The Translation Workshop ： Two Heads Are Better Than One

Wang+Fang

Abstract：The aims of translation workshop are to share experience and knowledge. Students usually firstly make a good understanding of the source text in detail and then analyze it in their own words and judge the stylistic feature and figure out the proper meaning then they discuss together and compare two or three kinds of translation together and finally make an appropriate translation version.

Key words： translation workshop； proper meaning； stylistic feature

中圖分類號：Q50

Maybe some say that those students pay too much attention to the words which is meaningless to them.Actually， from such kind of discussion during this course，students can acquired many translation skills from such kind of discussion during this course . Also ， as English learners， if students can not give the word the proper meaning or understanding or even students can not translate the word with proper use in proper target language ， how can students translate the whole essay properly？

1.Analyze it in your own words.

When you get a passage， try to analyze it in your own words ， do not compare the two translation versions firstly， or you will lose your own mind. As we all know ，translation is a decision-making process. students should be clear in mind that under such context and at this time which is the best translation. Only in this way， can students get rid of the controlling of the translation versions and get our appropriate translation. When students translate words from English into Chinese， students should figure out that words in English seems to be a beautiful shell including contents and meaning， and when students should translate it into Chinese， students should firstly get into the shell to get its full meaning and get out of the shell to reword and readjust it.

Example 1：

Expanses unknown to deed or map are known to every dawn， and solitude， supposed no longer to exist in my county， extends on every hand as far as the dew can reach.（Aldo Leopold，2010-5）

我漫步走過，無拘無束，天知地知，地契不知，規劃圖不知，唯有清晨知我。 有人說，獨處之美，在我的小村落已經不復存在，但事實上，它在四處延展，露珠到哪，它到哪。（王芳 譯）

During the first part， the “expanses”unknown here means i can follow my heart to walk over freely to places. And the author uses the personification here in the sentence“are know to every down”， which means that every down can witness my footprint while the land map or deed can not， so students readjust the sentence that every down， i walk over freely ， the deed or map （here the map means the map that record the land and owners）can not know but the down can see it.

The “solitude”here not means lonely but means the state of being alone ，especially when this is peaceful and pleasant， so students translate into the beauty of alone. “supposed no long exist”refers to someone supposed that solitude dont exist but should. students readjust “extends on every hand as far as the dew can reach”into in extends everywhere， where is the dew， there is the solitude.

Only students use Chinese words freely from our thoughts， can students make the words more accordant and coherent in the sentence and between the sentences .

2.Do not ignore the simple words with unfamiliar meaning.

If you want to be a good English learner， or a good translator， using good tools to find out the exact and unfamiliar meaning of the seemingly simple word is prominent. Mr.Qin recommend us many tools and websites especially Golden dict-the English to English dictionary -which helps us a lot to get the exact unfamiliar meaning to get command of the whole passage.

For example， simple words in in David Copperfield with unfamiliar meaning.

In consideration of the day and hour of my birth， it was declared by the nurse， and by some sage women in the neighborhood who had taken a lively interest in me several months before there was any possibility of our becoming personally acquainted， first， that I was destined to be unlucky in life； and secondly， that I was privileged to see ghosts and spirits； both these gifts inevitably attaching， as they believed， to all unlucky infants of either gender， born towards the small hours on a Friday night.（Charles Dickens ，1850，Chapter 1）

鑒于我出生的時辰和日期，我的助產士還有附近的一幫子見多識廣的鄰居街坊，一幫子在我出生幾個月前就已經對我產生濃厚興趣的女鄰居，這幫子女鄰居，她們都說，我這一輩子都注定倒霉；我出生就有一種特異功能，能看到鬼神，她們認為這種稟賦，會浮在所有的不幸的孩子身上，不論男女，只要周五晚上的那個時辰出生，皆是如此，誰也脫不了。（王芳 譯）

In this part ， when you check the word “nurse”， you will get several meanings. The first related meaning is a person whose job is to take care of sick or injured people ，usually in a hospital. If students read the whole passage ， students could find that the author wasnt injured or sick in hospital and at that time the author was born . The second meaning is a woman or girl whose job was to take care of the babies or small children in their own homes which means that a registed nurse， a mid-wife. Another word， the “sage”， which refers to the people who know things about the author and his surroundings， it not means the people who are really wise and knowledgeable. From these words， its not hard to make a conclusion that when you translate a word or a passage， you should be care about the small but vital word. If students ignore that， they will dig a wrong hole for our translation.

Also ， students should rewrite it and readjust it in our own words before they translate it. They can see that the women there have too many attributive definitions ， such as some sage women ，in the neighborhood ，who had taken a lively interest in me， several months before ，there was any possibility of our becoming personally acquainted. What students chose is that students translate into a parallel sentence each begins with some .Only in this way， can students make the sentence more clear and translate the sense of irony. students will discuss about the paragraph in details later.

