不可译性补偿方法
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【Abstract】ThispaperdiscussestheproblemofuntranslatabilitybetweenChineseandEnglish,includinglinguisticandculturaluntranslatability.EnglishbelongstotheIndo-Europeanlanguagefamily,andChinesebelongstotheSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily.Thephonemicsystem,characterstructureandfigureofspeechareallcompletelydifferent,andmostoftheseinonelanguagedonothaveequivalentintheotherlanguage.Thiscauseslinguisticuntranslatability.Differentcountryandregionhavedifferentculturalbackground,suchashistory,religionandsociety,andsoon,thesearenotexistinothercountryandregion.Soitisdifficulttotranslate.Butuntranslatabilityisnotabsolutely,weshouldunderstandtheco-existenceoftranslatabilityanduntranslatability.Baseontheunderstanding,wecanusesomemethodtocompensateinordertolessthebarrierintranslationandpromoteslanguageandculturecommunication.
【Keywords】untranslatability;linguisticuntranslatability;culturaluntranslatability;methodofcompensation
【摘要】本文讨论汉英翻译中的不可译性问题，包括语言不可译性和文化不可译性。英语属于印欧语系，而汉语属于汉藏语系，其语音系统，文字结构和修辞方法都完全不同，这些绝大多数都无法在另一语言中找到对等语，这便造成了语言的不可译性。不同的国家和地区有着不同的历史、宗教、社会等文化背景，这些在别的国家和地区都是不存在的，所以给翻译造成了困难。但不可乙性并非绝对的，我们必须在理解可译性与不可译性是共同存在的，在此理解的基础上，我们可以采用补偿方法，目的在于对不可译性进行一定程度的补偿，尽量减少翻译障碍，促进语言与文化交流。
【关键词】不可译性；语言不可译性；文化不可译性；补偿方法
1.Introduction
Untranslatabilityisapropertyofatext,orofanyutteranceinonelanguage,forwhichnoequivalenttextorutterancecanbefoundinanotherlanguage.
“J.C.Catford,acelebratedtranslationscholaroflinguisticsschool,raisedtheissueofuntranslatabilityin1965.Hearguesthatthelinguisticuntranslatabilityisduetothedifferencesinthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage,whereascultureuntranslatabilityisduetotheabsenceinthetargetlanguageofrelevantsituationalfeatures.”[1]
“Nidapresentsarichsourceofinformationabouttheproblemofloseintranslation,inparticularaboutthedifficultiesencounteredbythetranslatorwhenfacingwithtermsorconceptsinthesourcelanguagethatdonotexitinthetargetlanguage.”[2]
“PeterNewmarkhasoncebrieflytalkedaboutthedeviationintranslation.”[3]
InChinatoday,manytranslationexpertsandscholarshavealsodiscussedtheproblemtosomeextentintheirpapers.
Theproblemofuntranslatabilityisalwaysadisputedissue.Nowadays,itiswellacceptedthattranslationisapossibleandfeasibletask.However,therearestillsomelanguagepointsthataredifficulttotranslate,whichiscalledthephenomenonofuntranslatability.
Linguisticandculturaldifferences,thetwocategoriesofuntranslatabilityphenomenonarecausedbydifferentfactors.Theseresultingfromthelinguisticdifferenceswillhardlychangewhilethoseresultingfromculturaldifferencesmaybecometranslatableinthefuturebyusingthemethodsofcompensationandtheskilloftranslators.
2.Linguisticuntranslatability
ProfessorLiuMiqingwroteinhisModernTranslationTheoriesthat“Thestructureoflanguagecommonlyshowsthecharacteristicsofthelanguage,thesecharacteristicsonlycanbefoundinrelativelanguage,thesimilartransferisdifficulttofindinnon-relativelanguage,foritneedtochangethecodecompletely.”[4]P107Viewfromtheetymology,EnglishbelongstotheIndo-Europeanlanguage,butChinesebelongstotheSino-Tibetanlanguage,sothereexitthelinguisticuntranslatability,whichincludesthefollowingaspects:phonology,character,figureofspeech,andsoon.
2.1.Untranslatabilityinphonology
Anylanguagehasitsownspecialphonemicsystem,whichcannotbereplacedbyotherlanguage.TherearelargedifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglish,andmostofthepronunciationsinonelanguagedonothaveequivalentintheotherlanguage.Therefore,theycannotbetranslatedintothetargetlanguage.Forexample:
(1)“石诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮……”
Theauthorwrotethewholepassageinhomophonewords.Thisisatypicalexampleofuntranslatabilitycausedbyphonemicsystem.Seeanotherexample:
(2)“Cat,cat,cat,catchthefatratfast.”
