English—Chinese Syntax Comparison and Sentence Translation

陸銀

【Abstract】Translation is to maintain the content and transform the state or form of one language into another. Basically speaking， translation is the transition of languages form. In order to keep the translation and the original text be consistent， we must compare the original language with the target language， from which we can also conclude some principles and laws. Syntax is a very important pattern of language and it studies every part of sentences and their orders. The thesis analyses the differences between English and Chinese from the perspective of syntax，discussing the principles of transition between English and Chinese.

【Key words】translation； syntax of English and Chinese； comparison

I. Introduction

English and Chinese are two completely different languages. Translation is not just a word-to-word or term-to-term work， it is also the interaction of the two languages and their cultural systems. The so-called system in the narrative model reflects in the layers of words， phrases， clauses， and sentences. In a wider sense， it reflects the values of the users， philosophy， mentality， cultures and so on.

English speakers are expressing their ideas from English culture in English language， and we Chinese speakers express things in our language in our culture. When doing English-Chinese translation， we should understand English like its native speakers， but it is not easy to understand it completely. So it is difficult to express Chinese ideas in English.

From above all， only by a thorough improvement of comprehension in the cognition of natures and differences of English and Chinese respectively， can we polish the ability of the transition of English and Chinese.

II. Comparison of Syntactic Structure of English and Chinese

Language itself is a kind of cultural phenomenon. English and Chinese are the two most popular languages in the world and they respectively represent the western and eastern cultures. During translation， though the grammar and vocabulary can be used correctly， sentences will appear wrong in the way of the target language expresses. The root is the syntactic differences of English and Chinese sentence structures.

2.1 General Syntactic Features

By its origin， Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan family which includes more than four hundred languages and dialects and Chinese is a language that occurs at the earliest， circulates in the widest and possesses the most users. Besides， Chinese is most typical language among them. English belongs to Indo-European family， including twelve branches and more than one hundred languages. Almost more than half of the world populations treat the language as their mother tongue.

2.2 Negative Sentences

A sentence may be positive or negative in tone. English and Chinese share a lot in negative expressions， thus in translation， we can translate the negative form of the original text into target text directly.

There are also dissimilarities however， in usage， vocabulary dealing， grammatical dealing， and even in languages logic between the English and Chinese in expressing negative concepts. Therefore， we must firstly understand whether the two languages use the same expression form in translating negative sentences， and then we could do translations， and take different methods of translating according to different negative forms so as to keep the translation be consistent to the original text in meaning and function. For example：

All that glitters is not gold.

Analysis：This is a typical example of partial negation. The phrase-“all ……nots” meaning in Chinese is “并不是所有……都……”. So when we are faced to this situation， we should make careful analysis according to the context and logical relation.

Therefore， the sentence should be translated as “并不是所有發光的東西都是金子”.

Ⅲ. Translation Strategies

English and Chinese are two different language systems rooted in two different cultural backgrounds. The two languages have their own features during their development， and ways of their expression are also different. A sentence is made up of words and phrases. It is a kind of language unit that can express complete meanings and it is the most basic unit composing paragraphs and writings. Differences of principles of languages organization cause different languages with different features to sentence levels. English and Chinese have mass differences in sentence features. The following are some simple and accessible strategies：

3.1 Adding/Abbreviation

We usually use English to form sentences by morphological changes whose hypotaxis effect is very delicate. For instance， English words bear the form of both singular and plural pattern. Besides， the non-finite verbs respectively are the infinitive， the present participle and the past participle. But Chinese determines words grammatical function in the sentences and the meaning of the sentence only by virtue of word order and Chinese has no morphological changes.

Winter is the best time to study the growth of trees. Although the leaves are gone and the branches are bare， the trees are beautiful.

譯文：冬天是研究樹木的最好季節。雖然樹葉落了，樹枝光了，但樹木本身卻是美的。

The English words here-“trees、leaves、branches” are all in the form of plural， however， the translation in Chinese can not mark this plural form.

3.2 Impersonal/Personal

According to the fact that English and Chinese respectively stress impersonal and personal， transforming the narration mode consciously under different circumstances can make the translation smooth and conform to the expressive way of the target languages. In English to Chinese translation， we tend to turn the impersonal subject sentences into personal subject sentences while in Chinese to English translation， we are used to turn the personal subject sentences into impersonal subject sentences. For example，

One sad letter from his wife brought him crying home.

譯文：他因為一封來自他太太傷心的信而一路哭到家。

The original text of English emphasizes objects effect on people. The sentence emphasizes that “sad letter” affects “him”， making him “crying home.”. Therefore， when we translate the English to Chinese， we take “person” as the subject according to Chinese thinking way that emphasizes subjectivity of thinking mode.

3.3 Positive/Negative

Due to the differences of cultures and thinking ways of the two nations， the expressive ways are also identical. Sometimes， the meaning expressed through the negative examples should be expressed in a positive way. Similarly， sentences with negative words are not necessarily negative sentences， and those without negative words are not necessarily positive sentences， which are not in conformity with the so-called negative or positive sentences in grammar. For example，

The last thing I want in this world is to hurt you.

譯文：這個世界上我最不愿意做的事就是傷害你。

In this sentence， there is no negative word， but it expresses the negative meaning.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

It seems that a real great translation does not necessarily consist of a great plenty of complex vocabularies. In order to present a great translation， then getting a good understanding of the syntactic differences of these two kinds of languages becomes especially important when we doing translation jobs. And it can also lead the translator to analyze and get the real meaning of the original text， and help him to choose the practical expressing correctly.

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