在英译汉进程中正说反译法的运用探讨.docx

在英译汉进程中正说反译法的运用探讨.docx

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在英译汉进程中正说反译法的运用探讨

湖北省高等教育自学考试英语专业

毕业论文

在英译汉进程中正说反译法的运用探讨

准考证号：

学生姓名：

黄志文

指导教师：

张新建

OntheApplicationofNegationduringtheCourseof

TranslationfomEnglishintoChinese

HuangZhiwen

Tutor：

ZhangXinjian

摘要

英语中的否定句表达形式多种多样，英译汉时方式也随之多变。

其中有一类否定句是含蓄否定句，其对应的翻译方式为正说反译法。

本文在中西文化、语言、逻辑思维不同的层面探讨英译汉进程中正说反译法的运用。

最后得出结论：

正说反译法是有效调和英汉两种语言矛盾冲突的手腕。

关键词：

正说反译法、文化、语言、逻辑思维、英译汉

Abstract

InEnglish

Keywords:

Introduction

InbothEnglishandChinese,therearenegative,theyarenotcompletelyexpressedinthesameway,Inotherwords,eitherofthemhasitsuniqueway.Ingeneral,EnglishnegativesentencesaremuchmorecomplicatedandvariousthanChineseonesforitswiderangeofchoicesonwords,phrasesandthewaysofexpression.

InEnglish,wecanfindasortofnegativesentencewhichapparentlyseemstobeaffirmativesentence.Suchasentenceisformallyaffirmativebutactuallyexpressesthenegativemeaningjudgingfromitsmeaning.Linguistsnamethiskindofsentenceas“ImpliedNegativeSentence”.InthecourseoftranslationfromEnglishintoChinese,translatorsaresupposedtomakeoutthesesentencesandselectthebestapproachestotranslatethem.Thesesentencesaresymbolizedbythenonequivalenceoffunctionandform.Itissuggestedthatthemethodofnegationisthemosteffectivewaytofixthisproblem.

Alargenumberofscholarshaveresearchedonnegation.Unfortunatelytheirresearchersarelimitedtojustcitinginstancesandtheyfailtofurthertheirstudies.NegationisbornfromthedifferencesofcultureandthehabitofthinkingbetweenEnglishandChinese.That

weemploynegationwillexactlyreflecttheintentionofsourcetextandcomplywiththelanguagespecification.Thispaperattemptstoexplorethemethodofnegationfromthelevelofculture,linguisticslogicthinking,etc.Finally,wedrawaconclusionthattheapproachofnegationcanbeeffectivetoreconcilethecontradictionsandconflictsbetweenChineseandEnglish.

ChapterOne：

Background

Generallyspeaking,whenaconceptisidentifiedinacertainmannerinonelanguage,itcanbealsoidentifiedeitherinthesameordifferentforminanotherlanguage.Forinstance,inChinese,是isequaltois,am,areinEnglish.Ifnegated,itwillbe不是byaddingannegativeword不before是inChinese.Similarly,itwillbeallrightinEnglishbyaddingnotafteris,am,exampleshowstheunitybetweenEnglishandChinese.

Let’scontinuelookingattwomoreinstances.不行istranslatedasnotgoodinEnglish.But很不行cannotbetranslatedintonotverygoodorverynotgood.Whensomeoneasksyou“Can’tyouspeakEnglish?

’’,youmayanswerlikethis“Yes,Ican’t.”（不，我可不能）or“No,Ican.”（是的，我会）.Insuchasituation,Yesmeans不andNomeans是，whichissodifferentfromourcommonsense.ThesetwoexamplesreflecttheoppositionbetweenChineseandEnglish.

Unityandoppositesnecessarilyexistamonglanguages,becauselanguagesdependoncultures.Distinctculturessurelycultivatedistinctlanguages.Bothsimilariesanddifferencesexistineverytwolanguages.

