第一讲 翻译的定义

第一讲翻译的定义/中国翻译史简介

英汉翻译

2011.2—2011.6

第一讲翻译概论

Focus:

The Definition of Translation;

The History of Translation in China

翻译中的笑话

How are you?

－怎么是你？

How old are you?

－怎么老是你？

Are you serious？

你是席尔瑞斯吗？

No，I'm kidding.

不，我是凯丁。

不宰客

No Killing

试译下列句子：

1. Most Tibetans are deeply religious.

2. He is the last man she would marry.

3. 请勿倚靠车门。

参考答案

1. Most Tibetans are deeply religious.

－－大多数西藏人都是虔诚的教徒。（词类转译法）

2. He is the last man she would marry.

－－她绝不会嫁给他。（她死也不会嫁给他）（词义引申）

3. 请勿倚靠车门。

－－Please keep clear of the door/gate.(正反、反正表达法）

I. What Is Translation?

Translation is of great importance in learning a foreign language. Many of those who learn English will be English-Chinese translators in the future. There are many translation theories and techniques for you too learn .

Without knowing the theories and the techniques one will most likely take a roundabout course in translation work. That’s why it is necessary for you to have a good command of both the source language and the target language, and of the theories and the techniques in translation.

Translation is an activity of reproducing in one language the ideas which have been expressed in another language.

－－翻译是把一种语言所表达的思想用另一种语言重新表达出来的活动。

Translation may be defined as follows:

The replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language.

翻译可作如下界定：用一种语言（目的语）的文本材料对等地再现另一种语言（出发语）的文本材料。

Eugene Nida

Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language messages, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. （Eugene Nida, famous American translation theorist ）

翻译就是接受语言复制出与原语信息最接近的自然等值体---首先是就意义而言,其次是就其风格而言.（奈达）

Traduire, c’est comprendre et faire comprendre.

简单地说，翻译= decode（解码） +recode（重新编码）

或者，to understand (理解）+ to be understood（被理解）

Translation is a science ：

Translation is an art

Lin Yutang was once a representative. In his essay “On Translation” he declares that translation is an art whose success depends on one’s artistic talent and enough training. Besides these, there are no set rules for translation and there is no short-cut for art .

From the examples mentioned above we can see that translation is an art, a brilliant art. Like painting, enables us to reproduce the fine thought of somebody, not in colors, but in words, in the words of a different language. It demands a broad and profound knowledge.

In other words , a translator should have an understanding of literature and art, rhetoric and aesthetics; otherwise, he can hardly accomplish the task of reproduction of the original.

Translation depends on the artistic level and the technique of the translator. Whoever has a good command of translation both in theory and technique can offer satisfactory translations ,it is because ,as pointed out in this lecture ,

translation is not only a science with its own laws and methods, but also an art of reproduction and recreation.

II. Prerequisites for a Translator