Iftranslateitinto:“猫，猫，猫，快抓住那只肥老鼠”thatwilllosethephonemiceffect,anditonlytranslatesthemeaning.
2.2.Untranslatabilityincharacterstructure
Chinesewordsconsistofcharactersthathavetheirmeaning,butEnglishwordsconsistofalphabetsthataremeaningless.Theyarecompletelydifferentinwriting.Chinesehasawritingskillofdescribingcharacters,forexample:(3)“人曾为僧，人弗可以成佛，女卑为婢，女又何妨成奴”，“鸿是江边鸟，蚕是天下虫”，“琴瑟琵琶王，王王在上，魑魅魍魉四小鬼，鬼鬼靠边”。TheyareallusingthespecialfeatureofChinesecharacters,todescribethecharacterstructureinpoetry,alsohavingtheirmeaning.ButEnglishhasnosuchstructuresinalphabeticalsystem,sotheyareabsolutelyuntranslatable.
SomeriddlesthatarerelativetothestructureofcharactersorEnglishwordsarealsountranslatable,forexample:(4)“田头长草”（苗）,“Whatmakesaroadbroad?”(TheletterB).Ifthelatterriddleistranslatedinto:“什么使道路变宽？”（字母B）Everybodywillfellridiculous,andnoonecanunderstandthat.
2.3.Untranslatabilityinfigureofspeech
Mostofthelanguageshavetheirownfiguresofspeech.Justbecauseoftheexistenceoffigureofspeech,thelanguagesbecomevividandinteresting.Intranslationpractice,ifthetargetlanguagecannotshowthefigureofspeechinsourcelanguagecorrectly,itisnotfaithfultothecontent,thoughtandstyleofthesourcelanguage.Althoughthemeaningsaresimilar,itwilllessthelanguageinfluenceofthesourcetext.ThepeoplewhospeakChineseandthepeoplewhospeakEnglishhavelargedifferencesinthewayofthinkingandaesthetic,sowhentheyexpressthesameconcept,theyoftenusedifferentfigureofspeech.ThesecausedtheuntranslatabilityinChinese-Englishtranslation.Ithasthefollowingmainaspects:
2.3.1.Puns
Punmeanshumoroususeofawordthathastwomeaningsorofdifferentwordsthatsoundthesame.Punspackseveralmeaningsintooneword,anditisextremelyunlikelythatanyotherlanguagewillpackintothesamesetofmeanings,soitisdifficulttotranslateintothetargetlanguage.Exampleone:
(5)“杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声，东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴”
Here“晴”isapun,anditalsomeans“情”，ZhangQichuntranslateitinto“Thewillowsaregreen,green,theriverisserene.Thenceishissongraftedtome.Intheeastthesunisrising,inthewesttherainisfalling.Canyouseeifit’sfairorfoul?”Inthistranslation,thetranslatordidverywell,especiallyin“green,serene,fairorfoul”,buthecannottranslatethepuncompletely.
Exampletwo:
(6)“Sheistoolowforahighpraise,toobrowntoafairpraise,andtoolittleforagreatpraise.”
The“low”and“fair”areallpunsinthissentence.“Low”meansshortinheightandlowsocialstatus.“Fair”meanspaleskin,lightincolorandjustice.ThereisnowordorphraseinChinesehavingthetwomeaningstogether,sothetranslatorcannottranslatethetwomeaningsintoChinese,onlyadaptedonemeaning,andwilllosetheothermeaning.
2.3.2.Palindrome
“Thefigureofspeechofpalindromemeansaword,verseorsentencethatreadthesamewhenthecharactersorletterscomposingitaretakenthereverseorder.”[5]P174TherearemanypalindromewordsinEnglish,suchas“Anna,dad,bob.”Englishpalindromeisbasedonletters,thelettershavenomeaning,anditreadsthesamewhentheorderisreversed.Forexample:
(7)“WasitacatIsaw?”
(8)“AblewasIereIsawElba!”
(9)“Madam,I’mAdam”
Iftheyaretranslatedinto“我看到的是猫吗？”，“在我看到俄尔巴岛之前还没有倒！”，“夫人，我是亚当。”,theeffectarealllostwithoutanypalindrome,soitisalmostuntranslatable.
