipate difficulties or obscurities, and would expect a generous transfer of foreign elements into his own culture as well as his language where necessary.”(马会娟&苗菊, 2009, p. 33)Normally, by making and adapting the thought and cultural content of the original，the translator makes the version more easier, smoother, clearer and more idiomatic to read. In this case, the translator has a high degree of freedom to explain the source text, adjust the style, eliminate the ambiguity and even correct the mistake of the original author.
3.1.2 Application of Communicative Translation
This project takes the communicative translation as the guiding theory. According to Newmark ,“communicative translation attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership.”(Newmark, 2001, p.
47)
Example 1
ST: But friends can also be for your pruning.
TT:但是朋友也会使你退步。

Analysis: According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the word “pruning” means “the activity of cutting off some of the branches from a tree, bush, etc. so that it will grow better and stronger”. The author uses a metaphor to deliver the message that friends can also do harm to us. “Pruning” seems to have no counterpart in Chinese. Under the guidance of the communicative translation given the context, the translator render “for your pruning” into “使你退步” to make it more accessible to readers.
ST: Speaking about the book on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show, Elena was asked if her mother had played a role in her developing anorexia.
TT:埃琳娜在NPR的《黛安·雷姆秀》中谈到那本书时，她被问及患上厌食症是否和母亲有关。

Analysis: In above example, the phrase “played a role in” is as equivalent as “扮演了一个角色” in Chinese. If the translator directly translate the original, the latter sentence “Elena was asked if her mother had played a role in her developing anorexia” will be transformed into “埃琳娜被问及是否她的母亲在她患上厌食症时扮演了一个角色” which sounds very weird to receptors. To increase the readability of the target text, the translator adjusts the order of subject renders it into “埃琳娜在NPR的《黛安·雷姆秀》中谈到那本书时，她被问及患上厌食症是否和母亲有关。

”
Example 3
ST: If you are in that buffered state when a friend approaches with a sad face and a voice thick with sympathy to ask how you’re doing or how your ailing loved one is doing, your protective cocoon is shattered and you’re plunged back into despair.
TT:如果你正处于一个过渡阶段，这时一个面露忧伤的朋友走近，以一种充满同情的沙哑声音问你最近如何，你所爱之人的病情如何，马上你的心理防线就会崩溃，从而再次陷入痛苦当中。

Analysis:In example 3, the source text “your protective cocoon is shattered” is not literally translated into “你的保护茧被粉碎”; instead, the translator transform it into “你的心理防线就会崩溃”. The translator digests the source sentence and transforms it into a more idiomatic version“你的心理防线就会崩溃”which is more easier for Chinese readers to understand.
ST: If a woman is even a tiny bit overweight—indeed, in our weight-obsessed culture, even if her weight is normal—any reference to it is generally understood to be out of bounds.
TT: 如果一个女人哪怕只有一点点超重——事实上，在我们痴迷体重的文化中，即使她的体重是正常的——任何关于体重的暗示，都会被视为一种冒犯行为。

Analysis: In accordance with word-to-word translation，the Chinese translation of “any reference to it is generally understood to be out of bounds” is possible to be “任何关于体重的暗示，都会被视为出界” in which “出界”does not conform to the expression habits of the Chinese so the translator renders it into “一种冒犯行为”.
3.2 Translation Difficulties
During the process of translating, the translator came across some difficulties which mainly lie in following four aspects.
First of all, the author adopted the case-study method which contains lots of vivid examples. Various names of protagonists and places are involved in these examples, such as “Binge宾根”, “San Jose圣何塞”, “Stade施塔德”, “Hildegard 希尔德加德” and “Adrienne艾德丽安” and so on.Among those names, some of them can be found in the dictionary, while others are indefinite which need the translator to make further confirmation.
Secondly, the author quotes from all kinds of books which haven’t been translated up to now. For instance, the book The Social Sex mentioned in the second paragraph has no Chinese version. Therefore, the translator has to search it on line and find related information so as to accurately translate its name.
Thirdly, the examples made by the author are related to other field. The translators are supposed to add some notes to ensure the version reach to the readers.
Example 5
ST: But Shannon’s feelings changed when Tory reported that she was going to take LSD under his supervision. (This was back in the sixties.)
TT:但是当托里说她将在治疗师的监督下采取LSD （此疗法可以追溯到六十年代）时，夏伦的情绪有了波动。

