A Comparative Study of Chinese and English.docx

Topic 6 A Comparative Study of Chinese and English (Part I) Teaching aims: to learn about the similarities and differences of Chinese and English in word forming and? vocabulary so as to translate them accurately.Main Language points:1. Comparative studies ofvocabulary in Chinese and English 2. Comparative studies of word forming in English and Chinese.3. Techniques employed in translating the differences. Teaching emphasis: the techniques employed in translating the differences.Teaching references:1. 孙致礼. 新编英汉翻译教程M. 上外教出版社；彭长江. 英汉汉英翻译教程M. 湖南师大出版社； 2. 冯伟年，最新简明英语翻译教程M，世界图书出版公司，20013. 陈宏薇，新编汉英翻译教程M.上海外语教育出版社，20044. 张培基，英汉翻译教程，上海外语教育出版社，1983Teaching methods: Analysis and PracticeTime arrangement: 2 periods I. Lexical Comparison of Chinese and English1、Comparison of script(文字对比)： English (alphabetic script)（只有词） Chinese （ideographic-oriented syllabic script）: （有字又有词） 象形字（pictograph），指事字（indicative character），会意字（associative character），形声字（morpheme-phonetic character） 2、Comparison of pronunciationChinese ( tonal language)English (intonation language)3、Comparison of word formation（见书上P3641汉英） 4、Difference of morphologyEnglish 有屈折变化（inflections）：性、数、格、时、体、态、语气、人称、比较级等； Chinese 没有形态变化，但有量词（动量词）、语气词、形态助词； II. Semantic comparison of Chinese and English(词义对比)A、the meanings of the word(词的意义方面)： 1、英语中有些词所表示的意义，在汉语里可以找到完全对应的词来表达。（semantic correspondence） 专用名词、术语和事物名称 。如：The U.S. State Department (美国国务院)；萨斯SARS（Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome）；Aids (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) ；直升飞机；太平洋2、英语中有些词与汉语中有些词在词义上只有部分对应。(partly semantic correspondence)大象、龙 marriage，gun，uncle，aunt，bother，morning 等。 3、英语中有些词所表示的意义，目前在汉语里还找不到最后确定的对应词来表达。（semantic zero）Examples: mascon (mass concentration)（表示月球表层下高密度的）物质聚积，beddo（一种多用途的）床，overkill过度杀伤力，现又指表示宣传活动等方面不必要的过度行为，plumber特工，又称“管子工”（美国调查政府雇员泄密事件的特工）。再如：21 grams.文房四宝： the four treasures of the study (writing brush, inkstick, inkstone and paper)乌纱帽： an official post4、英语中有许多词一词多义，其所表示的各个意义，分别与汉语中几个不同的词或词组对应。 如: 1、 a soft drug2、soft intelligence3、soft money4、soft drink5、soft fire6、soft water1、毒性较轻的麻醉剂；软性麻醉毒品 2、非百分之百可靠的，不充分的情报 3、纸币 4、软饮料 5、文火 6、 软水（不含矿物盐类而易溶解肥皂的水）;B. The possible collocation of the word词的搭配能力方面：英语和汉语在词的搭配能力方面有很大的差异。英语的搭配能力比汉语强，如： cut (wheat, finger-nails, cake ) （英译汉时须考虑译文中词的搭配必须符合汉语的习惯 )C. the word order(词序方面)：英、汉语句子中主要成分主语、谓语动词、宾语或表语的词序基本上是一致的。但是各种定语的位置和各种状语的次序在英、汉语中则有同有异，变化较多，所以英汉词序的比较主要指定语、状语位置异同的比较。1）The pressure is almost as heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job.对于那些只想毕业后找份工作的学生来说, 压力也一样不小。2）In the spirit of frankness which I hope will characterize our talks this week, let us recognize at the outset these points: we have at times in the past been enemies. We have great differences today. What brings us together is that we have common interests which transcend these differences.我希望我们在本周的会谈将会是坦诚的。让我们从一开始就承认以下几点：过去的一些时期内我们曾经是敌人。今天我们仍有着巨大的分歧。但我们之所以走到一起，是因为我们的共同利益超过这些分歧。3）March is the month God created to show people who dont drink what a hangover is like.上帝创造三月，目的在于让那些未曾醉过的人体会体会沉醉的感觉。4） 我们为顾全大局1于同年2秋末3在第三方的调停下4开诚布公地5多次6强烈7要求贵方赔偿我们的一切损失。With the third party acting as an intermediary 4,to take the interest of the whole into account 1,we strongly 7demand with frankness and sincerity 5many times6 at end of the autumn3 of the same year 2that you should compensate all our losses.5）这三个县经历了那场1中国2七十年代3第四次4极为严重的5遍及数省的6自然7灾害。The three counties underwent the1 fourth4 most serious 5natural 7disaster that plagued several provinces 6in China 2in the 1970s3.D. Translating Strategies 1英语的词汇有形态变化，英语通过词汇的形态变化，表示句子丰富多彩的语言关系和逻辑关系。