in and out【Basic,Problems,and,Strategies,in,Translation:,A,Case,Study】

　　 　　 　　 　　 　　（南海东软信息技术职业学院 广东 佛山 528225） 　　作者简介：区意婷 (1982-)，硕士，现就职于南海东软信息技术职业学院英语系，主要研究方向为英语教育。
　　 【Abstract】Solving basic translation problems is the fundamental translation skill which a translator should master. In this case study, basic translation problems at four different levels are critically evaluated and a variety of strategies are developed to cope with the difficulties occurred during the translation process.
　　 【Key words】Translation; Problem; Strategy
　　【中图分类号】I206 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】1009-5071(2012)05-0008-02
　　Ⅰ Introduction
　　 According to Hale and Campbell (2001), translation is a highly sophisticated decision making process. It is inevitable to come across translation problems, especially the basic ones, which are easily neglected during this decision making procedure. Based on an analysis of a Chinese translation from a TIME article called The U.N."s Hot Air on Climate Change①, this case study points out basic translation problems at four levels, namely word level, phrase level, sentence level and text level. Also, corresponding problem-solving strategies are put forward for those translating beginners.
　　Ⅱ Problems & Strategies
　　 1. Word Level
　　 Example A:
　　 - Source Text
　　 …the delegates hadn’t come much closer to achieving the next meaningful step in the battle against climate change: …
　　 - Chinese Translation:
　　 ...各国代表在气候变化的争论中并没有向实现有意义的下一步迈进：…
　　 - Target Text (Back Translation from Chinese):
　　 …the delegates hadn’t come much closer to achieve the next meaningful step in the debate on climate change: …
　　 From the semantic point of view, “battle” means “fight, especially between organized armed forces” (Oxford advanced learner’s English-Chinese dictionary, 1997, p.104). If “battle” is translated into “fight” in Chinese, the word will be too serious for a meeting on climate change, as “fight” in Chinese is normally associated with the war or contest. Then, it’s easy to find that the Chinese language lacks a superordinate on this occasion. In Chinese, the word “battle” can be thought of types of hyponyms, for example “fight (in the war/contest)”, “argument (on verbal occasions)”, “debate (at a public meeting or in Parliament)” and “contest (in a competition)”. Thus, the word “battle” can be replaced by a Chinese near-equivalent “debate” which is less expressive and more suitable. This is a typical strategy called “translation by a less expressive word” which is used by professional translators (Baker, 2004, p. 28).
　　 Example B:
　　 - Source Text:
　　 The essential deadlock that has held up stronger international action on climate change … remains unbroken, …
　　 - Chinese Translation:
　　 继续执行针对气候变化的更坚决的国际行动的根本僵局…仍未打破, …
　　 - Target Text (Back Translation from Chinese):
　　 The essential deadlock that continue the stronger action on climate change … remains not break, …
　　 As Baker (2004) states, “there is often no equivalent in the target language for a particular form in the source text” (p.24). It is impossible to find a word in Chinese with the same form to express the meaning of “unbroken”, because it contains the prefix “un-” which conveys propositional meaning without any direct equivalents in Chinese. According to the Oxford advanced learner’s English-Chinese dictionary (1997), the prefix “un-” means “not” when it is with the adjective “broken” (p.1649). Moreover, Chinese sometimes does not differentiate between the adjective and the verb, especially in modern Chinese. The adjective “broken” and verb “break” is the case. Thus, “unbroken” can be translated into “not break” in Chinese. Here, the strategy of “translation by paraphrase using a related word” is employed, and it makes the translation more coherent to the Chinese language (Baker, 2004, p.37).
　　 2. Phrase Level
　　 Example C:
　　 -Source Text:
　　 “We only have two years to reach an agreement on post-Kyoto, and only three years to prepare the ground,” says Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “It’s down to the wire.”
　　 -Chinese Translation:
　　 “我们只有两年时间在后《京都议定书》上达成共识，只有三年时间去做准备工作，”联合国环境规划署执行理事艾基姆·斯坦纳说，“期限快到了。”
　　 -Target Text (Back Translation from Chinese):
　　 “We only have two years to reach an agreement on post-Kyoto, only three years to prepare the work,” the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Achim Steiner says, “The deadline is coming soon.”
　　 In Chinese, here are no one-to-one equivalents for the phrase “down to the wire”. From the phrase itself, it’s obvious to note that it’s more than just the sum meanings of its words. As Seligmann (2007) pointd out, a translator should find equivalence across languages depending on discourse. According to the discourse of the source, the phrase “down to the wire” obviously suggests the time is limited in English, because it says “We only have two years to…and only three years to…” in the original article. However, there is no ready equivalent phrase or idiom in Chinese to match it due to the different stylistic preferences. Thus, “down to the wire” here can be paraphrased by “the deadline is coming soon”, which makes it more easily understandable in Chinese.