Analysis: In example 5, the author mentions the “LSD” and gives a parenthesis. Even the translator renders the original sentence word for word, but the version leaves readers to wonder what the“LSD” is. In order not to confuse readers, the translator adds a footnote, that’s “LSD：一种可致幻的化学物质。

LSD 疗法：是指运用LSD来诱导试验对象进入短暂的精神病状态,借此来探究病人的心理世界”.
At last, there are some long sentences with complex structure in the source text which need to be carefully dealt with.
Example 6
ST: While drying this frying pan, I made a remark that I was proud of in the way that very young people can be proud of finding their verbal style, their sense of irony or humor.
TT: 把这个煎锅烘干的时候，我以年轻人的口吻说了一些话，颇使人引以为傲，有点讽刺也有点幽默。

Analysis: Obviously, the above example is a long sentence consisting of main clause, subordinate clause. It seems that each part of the sentence is not hard to understand, but when they are put together, it is no easy job for the translator to convey the exact meaning without losing the original style.
3.3 Translation Methods
3.3.1 Inversion
Inversion implies a necessary change of word order to conform the good usage in target language. Owing to the culture differences, when delivering the same meaning, the sentence structure may differ between English and Chinese. Thus, during translating, the order of words is needed to be adjusted according to the specific circumstances. Definitely, inversion is a good choice to make up for the differences in syntax style between the original and the version.
Example 7
ST: They may bring out sides of you that you’d sooner suppress.
TT: 他们可能会释放你想克制的一面。

Example 8
ST:It is impossible not to be moved by Hildegard’s suffering, yet I found myself cheering Richardis for not letting her mentor’s love—and consequent need—prevent her from becoming an abbess in her own right.
TT:希尔德加德的悲伤确实让人动容，但我依旧为理查蒂丝欢呼，因为她没让导师的爱——（以及）随之而来的需求——阻止自己成为一个女修道院院长。

Example 9
ST:Friends can also be for your pruning by encouraging destructive behavior.
TT:朋友也可以助长不良行为来误导你。

ST:Elena Dunkle nearly succumbed to anorexia nervosa as a teen.
TT:埃琳娜·邓克尔在青少年时期深受神经性厌食症困扰。

Analysis: In above-mentioned examples, if the translator renders them copying the original structure of the sentences, the version will go disordered. Hence, the translator adjusts the word order in the transforming process such as “bring out sides of you that you’d sooner suppress”&“释放你想克制的一面”, “It is impossible not to be moved by Hildegard’s suffering”&“希尔德加德的痛苦不会让人动容”, and “Friends can also be for your pruning by encouraging destructive behavior”& “朋友也可以助长不良行为来误导你”. In the example 7, the translator put the attribute before the noun for there is no post-noun attribute in Chinese. In example 9, if the translator keeps the sentence structure of the target sentence in line with that of the original, the version of “friends can also be for your pruning by encouraging destructive behavior” will become “朋友也会误导你通过助长不良行为” which goes against the expression habits of the target text. It is true of example 8 and 10.
3.3.2 Conversion
Due to the syntactical differences between English and Chinese, it is usually impossible for a translator to keep to the original part of speech in the process of translation (Ye Zinan, 2011, p.82). In fact, there is no need to turn words in source text into their counterparts of the same part of speech in the target language. Thus, conversion as a common strategy appears frequently in the practice of translation, which means the shift of word class. For instance, an adjective or a noun of the original may be converted into verb in the target language.
ST:The same is true of friendship.
TT: 这句话同样适用于友谊。