而汉语基本没有形态变化，它主要靠词语、词序及暗含逻辑关系来表达句子的语言意义。 主要对策：翻译英语的形态变化时， 汉语一般用加词或变换说法的办法来表示。如： （1）前置的时态副词：过去、曾经、已经、现在、正在、将要;（2）附着的时态助词：过、着、了、起来（3）后置的时态语气词：了，来着Examples:1) They told me that Professor Liu would have been teaching here for twenty years by this winter. 译：他们说到今年冬天时刘教授在这里教书快(就)要满二十年了。2）Oxford is much smaller in numbers, for example, than the State University of Minnesota, and is much poorer. It has, or had till yesterday, fewer students than the University of Toronto. 例如，牛津大学在校学生数比明尼苏达州立大学要少多了，也穷多了。牛津的在校学生数无论现在还是过去都比多伦多大学少。 3)? I could have laughed to hear him talk like this. 听到他这样讲话，我差点儿笑出来了。 量词与动量词A red sun rose slowly from the calm sea.He had a rest after walking ten miles. Yesterday they had a big quarrel.语气词 （见书上）2英语的名词、介词、形容词、副词表达能力强，在句子中特别活跃；汉语的动词、词组和短句构成了汉语的优势。 主要对策：翻译英譯的名词、介词、形容词、副词时，一般应把它们从英语的外形束缚中解放出来，译成比较灵活的汉语对应成份。如： 1）What can easily be seen in is poems are his imagery and originality, power and range.译：他的诗形象生动，独具一格，而且气势磅礴，这是显而易见的。 2）The kaleidoscope of shifting interests made it impossible to sort out the “winners” and “losers”.译：各国的利益变化不定，好像万花筒一样，这就使人难以分辨出究竟谁是“胜者”，谁是“输家”。 3）一星期没洗澡，一身臭汗。 I am smelling of seven-day-old sweat.4）The man who is above his business may one day find his business above him.（英语的介词短语译成汉语时，往往要借助于汉语的动词、短语或短句。） 译：不屑于干自己工作的人，终会有一天发现自己不配干那份工作。 5）I am much abroad in my guess.（英语的许多形容词表现力很强，可以携带丰富的信息，表达复杂的内容。）我大错特错。6）Jordan can not politely turn down the invitation to an Arab foreign ministers conference.（英语的副词表现力也很强。有些副词由于信息载量大，译为汉语时可以独立成句。） 约旦若拒绝接受阿拉伯外交会议的邀请，它在礼貌上也说不过去。 3英语用词力戒重复，常常用替代、省略和变换的表达方法避免重复；汉语用词不怕重复，常常运用实称、还原和复说的表达方法。如： 1）Translation from English into Chinese is not so easy as that from English into French.译：英译汉不如英译法容易。 2）During his visit to China, the Korean foreign minister conferred with his Chinese counterpart a number of times.译：在中国访问期间，韩国外交部长与中国外交部长举行了数次会商。 III. Assignments1、Bilingual readings:密云事故 (p.87)(E-C & C-E)2、Translating Knowledge and Strategies：“译语中没有完全对应的词语或对应词语不合习惯怎么办？” (p.137) (E-C & C-E)3、Read Chapter 5 in E-C (p67-80)(翻译的语言对比规律)；汉英语言对比（C-E）p33-474、Translate the following sentences and short passage:1)要不断调整投资和消费的关系，增加消费对经济增长的拉动作用。 2)继续加大对“三农”的支持力度，保持农业和农村发展的好势头。 The United States is a varied landof forests, deserts, mountains, high flat lands and fertile plains. Almost every kind of climate may be found, but the country lies mostly in the temperate zone. Including the states of Alaska and Hawaii, the United States covers an area of 9 million square kilometers. The continental United States stretches 4,500 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. It borders Canada on the north, and reaches south to Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Keys:1) The relationship between investment and consumption has to be adjusted accordingly whenever necessary so as to enhance the stimulative impact of consumption on the growth of the economy.2) Renewed efforts are needed to increase support for the “three rurals”, namely the rural economy, rural community and rural residents, and the momentum for the development of agriculture production and rural community must be maintained. 美国是一个地形多样的国家有森林、沙漠、山脉、平坦的高地和肥沃的平原。境内有各种气候，但是美国的大部分处在温带。把阿拉斯加和夏威夷两个州加在一起，美国的总面积达9百万平方公里。美国大陆东起大西洋，西至太平洋，横跨4，500公里。北面与加拿大接壤，南面与墨西哥和墨西哥湾毗邻。Topic 7 A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Language (Part II)Teaching aims: to learn about the linguistic differences of Chinese and English so as to translate them accurately.Main Language points:Comparative studies of? syntactic structure in Chinese and EnglishDifficult teaching points: hypotactic & paratactic; subject-prominent & topic prominent; static & dynamic .Teaching references:1. 方梦之. 翻译新论与实践M. 