　　 Example D:
　　 -Source Text:
　　 “People are concerned because [the White House] does have a history of going its own way,” …
　　 -Chinese Translation:
　　 “人们焦虑此事是因为[白宫]确实有一意孤行的历史，…”
　　 -Target Text (Back Translation from Chinese):
　　 “People are concerned because [the White House] does have a history of clinging obstinately to its course,” …
　　 It’s easy to understand the collocation “go one’s own way” as it has a fairly transparent meaning from its words. It indicates a meaning of refusing to listen to somebody’s advice and insisting on having one’s own way. It is surprised that there is an idiom called “yi yi gu xing (clinging obstinately to its course)” in Chinese with a similar meaning but different lexical items. As Nida and Taber (as cited in McElhanon, 2005) noted, “the translator must strive for equivalence [between the source and target languages] first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” Thus, it’s reasonable to use the idiom “yi yi gu xing” with “similar meaning but dissimilar form” in Chinese to achieve the equivalence of this phrase “go one’s own way” (Baker, 2004, p.74).
　　 3. Sentence Level
　　 Example E:
　　 -Source Text:
　　 …and 10 since after the Kyoto Protocol was drafted, …
　　 - Chinese Translation:
　　 …以及自起草《京都议定书》后已10年了…
　　 -Target Text (Back Translation from Chinese):
　　 … and since drafted the Kyoto Protocol after, already 10 year, …
　　 It’s obvious that the passive “was drafted” in English is translated into the active “drafted” in Chinese. As Baker (2004) pointed out, “the use of the passive voice is extremely common in many varieties of written English” (p.102). In the Chinese language, however, the passive is traditionally used to express adversity (Baker, 2004, p.107). This example is not the case of reporting unfortunate events. If the passive voice is translated as the original source text into Chinese, the translation will be very unnatural and will disobey the Chinese structure rules. This is because “the use of the passive structure would be stylistically less acceptable than the use of the active structure in Chinese” (Baker, 2004, p.106). Therefore, the strategy used in this type of problems is to replace the English passive structures with active structures in the Chinese target text in order to “avoid negative connotations” (Baker, 2004, p. 108).
　　 4. Text Level
　　 Example F:
　　 -Source Text:
　　 It’s now 20 years since the issue of climate change was first raised in the U.N.’s General Assembly chamber by the island nation of Malta, …
　　 -Chinese Translation:
　　 自马耳他岛国理事在联合国会员大会上首次提出气候变化的问题以来，现已20年了；…
　　 -Target Text (Back Translation from Chinese):
　　 Since the Malta island nation in the U.N.’s General Assembly chamber first raised the climate change issue, now already 20 year.
　　 On textual level, as above example, the sentence structure was changed into a topic-comment structure due to suitable usage of the Chinse language. Chinese is a topic-prominent language. The topic of a clause always occurs in initial position in the Chinese language (Li, as cited in Baker, 2004, p.142). In example F, the topic of the sentence is “the issue of climate change”, so it should be put at the beginning of the sentence. Moreover, there is another issue here in this example. As mentioned in the example E, the passive structure in English will be replaced by active structure in Chinese. Thus, the original sentence structure is rearranged in order to make it more natural and more equivalent to the usage of the Chinese language. Additionally, the final translation in the target text also carries a clear topic and content which the source text is trying to deliver to the reader.
　　ⅢConclusion
　　 The main objective of this case study is to critically analyse the basic problems in the translation process and employ or develop a series of strategies to deal with them. It is crucial to do translation but in full consideration of various types of problems at all the levels of a text. According to Nida and Taber (1974), the translation should be aimed at reproducing the message to the closest natural equivalent of the source language message (p.12). Thus, the most important point for a translating beginner is to continuously develop strategies from various difficulties to strive for better and better translation.
　　Notes:
　　 ①Online available on: http://www.省略/time/health/article/0,8599,1665090,00.html
　　REFERENCES
　　Baker, M. (2004). In other words: a coursebook on translation. London: Routledge.
　　Hale, S. & Campbell, S. (2001). Interpreting and translation theory: study book. Penrith South DC NSW: University of Western Sydney.
　　Li, B. D. (Ed.). (1997). Oxford advanced learner’s English-Chinese dictionary (4th ed.). BeiJing: The Commercial Press.
　　McElhanon, K. A. (2005). From word to scenario: the influence of linguistic theories upon Models of translation. Journal of Translation, 1 (3), 29-66
　　Nida, E & Tuber, C. (1974). The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
　　Seligmann, M. (2007). Interpreting and translation theory: lecture notes. Penrith South DC NSW: University of Western Sydney.
　　
　　
　　

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