ThepalindromeinChineseisuntranslatableaswell,forexample:
(10)“客上天然居，居然天上客。”
(11)“雾锁江心江锁雾，天连海角海连天。”
2.3.3.Alliteration
Alliterationisusingthesameletterorsoundatthebeginningofthetwoormorewordsinsuccession.ItisacommonfigureofspeechinEnglish,especiallyinproverb,advertisement,novelandsoon.,andmostofthealliterationareuntranslatable.[6]P33Forexample:
(12)Tomanyparents,thethreeGs,gays,guys,andgangshavereplacedthethreeRsasbenchmarkofschoollife.
对于许多父母来说，同性恋，枪支，帮派这三个词已经代替了读，写，算作为学校的基本尺度。
Inthistranslation,thethreeGs,gays,guys,gangsarealliteration,whichemphasizetheseriousproblemsofthegays,guysandgangs,butaftertranslatingthemintoChinese,wecannotseethiseffect.
2.3.4.Malapropism
“MalapropismcomesfromRichardSheridam’scomedyTheRivals,ahonoredladynameMalaprop,whooftenspeakswrongwordsorpronunciation.Malapropismisafigureofspeechusingwrongwordswithsimilarpronunciationtensionorintensiontoreachthehumorseffect.”[7]P75Malapropismbringsdifficultiesintranslation.Forexample:
(13)“我推开澳门，看到地上铺的是巴基斯坦，桌上摆的是刚果……”
Thisisasentencefromcrosstalk,Chinesepeopleknowthehumorsnaturally,butifitistranslateditinto:“Pushingopenthe‘Macau’,Isaw‘Pakistan’pavedonthefloorand‘Congo’onthetable.Englishreaderscannotacceptthat,for‘Macau’isnotadoor,‘Pakistan’isnotablanket,and‘Congo’isnotfruiteither.MostoftheyoungergenerationinChinahaveheardthishumoroussentence:“我手持郑伊健，脚踏温兆轮，翻过赵本山，穿过关芝林，跨过潘长江，来到周星池……”Itisuntranslatabletoo.
3.Culturaluntranslatability
“AccordingtoJ.C.Catford,instanceofuntranslatabilitycanarisefromtwosources:oneislinguistic,andtheotherisculture.”[8]P25
Nidaalsomentionsthatwordshavemeaningonlyintermsofthetotalculturalsetting.
Andwhatisculture,EdwardTylorgavethedefinitiontheearliestinhisthePrimitiveCulture:“Cultureorcivilizationtakeninitswideanthro-graphicsenseisthatcompletewholewhichincludeknowledge,beliefs,art,morals,law,customandothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbyamenasamemberofsociety.”[9]P478
PeterNewmarkwroteinhisATextbookofTranslation:“Idefinethecultureasthewayoflifeandhismanifestationthatarepeculiartoacommunitythatusesapeculiarlanguageasitsmeansofexpression.”[10]P94
Translationisaveryimportantmediumforculturalexchangebetweenpeopleusingdifferentlanguages.Itisoneofthemostimportanttasksfromtranslatorsandtranslationresearchersviewingproblemsoftranslationfromtheangleofculturalexchangeinordertoincreasethedegreeofculturalexchangeachievedbytranslationasmuchaspossible.
Itisknowntoallthatlanguageisanimportantaspectofculture.Cultureincludesandaffectslanguage,itisthegroundfromwhichlanguagegrowsanddevelops.Alllanguagesareproductsofthecultureofthecountryandthenation.Theyallhavelonghistoricalbackgroundandvariousculturalconnotations.Thehistory,socialsystem,naturalenvironment,religionandcustomsareallshownvividlyintheirculturally-loadedwords,proverbs,idioms,andsoon.Intraditionalpractice,thereareoftennosuchwordsintargetlanguage,andthetranslatorshavetofindthesimilarcodesormakesomenewcodestoreplace,sowhentheseculturallyloadedwordsaretranslatedintoanotherlanguage,theculturalconnotationsarelost.Nidaoncepointedoutthat:“Forthesuccesstranslation,beingfamiliarwithtwoculturesisevenmoreimportantthanmasteringtwolanguages,becausethelanguagehasitsmeaningonlyintheculturalbackground.”[11]P92
Chineseculturebelongstoeasternculture,andEnglishcultureisEuropeanandAmericanculture,whichbelongstothewesternculture.Thereareessentialdifferencebetweeneasterncultureandwesternculture,sotheuntranslatabilityisunderstandable.