青岛出版社，20022. 孙致礼. 新编英汉翻译教程M. 上外教出版社；彭长江. 英汉汉英翻译教程M. 湖南师大出版社； 3. 陈宏薇，新编汉英翻译教程M.上海外语教育出版社，20044. 许建平. 英汉互译实践与技巧M. 清华大学出版社，2002Teaching methods: Analysis and PracticeTime arrangement: 2 periods What are the major differences between the English and Chinese languages? I. Hypotactic vs ParatacticAs E. A. Nida points out in his “Translating Meaning”, so far as English and Chinese are concerned, the most important difference linguistically is the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis.Hypotaxis: The dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses arranged with connectives;E.g. I shall despair if you dont come .(The American Heritage Dictionary, p.649 )Parataxis: The arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives showing the relation between them; e.g.The rain fell; the river flooded; the houses were washed away. (The world Book Dictionary, p. 1513)Examples:1. That is our policy and that is our declaration. W. Churchill这就是我们的国策。这就是我们的宣言。 2. First, we make clear what is doing the travelling a car, a bus, a plane or whatever it may be.首先，我们要搞清旅行工具，例如小汽车、公共汽车、飞机或别的可用工具。3. 发展体育运动，增强人民体质。Promote physical culture, and build up Peoples health.4. 东海缺少白玉床，龙王请来金陵王。If the Dragon King wants a white jade bed, he applies to the Wangs of Jinling, its said.P.53(CE)II. Complex vs SimplexAs English is hypotactic, more often than not, syntactic devices are employed in the formation of sentences. In normal writings people use much more complex sentences than simple ones. The English complex sentences are often like chains with clauses linking clauses. On the other hand, the Chinese sentences or clauses tend to be short and simple in structure. They are flowing and? simplex, with one clause following the other rather in a line.(化英语长句为汉语的短句)Illustrative examples:1. The moon is so far from the earth that even if huge trees were growing on the mountains and elephants were walking about, we could not see them through the most powerful telescopes which have yet been invented. (tree structure)月球离地球非常遥远，即使那边山上长着大树，有大象在移动，我们用当今发明的最高倍率的望远镜，也不能看见它们。(bamboo structure)2. As we lived near the road, we often had the traveler or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry wine, for which we had great reputation, and I confess, with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them to find fault with it.我们就住在路边，过路人或外乡人常到我们这里，尝尝我们家酿的醋栗酒。这种酒很有名气。我敢说，尝过的人，从没有挑剔过。我这话像历史学家的话一样靠得住。3. 蒲松龄生活在清朝，贪官污吏肆虐，真正有才华的人得不到重用。Pu Songling lived in a time when most of the Qing officials were so unjust and corrupt that true talents without money to pay a bribe could never hope to be given the opportunity to demonstrate their learning.4. 文章做到极处，无有他奇，只有恰好；人品做到极处，无有他异，只有本然。 洪应明：菜根谭 When a piece of writing reaches the acme of perfection it is not because it contains some miraculous ingredient, but because it is written in exactly the right way. When a man refines his moral character to the point of perfection he does so not with the aid of any magic formula but by letting his pure inborn mature shine forth. III. End-weight vs Top-heavyIn an English sentence, the shorter elements usually go before longer ones in arrangement order, thus the weight of the sentence is put at the end, and the whole sentence looks like a pyramid. That also explain why there are so many inverted sentences in English. The arrangement of a Chinese sentence seems quite the opposite, where the important elements are often said at the beginning of a sentence. So it looks like an inverted pyramid or triangle.? Illustrative examples:1. Gone are the days when we Chinese people depended on foreign steel.中国人民靠洋钢的日子已一去不复返了。