Essential Knowledge for English Translation in Postgraduate Entrance Examination: Important Differences between English and Chinese Languages
Students with solid foundation, or can still figure out the structure and understand the meaning to be expressed. But even so, it is not an easy thing to find the correct Chinese expression method. In fact, if candidates can understand the structural differences between English and Chinese, master some conversion rules, and repeatedly practice after some time, then doing well in postgraduate entrance exam translation is also not a difficult task. Based on years of teaching experience, combined with the research results of many linguistics predecessors, I summarize some important differences in the structure of English and Chinese languages here, which will surely benefit all candidates.
1. English emphasizes formal coherence while Chinese emphasizes semantic coherence
In terms of overall structure and expression methods, English is a formally coherent language, while Chinese is a semantically coherent language. English sentences are generally organized and expressed according to fixed structures and methods, focusing on form; Chinese sentences are combined and connected according to the meaning of their words, with flexible and varied expression methods that focus on meaning. The relationship between English sentences can be clearly expressed through tenses, punctuation marks, conjunctions, etc., while the relationship between Chinese sentences is expressed by the meaning of the sentences themselves.
[Example 1] Another attempt, and you'll succeed.
[Translation] Try again, and you will succeed.
Or: As long as you try again, you will succeed.
[Analysis] This sentence is a simple coordinate sentence connected by "and". The general future tense clearly indicates the relationship between the actions in the two sentences. However, the Chinese translation is more flexible, and the relationship between sentences is mainly expressed by meaning. The conjunction can be translated (as in the bracketed translation) or omitted, and it is customary to omit it.
[Example 2] Now the integrated circuit has reduced by many times the size of the computer of which it forms a part, thus creating a new generation of portable minicomputer.
[Translation] Now the integrated circuit has become a part of the computer, greatly reducing its size and generating a new generation of portable mini-computers.
[Analysis] This sentence consists of a main clause, a relative clause, and a participial phrase as adverbial. The main clause uses the present perfect tense, the relative clause uses the simple present tense, and there is a present participle phrase as adverbial connected by "thus", which clearly expresses the relationship between the sentences through tenses, commas, conjunctions, and the present participle phrase. In contrast, Chinese expresses the layer-by-layer causal relationship between the sentences by simply stating each sentence and using words like "make" and "thus" to adjust word order.
Understanding the difference between English's emphasis on formal coherence and Chinese's emphasis on semantic coherence is the core of doing well in English-Chinese translation. When translating from English to Chinese, one should disrupt the original sentence structure based on understanding the relationships between English sentences, and reorganize the sentence order according to Chinese's habit of expressing semantic coherence. Conversely, when translating from Chinese to English, one should express the relationships between Chinese clauses as much as possible using conjunctions, tenses, and punctuation marks, and finally combine them into complex sentence structures according to English expression habits. For example, the widely accepted but ungrammatical Chinese-English expression "long time no see" does not conform to English expression habits and is a typical mistranslation that ignores English grammar and sentence structure. In fact, according to English grammar structure, it should be expressed as "It's been a long time since we saw."
In addition, when translating from English to Chinese, one should avoid translationese as much as possible. Translationese refers to English whose meaning is barely understandable, but where traces of literal or forced translation are everywhere, making it too foreign and unreadable. The reasons for this include insufficient practice and experience, limited language skills, overemphasis on form at the expense of content, failure to grasp the basic differences between English and Chinese and some necessary translation skills, and translating whatever one sees without thinking.
[Example 3] When a representative exceeds his allotted time, the President shall call him to order without delay.
[Translation] (Translationese) When a representative exceeds his allocated time, the chairman will inform him of the order without delay.
(Improved) If a representative speaks beyond the specified time, the chairman should prompt him to follow the rules.
[Analysis] This is a subordinate compound sentence led by "when", which looks like a simple conditional sentence with present tense in the subordinate clause and future tense in the main clause, but cannot be directly translated into Chinese (like the first translation). The "when" clause actually expresses a hypothesis, and if translated directly as "when...", it would not express the logical relationship of the original sentence; possessive pronouns like "his" do not need to be translated into Chinese; "shall" is a modal verb, not future tense; "order" is a noun meaning "rule", and cannot be forcibly translated as "command".
2. English sentences are long and complex, while Chinese sentences are short and concise
English is a formally coherent language that emphasizes sentence structure, and sentences can be infinitely expanded through punctuation marks, conjunctions, prepositions, etc., often containing multiple meanings in one sentence, forming a tree-like structure. On the contrary, Chinese is a semantically coherent language, where the relationship between sentences is mainly expressed through the meaning of the words, and a sentence usually expresses only one meaning, forming a bamboo-like structure. This transformation between long and short sentences is precisely the difficulty of English-to-Chinese translation, so the translation section of the postgraduate entrance exam mainly tests students' ability to translate complex English long sentences. For example:
[Example 4] Plastics is made from water, which is a natural resource inexhaustible and available everywhere, coal, which can be mined through automatic and mechanical processes at less cost, and lime, which can be obtained from the calcinations of limestone widely present in nature.
[Translation] Plastics are made from water, coal, and limestone. Water is an inexhaustible natural resource available everywhere; coal can be mined automatically and mechanically at a lower cost; lime can be obtained by calcining limestone, which is widely present in nature.
[Analysis] The original text is a typical complex English long sentence, consisting of 42 words, combined into a multi-level, content-rich sentence by one comma and several conjunctions. The main sentence structure is: Plastics is made from water, coal and lime. Each of these three substances has a relative clause following it, and the last two relative clauses are in passive voice. Therefore, according to Chinese expression habits, when translating, the main sentence and each relative clause should be separated and translated into short sentences, and some adverbial phrases such as "at less cost" can also be handled separately as short sentences.
Therefore, when translating from English to Chinese, when encountering complex long sentences, one should patiently analyze the sentence components, extract the backbone of the main and subordinate clauses, and translate them into independent sub-sentences first. Second, some adverbials, such as participial phrases and prepositional phrases, can also be translated into short sentences. Finally, according to Chinese expression habits, connect these sub-sentences together.
