汉英数字文化比较及其翻译 [7]
论文作者:林梅霞论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-09编辑:黄丽樱点击率:12530
论文字数:6163论文编号:org200904091626191387语种:中文 Chinese地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:numbersChineseEnglishcomparisontranslation数字汉语英语对比翻译
like to employ forty or forty thousand to indicate a large quantity, just as the sentences listed in the example (3). We can still understand its meaning even if it is translated into“四万个”. And “putting two and two together” means “guess the truth from what one sees, hears, etc”. So, even if it is translated as the expression above, it is still readable and understandable.
4.2 Free translation
Free translation is a type of translation in which more attention is paid to producing a naturally reading target text than to preserving the source text wording intact. It is also known as sense-for-sense translation. And according to different texts, different techniques are employed in translation.
4.2.1 Meaning translation
In the course of translating, sometimes we find it difficult or impossible to translate literally to get equivalence between the source language and the target language, due to the diversity in the cultural backgrounds and the expressions. In English and Chinese language, some idioms or idiomatic usages with numbers carry particular cultural connotations, which have no identical or similar characters in another language. This means the necessity, in order for the intercommunication to be realizable in practice, of free rendering in both source language and the target language.
E.g. (1) 七碟子八碗摆了一桌。
He laid out an elaborate spread. [24]
(2) 一听说他又要来,她七窍生烟。
When she heard he would come again, she fumed with anger.
(3) 阿Q候他略停,终于用十二分的勇气开口了。
(鲁迅《阿Q正传》)
Ah Q waited for him to pause, and then screwed up his courage to speak. [25]
The set phrase “七碟子八碗”is a dialect, used to describe a substantial meal. And, “七窍”refers to seven apertures in the human head, i.e. eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.“七窍生烟”means very angry. And the translation above is appropriate and acceptable to the English people.
(4) Seventy times seven did I take counsel with my soul.
我在内心深出不知考虑了多少次。[26]
(5)Everyone sprang to his feet, but the business was over in two twos. (R.Stevenson, New Arabian Nights)
此时大家都一跃而起,但转眼间他就一命呜呼。[27]
(6)-- Are you taking Pam out tonight?
-- Ah, that’s the sixty-four-thousand dollar question!
-- 你今晚打算带帕姆出去吗?
-- 唉,这真是个难题![28]
As illustrated above, the idiom “seventy times seven” originated from the Bible. “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” (Matt, 18:22) [29]. It is a repetition of seven in a number, equivalent to saying “a large number” or “without limit”, but its original meaning is“七十七个次”. And “in two twos” which means immediately can be translated into“转眼间,一下子”. The expression “sixty-four-thousand dollar” started to be used because of a television Game Show, in which people played games or answered questions to win prizes, the presenter used these words just before he asked the last and most difficult question. So it means the most difficult and crucial.
This method of translation is not always concerned with the words of the original forms, but with understanding the meaning of the text. Sometimes more words, sentences or even paragraphs are to be added so as to be understandable.
4.2.2 The technique of replacement
It happens on the premise of not disturbing the original meaning and context. Since there exist substantial idioms or idiomatic usages about numbers in both English and Chinese, this method involves replacing a cultural specific expression with a target-language expression which is certain or likely to have a similar i
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