2. Before them lay miles of miles of beautiful plain with lots of wild animals among the grass.美丽的草原，茵茵的绿草，野生动物成群结队，绵延数英里，展现在眼前。3. 普通人在办公处和家庭中使用电子计算机的时代已经到来。The time has come when ordinary people can use electronic computers both in the office and at home.4. 学科技、学英语，对社会主义现代化建设很重要。It is important to study English as well as science and technology for our socialist modernization drive. IV. Subject-prominent vs Topic-prominentIn an English sentence, prominence is usually given to the subject. There are five basic sentence patterns in English: SV, SVC, SVO, SVO1O2, SVOC, all with SV as its essentials. We can venture to say that an English sentence is built on the subject-predict-pivot, with the subject and predicate in agreement. On the other hand, a Chinese sentence often lays emphasis on the thought or notion, so it is based on the thought pivot.Illustrative examples:1. A dialect is known by every linguist in this room.有一种方言这间屋子里的每个语言学家都懂得。2. You dont grow the grain you eat and you dont make the clothes you wear.你吃的粮食不是你自己种的，你穿的衣服也不是你自己做的。3. 1978年改革开放开始了。The year 1978 saw the beginnings of the reform and opening to the outside world.4. 我们的事业从胜利走向胜利。We have won one victory after another for our cause. Or: A series of victories have been won for our cause. V. Static vs DynamicEnglish tends to use less verbs than Chinese. In a simple English sentence or in an English clause, only one verb is used as the predicate of the sentence or clause. In a Chinese sentence, a number of verbs can be used as its predicate at the same time, so we may say that the Chinese is rather “dynamic” while the English is “static”.Illustrative examples: 1. A mastery of Chinese and English is essential for E-C or C-E translation.做英汉/汉英翻译必须掌握好汉语与英语。2. Engineering design is a decision-making process used for the development of engineering for which there is a human need.工程设计是为发展人类所需工程而作决定的过程。3. 再走几步就到实验大楼了。A few steps will bring you to the laboratory building./ Walk a few steps and you will reach the lab building.4. 我国科学研究发展的特点是理论联系实际。The development of scientific research in our country is characterized by the combination/ link of theory with practice. VI. Impersonal vs Personal (Inanimate vs Animate)In an English sentence, the choice of its subject often falls on the inanimate or the thing that is not living. For example, it would be preferable to say “There are eight people in his family.” than “He has eight people in his family.” This special feature of English is especially shown in writings in formal style such as news reports or scientific essays. On the other hand, we Chinese tend to pick up animate things or persons to function as the subject of a sentence. Illustrative examples:1. There is a touch of rough poetry about him.他这人还有那么点诗意呢。. Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh. (N. Grove writing about Chaplin)这位曾使全世界人发笑的人自己却饱受辛酸。3他（徐霞客） 发现了许多奇山秀景；他常常选择不同的时间和季节多次重游各地名山The reward for his work was the discovery of many fantastically beautiful scenes. Famous mountains in various places would find him coming back for revisits during different seasons.4. 闲人免进。 Only for business!(Dont say: Man with no business not allowed to get in. / No admission for man with nothing to do. / Visitors, stop here!) Practice： 1. He got his haberdashery at Charvets but his suits, his shoes and his hats in London.2. You dont grow the grain you eat and you dont make the clothes you wear.3. The girl was used to this kind of dialogue for breakfast and more of? it for dinner.4.The constant sunshine and mild climate of southern California made it an ideal site for shooting motion pictures. Assignments:1. Bilingua