Example 12
ST:In these and countless other ways, they are for your growth. But friends can also be for your pruning.
TT: 在这方面和其他方面，他们都在助你成长。

但是朋友也会使你退步。

Example 13
ST:When she took the young Richardis under her wing and mentored her, Hildegard had been for her growth.
TT: 希尔德加德庇护和指导理查蒂丝时，她能帮助理查蒂丝成长。

Analysis: In example 11, the sentence structure of “The same is true of friendship” belongs to “subject-link verb-predicative Structure”, which is not uncommon in English. However, in order to convey the meaning of the source sentence and accords with the expression habits of Chinese people, the adjective phase “is true of” should be converted a verb, so, given the context, it is rendered into “适用于” rather than “对的”.
As is known to us all, the noun structure is often used in English while Chinese prefers to choose verbs. Therefore, a lot of nouns in English, especially deriving from their corresponding verbs, are often turned into verbs in Chinese.In example 12, both of the nouns, “growth” and “pruning”, are converted to a verb of the similar meaning, which is the same with the noun “growth” in example 13. Besides, the translator simplifies the verb-preposition phrase “took the young Richardis under her wing” in example into a Chinese verb “庇护” which not only delivers its meaning but also forms a parallel predicate with “指导” to make the version more concise and readable.
3.3.3 Amplification
Amplification is usually adopted to enrich the details such as background, and object when the sentence constituents of the original are not complete. To make the version semantically coherent, some extra words are supposed to be added. That’s to say, amplification is applied to expand a word or explain an idea to help receptors better understand what the author endeavors to express.
Example 14
ST: But when she tried to prevent her protégée’s advancement, Hildegard was for her pruning.
TT: 但希尔德加德试图阻止其门徒的升职时，希尔德加德就在毁掉理查蒂丝的前途。

Example 15
ST: Her mother was blameless, but her friends were not.
TT:她的母亲是无辜的，可是她的朋友却脱不了干系。

Example 16
ST: For example, expressing empathy, which might seem at first to be an unalloyed good, isn’t always.
TT:比如，例如，表达同情，最开始完全是一个善意的表示，现在并不总是这个意思。

Analysis: In above examples, the underlined part of the target sentences is amplified by the translator. In example 14, the meaning of “Hildegard was for her pruning” is “希尔德加德在毁掉她” in Chinese, so the translator adds “希尔德加
德就在毁掉理查蒂丝的前途” to make the version clearer. In example 15, the later part of the sentence literally means “但她的朋友却不是” which is incomplete in Chinese. To avoid ambiguities, the translator renders the latter part into“但是她的朋友却脱不了干系” in accordance with the context. Likewise, in example 16, “这个意思” is supplemented as a predicative so as to convey the original meaning totally.
3.3.4 Sentence Division
“One of the biggest differences between English and Chinese is hypotaxis and parataxis.” (Nida, 1982, p.16) English seems to be an explicit language which concentrates on the sentence structure, the connection between two sentences usually depends on syntactic devices or lexical devices; Chinese is an implicit language which pays more attention to the semantic relationship and relies on semantic devices to show the conjunction between the two sentences. Besides, English text is characterized by long and complex sentences rather than short sentence style like Chinese. The strategy of sentence division is applied to deal with the situation.
Example 17
ST: Not a few women told me of friends who they felt had stolen from them—in most cases figuratively, but in a few cases, literally.
TT: 不少女性告诉我，她们觉得朋友好像从她们那里偷走了什么——大多数情况下是打比方，但在一些情况下，朋友真的会行窃。

Example 18
ST: Not long after, Sofia’s mother stopped by a high-end clothing store whose owner she knew.
TT: 不久之后，索菲亚的母亲逛到一家高档服装店，索菲亚认识店主。