3.1.Untranslatabilityresultedfromculturegap
3.1.1.Materialculture
Differentnationsliveindifferentplaces,andwillhavedifferentimagesforthesamething.WeoftenhearsomeChinesesay:“走，喝酒去！”Theword“酒”isdifficulttotranslate.Itincludesliquor,spirit,alcohol,drink,beer,wine,andsoon.Thesewordsareall“酒”，buttheliquorandspiritmeanslowquality,andthedrinksincludeharddrinksandsoftdrinks,whilethewineisoftenreferredtothegrapeorfruitwine.
InEnglish,thedaffodilisthesymbolofspringandhappiness,butinChinese,itisonlyakindofflowercalled“黄水仙”。InChinesepeople’smind,theplum,orchid,chrysanthemumandbambooareallthesymbolofhighspirit.ButEnglishpeopledonotthinkso.
3.1.2.Traditionalculture
Peoplelivetogetherinonecountryorregion,andwillformtheirowntraditions,thesetraditionswillpassfromgenerationtogeneration.Andothercountriesorregionspeoplemaynothavethesetraditions,eventheyhave,butindifferentmeaning,thusmakingthesetraditionsuntranslatable.
Forexample:
(14)AccordingtoEnglishtradition,thefamilywillthrowoldshoestotheunmarriedcoupleswhentheygooutofthehouse,whichmeanswishthemluck,butifthistraditionistranslatedinto“扔旧鞋”，theChinesepeoplewillmisunderstandit.ForinChina,throwingoldshoestoawomanistoabuseher.
Forthetraditionreason,alotofappellationsareuntranslatable.ThemeaningofEnglishuncleincludesuchChinesewordsas叔父(father’syoungerbrother),伯父(father’selderbrother),舅舅(mother’sbrother),姑父(father’ssister’shusband),姨父(mother’ssister’shusband),叔叔(father’syoungerbrotherorafriendoracquaintanceaboutthesameageasayoungperson’sparent).ItwouldbeconsideredaterriblemistakeinChineseculturetorefertothefather’sbrotheras舅舅，soiftherelationisnotclearinEnglish,itcannotbetranslatedintoChinese.
3.1.3ReligiousCulture
Inreligion,translationbecomesthemission.Chinesehavetranslatedinthisfieldforalongtime,butChinesepeopledonothaveChristianitybackground.ThusmanyoftheculturewillmakeChinesepeoplemisunderstand.
Forexample:
(15)“Endoftheworld”willmakeChinesepeoplethinkofthecomingofgreatdisaster,inwhichallthehumanbeingwilldie,andtheywillfeelfear.ButtotheEnglishpeople,ithasnothingtodowithdisaster.Itisthecomingofthejusticemoment.
3.1.4.Historicalculture
Thehistoryofanationistherecordofthesocialdevelopment.Idiomsandlegendsprovidereadysupportinthisrespect.“Themainproblemsthatidiomsandfixedexpressionposeintranslationrelatetothetwomainareas:theabilitytorecognizeandinterpretanidiomcorrectly;andthedifficultiesinvolvedinrenderingthevariousaspectsofmeaningthatanidiomorafixedexpressionconveysintothetargetlanguage.”[12]P65Anidiomorfixedexpressionmayhavenoequivalentinthetargetlanguage.Onelanguagemayexpressagivenmeaningbyasingleword,anothermayexpressitbyafixedexpression,andathirdmayexpressitbyanidiom,andsoon.Soitisunrealistictoexpecttofindequivalentidiomsandexpressioninthetargetlanguageinallcases.Theidiomsandexpressionsmaybeculture-specificwhichmakesitdifficulttotranslateorisuntranslatable.TheexpressionsuchasKangarooCourt,relatedtospecificculturalbackgroundprovidesagoodexample.Andthehistoricalstoriesorlegendsalsohavetheircultureelement,forexample:(16)“八仙过海，各显神通”，“三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”，“情人眼里出西施”。
3.2.Untranslatabilityresultedfromcultureconflict
Intranslation,somewordsinonelanguagearetraditionallyconsideredequivalenttootherwordsinanotherlanguage,buttheirconnotationsandeventheirreferentsareineffectquitedifferent,theyareso-calledfalsefriends.Forexample:
(17)TheChinese“龙”andEnglish“dragon”.Chinesepeopleview“龙”asasymbolofpowerorgoodfortune.Suchas“望子成龙”，buttheEnglishpeopleseethedragonasfierceandassociateitwithevil,crueltyandviolence.If“望子成龙”istranslatedinto“toexpectone’ssontobeadragon”,Englishpeoplecannotacceptthat.
