Translation Differences between Chinese and English

【Abstract】： Foreign translators used to pick simple words in prose translation （to English）， while four-character phrase would be appreciated in Chinese literature texts. There are great differences in the two languages.

【Key words】： Chinese and English； text forms； simple and complex words.

For a translator， the most difficult thing may be to translate a text into the target language in the words cater to the interest of target readers. To attract the target readers， indeed need us to know the culture of the target language. For a source text in Chinese， there is great difference in the translation of Chinese translators and American translators， the same as to the English text. That may stems from the differences in mindset， transforming， and culture. I compared the different translations of one original text， and explored the mystery behind the translation thinking.

In the article， I mainly focus on “匆匆”， which is originally written by Zhu Ziqing， and choose four translation forms of that text.

There are two sentences： “我不禁頭涔涔而淚潸潸了” “ 小屋里射進兩三方斜斜的太陽。太陽他有腳啊，輕輕悄悄地挪移了”. I picked that for these two are full of Chinese characteristics， vivid， and full of sentiment. Comparing to Chinese translators， the translation of Howard Goldblatt is rather simple. In my eyes， the simple words are not so vivid as the words other translators used. Those complex words and expression embody the willing of Chinese translators to express the full meaning of the text language and stick to the original text. But Goldblatt just extracts the central idea the author wants to express and write it out. I thought that is attributive to his style， and also the differences of the perception and translation between Chinese translators and English translators. Goldblatt is renowned for the novel translations， which focus more on the plot. But in terms of prose， it may still need the eloquent and poetic words to express the deep meanings of the text. Moreover， Chinese text often has lots of beautiful words； the author puts them together with four characters as a phrase and creates a charm of language. But in English， whose aesthetics lies on the different form， sometimes make the translators hard to find the counterparts and translate both the meanings and the rhythm. Confronting that， Chinese translators would more likely to stick to the meaning first， while for many American or British translators； they prefer picking out the essentials and make the language fascinating in English， using another expressing method.

In terms of the second part， I would like to compare the translation of the oath of Night’s Watch in “the song of ice and fire” ：

Night gathers， and now my watch begins.

It shall not end until my death.

And the translation：

長夜將至，我從今開始守望，至死方休。

In four-character form， full of rhythm， with the style of ancient Chinese， these are all the advantages of this translation. More important， it caters to the taste of Chinese people and gets rid of the yokes of translation. And I find for many translators， it is always easier to translate a text into mother tongue. Certainly because a person must have more knowledge about his own language， and know what kind of translation will be popular in their countries. Furthermore， Chinese is a language with many forms， such as the classical one， modern one， Li Sao pattern， etc.， which leaves ample room to translators. While English has a plain style and it is harder for us to translate a text into a rather native one， cater to the taste of English people and avoid the use of Chinglish， let alone deliver the deep meaning to the foreign readers. But the difficulties are left for surmounting， we translators must channel great efforts into the learning of the two languages， especially the foreign one， and try to go deep in their culture so as to deliver the most acceptable and meaningful literature to the target readers.

Overall， for translation， it is quite more complex than the outsiders view it. For us， the first step we need to do is to master the two languages， lay a solid foundation for the process of translation， or recreation. The second one should be acquiring profound knowledge about the traditional culture and the current trend， which will directly lead to the success of a translation text.

Reference：

[ 1 ]肖小燕 . 《匆匆》詩化語言的成功再現 [J]. 科教文匯 ，2008（1）.

[ 2 ]Halliday，M. A. K. An Introduction to Functional Grammar[M]. London：Edward Arnold，1985

作者簡介：鄭瑢（1996.11—），女，就讀于西南財經大學經貿外語學院。