1.Thelevelofculture

Inthechoicesofvocabularies,thetwolanguagesarenotlikelytobeabsolutelyconsistent,becausetheyarenotexactlycorresponding’slifeexperiencestendtodifferfromeachotherandtheirunderstandingoftheobjectiveworldisnotconsistent.Thereforetheydon’tselectthesamewords.Theexpressionofthetwolanguagesdoesnotcoincide.

Inneremotionvareieswiththedifferenceamongnationalities.Forexample,thankstothegeographicaldistinctions,thewindhasdifferentsymbolicsignificancesinChineseculutreandinEnglishculture.Inourmind,theeastwindiswarm.Itmakesseedsdevelopandgiveslifethepowertogrow.SothefamouspoetLanMaoinSongDynastywroteapoemwhichreads“东风破早梅，向暖一枝开。

冰雪矢人见，春从天上来。

”toeulogisethewestwind.Onthecontrary,thewestwindcomingfromtheEuropeancontinentischillyforBritish.Itmakeshumanfeeldesolate.EnglishwriterCharelsDickensoncewrote“WinterdayshaveIseenhim,standingbluenosedinthesnowandeastwind!

”（在许多冬日里，我见他鼻子冻得发紫，站在风雪和东风当中。

）Instead,theBritishpeopleshowloveforthewind.ThefamouspoetShellythereforecomposedthepoem“OdetotheWestWind”

Wecansafelysaythattheprocessoftranslationisacourseoftransferofnotonlylanguagesbutalsocultures.Asamatteroffact,translationiscross-culturalcommunication.

Owingtotheinfluenceofsocialcultureandlifestyle,weChinesegreatlydifferfromEnglish-speakingpeopleinthehabitofthoughtandlanguages.Althoughinbothlanguagestherearesituationswheresomeconceptsaredescribedfromtheoppositeperspective,weshouldmakeitclearthattheyareverydifferentbecauseoftheirownspecificcultures.Onlyifwehaveabetterunderstandingoftheseculturaldistinctions,wecanavoidcommittingcommunicationalerrors.

2.Linguisticlevel

Inmostcases,theformofasentenceandthemeaningitconveysarenotintegrated,ButinEnglish,whentalkingorwriting,peopleoftenconveythenegativeinformationbymeansofaffirmativeformaccordingtotheircommunicationalpurposessoastoappropriatelyexpresstheiremotion.ThisphenomenoniscalledIndirectSpeechActwhichissymbolizedbynonequivalenceoffunctionandform.Andit’sanothercharacterizeisthattheliteralmeaningandtherealmeaningarenotharmorous.

Ifliterallytranslated,thiskindofsentenceswillreadhardorevenbewrong,resultinginfailingtranslation.Providingresortingtothemethodofnegation,theproblemmaybesmoothlysolved.Theresultisboundtobesatisfactory.

Chaptertwo:

theeffectofnegation

Let’slookatthefollowingthreesentences:

（1）You’retellingme.不用你来指教

（2）Keepoffthelawn.请勿踩踏草坪

（3）Hegotclearaway.他逃得无影无踪

Sentence1doesn’tmean你告知我but不用你来指教.Thissentenceisusedinsuchasituationwheresomeoneistiredoftheotherperson’smeaninglessremarks.Theantonymictranslationofthissentencecontributestostrengthenthetone.Insentence2,Keepoffisequalto离开，别靠近sothedirecttranslationis别靠近草坪.Comparedwiththedirection,theantonymictranslationiseasiertoattractreader’sattentionandmorepolite.Thelastsentenceiswelltranslatedduetoitsappropriatewordingbyprocessingclearawayinto无影无踪.