Sincetheformsoftherelateditemsarethesame,theyareoftenmisleading.Forexample,(18)thebrandnameofawell-knownChinesebattery“白象”isliterallytranslatedinto“WhiteElephant”.“白象”meansfortuneandgoodluckinChinese.However,thetranslationelicitunfavorablereactionfromEnglishconsumers,whousewhiteelephantasanidiomtomeansomethingcostlybutuseless.
Somewordsofcolorhaveconflictmeaningaswell.Takeredforexample,(19)ithasthemeaningofhappyandfestivalas“红”inChinese,suchas“red-letterdays”.ButtheChinese“红茶”is“blacktea”inEnglish,andtheChinese“红糖”is“brownsugar”inEnglish.TheEnglish“inthered”is“亏损赤字”.
Cultureisoneofthegreatobstaclesintheprocessoftranslation,alongwiththelinguisticbarrierthatisresponsibleforuntranslatabilityintranslation.
4.Themethodofcompensation
Compensationisaspecialmethodthatisusedtoreachtheequivalencewhenthereisnoequivalentconceptandsuitableexpressioninthetargetlanguage.
Itiswidelyacceptedthatthelanguagephenomenonofuntranslatabilityisnotabsolutelyuntranslatable,especiallyintheculturalaspect.Intranslationpractice,whendealingwiththiskindofphenomenon,thetranslatoralwaysmakesgreateffecttogetrelativelysatisfactoryversion,followingarethemethodsoftenusedbytranslatorstocompensate.
4.1.Adaptation
An“adaptation”,alsoknownas“freetranslation”,isatranslationprocedurewherebythetranslatorreplacesasocial,orculturalrealityinthesourcelanguagewithacorrespondingrealityinthetargetlanguage,thisnewrealitywouldbemoreusualtotheaudienceinthetargetlanguage.Thismethodaimsatmaintainingtheeleganceandintelligibilityinthetargetlanguageatthesacrificeoftheformofthesourcelanguage,butwithoutchangingthemainculturalmessageoftheoriginal.Forexample:
(20)“很好，不用瞎担心了，我还有委员的福分呢！”
“么事的桂圆？”
“是委员！从前行的是大人老爷，现在行委员！你还不明白？”
“Hegivemeverygoodnews,weneednotlookfortrouble.Ihavethepossibilityofbeingamemberofcommittee!”
“What’sacommontea?”Askedthewifewhovaguelycaughtthesound.
“Acommittee!Lordsandesquiresareoutofdate,andtheprevailingnominationistoacommittee.Don’tyoustillunderstand?”
Here,theChineseword“委员”(memberofacommittee)soundsquitelike“桂圆”(longan,akindoftropicalfruit).Intheconversation,thewifedoesnotquitecatchthewordandmistakethe“桂圆”for“委员”.Ifthetwowordsaretranslatedliterally,thereaderwillfindthewife’smistakeincomprehensiblesincethereisnophonologicalsimilarityinEnglishbetweenthetwoitems.Thetranslatorusethemethodofadaptation,turninglogon（桂圆）intocommontea.Nowtheformischange,monteaisphonologicallyrelatedtocommittee.Byusingadaptation,thishomophoneuntranslatabilityisturnedintotranslatability.
4.2.Borrowing
Borrowingisatranslationprocedurethatthetranslatorusesawordorexpressionfromthesourcelanguageinthetargetlanguageholus-bolus.Differencesbetweenculturesmaymeanthatonelanguagehasexpressionandconceptsthatmaynotexitinanother.Forexample,wehavenoready-madeequivalentfortheEnglish“model”,“Coca-cola”,“coffee”,“logic”,“sofa”,“motor”,“Brandy”,“chocolate”,“Benz”,andsoon.Facewithsuchwordsandexpressions,thetranslatorsarehard-pressedtoconveytheoriginalmeaningandareoftenleftwithnochoicebuttoborrowtheoriginallexicalitems.SothesewordscomeintoChinese:“模特儿”，“可口可乐”，“咖啡”，“逻辑”，“沙发”，“摩托”，“白兰地”，“巧克力”，“奔驰”，andsoon.Andlikewise,therearenoEnglishequivalentforsomeChinesewords,suchaskang(heatedbrickbed),GuandiMiao(templeenshriningGuanYu,awellworshippedancientChinesehero),Zongzi(apyramid-shapedumplingmadeofglutinousricewrappedinreedleavesthatiseatenduringtheDragonBoatfestival),Qigong(asystemofdeepbreathingexercisepopularinChina),TaijiQuan(akindoftraditionalChineseboxing),andsoon.SomeofthesehadbeenacceptedbyEnglishpeople,andsomewillbeaccepted,andthesewordswillcometoEnglish.