Example 2：

Whether i shall turn out to be the hero of my own life， or whether that station will be held by anybody else，these pages must show....（Charles Dickens ，1850，Chapter 1）

我該做我這個故事的主角呢？還是讓別人做，接下來，我就這樣寫吧。。。（王芳 譯）

The word“hero”in this essay means the character in the book not the familiar meaning of the people who survive others.In conclusion， if you give the word the familiar meaning which makes the sentence awkward ， you should check it and find whether it has another appropriate meaning for the word which can make the sentence quite natural before and after it.

Example 3：

Like other great landowner， i have tenants.（Aldo Leopold， 2010-5）

The 1st Version ：和大農場主一樣，我擁有許多的租戶。

The 2nd version ：和大地主一樣，我擁有許多佃農。

The 3rd version： 和擁有大片土地的人一樣，很多人租用我的地 （組譯文）。

In this sentence，students should pay attention to the word “landowner”and “tenant”.The “landowner”here means a person who owns land ，especially a large amount of land. The “tenant ” in this sentence means someone who pays rent for the land that they use ， not for the place or building they use. In the 1ST version， the word “farmland ”is land which is farmed ， it stress that it was farmed or suitable for farming， but in this sentence students stress the people who owns this land. And the “tenant” in 1ST version is someone who pays rent for their place not the land which is proper for the sentence.However， in 2nd version the expression has a strong sense of feudal system which is not proper in Chinese. So， students make the 3rd version which is more proper to the sentence with the proper meaning and use in target language.

3.Judge the stylistic feature.

when you get a passage ， you should judge that it is a formal text or informal text from the words that come just before and after a word ， phrase or statement which help you to understand its meaning ，and then make a decision that you should try to translate it in formal and informal language.

For example 1：

Would you take offense if i had the gall to plant a kiss on the beautiful shoulder？

You will figure out soon enough after the deed. （Das Album， ChapterIV， page 112）

The 1st version ：這么美得肩啊，我壯壯膽子親上它一口，不會惹你生氣吧？

親親就知道了（小組翻譯）。

The 2nd version ：您是否介意我在您美麗的香肩上留下我深深的一吻？

吻罷便知（本人初譯）。

When students get this dialogue， students should check the phrase that “have the gall to ” ， students can figure out that its an oral language which is informal. So， students should clearly translate it in the informal language instead of the formal language judging from the picture that offered to us. Obviously ， students chose the 1st version that students got from our discussion. Also， Mr. Qin told us that the noun and the static phrase with the suffix such as -ion/-ment which has high degree of formality than the verb phrase. For example， the word “determining”has a higher degree of formality than the verb phrase “make up ones mind ”.

For example 2：

-You make your own fortune out of the canal.

-it is infamous.（Oscar Wilde， 2001 ）

The translation version ：

-一條運河讓你發了財

-太不像話，成何體統。

The first sentence use the subject “you”，which is informal in dialogue. And in the second sentence， the author use the subject “it” propose the price not the person， and the noun “infamous”it means something is well known for some bad quality or deed （FORMAL）.So students translate the dialogue in informal language for the first sentence and the formal language in the second sentence.

4.Translate the meaning and the taste

When students translate it ， students should find out the speakers intention and the cultural intention from the language context and the degree of formality and decide the stability of the translation.

The first example is the example that students mentioned in the 2. When students read the whole passage， its not difficult to find that the author described it with heavy irony. So when students translate it， students should pay more attention to the authors intention and translate it in ironic tone. For example when students translate “some sage women ”students use a parallel sentence to show the ironic attitude of the author and to express that these women are quite annoying.

Example 2：

“Macbeth”

Tomorrow， and tomorrow， and yadda yadda， the days are going by—what I，m saying is this is gonna last a long time， believe you me. Long. I see this candle， and I say—should I blow it out？ （Donald Trump Performs Shakespeares Soliloquies， The New Yorker Page 1 of 5）

“麥克白”

明天，又一個明天，等等等等，時間在流逝，我要說的是時間長的很呢！相信我，長的很！你說，我是不是該把它吹滅？

When students translate it， students should make sure that the author imitate Donald Trumps tone and use the intertextuality of Shakespeares Soliloquies. When students translate the word “yadda，yadda”，“and”， “long ”，”i say ”，”should i ”， students should pay more attention to the effect of the prolonged tone or the short word.

Those are my summary what i learned from that class， as of time and pages， i write down those.

Conclusion ：

The translation workshop is a new model of acquiring translation skills and improving our translation abilities.Unlike traditional translation teaching method ， it wasnt impacted by structuralism attached importance to students cognitive level and ignored our social and emotional level.Two heads are better than one.It can not only improve our professional skills，but also our interpersonal skills and capacity for social cooperation.The new model is quite worthy of our study and promotion.

References ：

[1].Aldo Leopold，Great possessions [M].NewYork：Oxford UniversityPress，1968，c1949

[2].CharlesDickens，David Copperfield.ChapterⅠ，[M].New York：Oxford University Press，1850.

[3].Henry Gerbault，Das Album，Chapter Ⅳ，page 112，[M].New York：Oxford University Press.

[4].Oscar Wilde，An Ideal Husband，[M].New York：Dover Publications，2001.

[5].Aryeh Cohen-Wade，Donald Trump Performs ShakespearesSoliloquies，Page 1 of 5，[J].The New Yorker2016.4