Again,I’llmentionthatcertainaffirmationscanbetranslatedeitheraffirmativelyornegatively.Sometimesantonymictranslationmayyieldbetterresults.ItisanalysedthatChinesetendtoimaginalthinking,whilewesternerstendtoabstractthinking.Atthetimeofwriting,weareinterestedinselectingprettywordsormakinguseofrhetoriitsctomakethewritingsvivid.Becauseofthedifferencesofemotionalfoundationaswellasreadinghabits,however,English-speakingpeopleareagaintus.Theypreferunderstatementandarguethatperttywords

willpreventtheexplicitnessofwhatthewriterswanttoconveyinthearticles.Themethodofnegationcaneffectivelythislanguageapprepriatethefollowingsentesnces:

I’matalosswhattodo.我茫然惊惶失措.

Therewasapoorattandceatthemeeting.出席会议的人寥寥无几.

Heturnedadeafeartomyearstomydavice.他对我的忠告漠不关心.

Exampleisbeeterthanprecept.言传不如身教

Ittakestwotomakeaquarrel.一个巴掌拍不响.

Beautyisbutskin-deep.不能够貌取人。

Lifeislongifitisfull.年华不虚度，生命自悠长.

Keepstill假设无其事

Chapterthree

thepracticeofantonymictranslationinconciling

theconflictsbetweenEnglishandChinesein

thecourseoftranslation

Asamatteroffact,negationismoreoftenjustaviewofpointoracertainperspectiveaboutsomethingorsomeideas.Somethingseeminglyaffirmativemaylooknegativeviewedfromtheoppositeaspect.Asaresult,aword,phrase,orsentencecanoftenbetranslatedaseitherthenegativeortheaffirmative.Thismaybecausedbydifferentfocusofpeoplespeakingdifferentlanguages.Lookatthefollowingsentences:

（1）Heislittlemorethanachild.

（2）Mothersaidfatherwouldcomesoon,butMaryknowbetter.

Directtranslationofsentence1as他比小孩大不了多少wouldmakenoclearsense.Itshouldbetranslatedas他完全仍是个小孩.“Knowbetter”insentence2shouldnotbetranslatedinto明白得更好asitisimplied:

Marythoughtdifferentlyordisagreedwithhermother,soacorrecttranslationshouldbe玛丽明白（爸爸）可不能（专门快回来）.WhilewecomeacrosstheImpliedNegativeSentence,weoughttobecarefull.Weallknowthattranslationisbasedonunderstandingandmistakencomprehensionissuretoleadtotranslationerror.Forexample,“Justimagineit”isexpectedtobetranslatedinto不可能／没想

到.Thisisanidiom.Ifweareignorantofit,chanceswillbethatwemaythinkitmeans把它想一下.AccoringtoourEnglishkonwledge,thenormalstatementof真没想到shouldbe“Ican’timagineit.”whichisrightcontraryto“Justimagineit”.Thereasonwhythesamestatementinthetwolanguagesdoesn’tkeepinlinemaybethatthefocusofthetwolanguagesisdifferent.EnglishthinnksaffirmationisdirectbutChinesebelievenegationishelpfultostrengthenthefeeling.

Suchsituationscanbefoundinthesefollowingsentences:

（1）Youcantalk.（Youdon’thavetoworryaboutdoingaparticularthingyourself）你没必要担忧自己要干什么（≠你能发言）

（2）Metellalie.我从不扯谎（≠我扯谎）

（3）Catchingmedoingthat.我绝不干那样的事（≠抓住我干那事）

（4）AsifIcared.我无所谓（≠仿佛我在意）

（5）I’llbuyit.我不懂∕我答不出来（≠我将买它）

Allthesesentencesareidiomsorslangs.ComparingtheChinesetranslation,wecanfindthattheyareallnegations.Theaffirmativetranslationscannotrepresentthetruemeaning.OncemorewecanconcludethatthemethodofnegationcanreducethecontradictionsbetweenEnglishandChinese.

Partofaffirmationsmustbetranslatedbyantonymictranslationincaseofmisunderstandingortranslationerrors.Forinstance：

（1）I’mastrangerinthisto