4.3.Translator’snote
Atranslator’snoteisanote(usuallyafootnoteoranendnote)addedbythetranslatortothetargetlanguagetoprovideadditionalinformationpertainingtothelimitoftranslation,theculturalbackgroundandanyotherexplanation.“Nidaalsopointsoutthatthefootnotecanexplaincontradictorycustoms,identifyunknowngeographicalorphysicalobjects,giveequivalentofweightsandmeasures,providesinformationonplaysonwords,includesupplementarydataonpropernamesandaddinformationwhichmaybegenerallyusefulinunderstandingthehistoricalandculturalbackgroundofthedocumentinquestion.”[13]P238-239Inaword,usingthismethodcanturnsomeuntranslatabilityintoacertaindegreeoftranslatability.
Forexample:
(20)道可道，非常道——《道德经》Laozi
TheTao①thatcanbeexpressedinwordsisnottheconstantTao.
Note:①TheTaoisaabsolute,whichallotherthingsarerelative,itisalmightyandomnipresent.Itsvastnessorminutenesscannotbecomparedwiththingsofourunderstanding.Theuniverseisembracingit.
“HeretheChinesecharacter“道”isawordwithveryprofoundmeaning,whichfindsitselfnoequivalentintheEnglishlanguage.Itisalmostuntranslatable.Throughthefootnote,someoftheculturemessageshavebeentransferredintothetargetlanguagetext.”[14]P69
4.4.Calque
Calqueisatranslationprocedurethatatranslatortranslatesanexpression(oroccasionallyaword)literallyintothetargetlanguage,translatingtheelementoftheexpressionwordforword.PeterNewmarkrefersittoassemantictranslation.Itisamethodoftranslationthataimsatpreservingthemostculturalmessageofthesourcetextatthesacrificeoftheformalelementofthetargetlanguage,andsometimeseventheintelligibilityofthetargettext.Suchastranslate“armedtoteeth”into“武装到牙齿”,translate“knowledgeisstrengths”into“知识就是力量”,translate“hotdog”into“热狗”,andtranslate“纸老虎”into“papertiger”.Maybetheyseemridiculeratthebeginning,buttheywillbeacceptedbythetargetlanguagespeakingpeopleandbecomeacommonwordintheirdailylife.
4.5Paraphrase
“Paraphraseisasextendedsynonymandinevitablyanexpansionandadiffusionoftheoriginaltext.Itisonlyjustifiedwhenanitemofterminologytechnicalinstitutionalcultural,ecological,scientificcannotbehardedinanyotherway.E.g.byTLequivalent,transcription,neologismbyreproducingtheencyclopedictenorforthelinguisticvehicle.”[15]P130Sometimes,somewordsintheirsourcelanguagedonothaveequivalentinthetargetlanguage,anditisdifficulttousecalquesorothermethodtocompensate.Andwhatwecanuseisparaphrase,forexample:
TheChineseidiom“一龙一猪”,meansoneisverycleverandcapable,buttheotherisstupidandhopeless.Ifitistranslatedinto“oneisadragon,anotherisapig”,Englishreaderscannotunderstandthemeaning.Andtherearenosimilaridiomstosubstitute,soweonlycanusethemethodofparaphrase,andtranslateitinto:”Oneisverycapable,whiletheotherisextremelyincompetent.”
5.Conclusion
Forthedifferenceinlinguisticandcultural,weshouldacceptthattheredoesexistuntranslatabilitybetweenEnglishandChinese.Butweneverneglectthefactthattherearenumerouslanguageuniversalsandculturalsimilarities.Itisnecessarytounderstandtheco-existenceofuntranslatabilityandtranslatability.Baseontheunderstanding,wecanusevariousmethodtocompensatetheuntranslatabilityandlessthebarrierintranslation.Withtheglobaleconomicintegration,culturaldiversity,networktechnologyrevolutionary,theworldwillbecomesmallerandsmaller.Wehaveeveryreasontobelievethatthelanguageandculturalcommunicationwillbemoreandmore,andthebarrierbetweenlanguageswillbelessandless.
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