Contrastive Studies of Chinese and English Translation

【Abstract】n both English and Chinese translation， it is very important to correctly understand the lexical meaning of the source language and choose the appropriate expression in the target language. Therefore， it is helpful to learn the differences between part of speech and word meaning of both languages， and the differences between sentence structure and textual consciousness.

【Key words】comparision and translation； part of speech； word meaning； sentence structure； textual consciousness

【作者簡介】hongliu， Shanxi Normal University（SXNU）.

1. Introduction

The British translation theorist Peter Newmark once said， “the largest quantity of translation in a text is done at the level of the word...”However， as lexical meaning and usage of vocabulary is different in different languages， in the practice of English Chinese translation， it is generally difficult to find a completely equivalent word between the source language and the target language.

2. Word meaning

In different languages， people have different understanding of the scope and degree of life experience division. Thus， it causes the unequal meaning of the literal meaning. The differences mainly conclud semantic misplacement. It refers to the asymmetry between Chinese and English. The second is lexical default ， which refers to the fact that the concept of a word in a language does not exist an equivalent vocabulary in another language.

The linguistic meaning is that the author uses grammatical features of language itself in the phonology to achieve some special rhetorical effect. And pragmatic meaning is the intention of language users in specific contexts.

3. Sentence structure

In the book Translating Meaning of Nida， a famous American translation theorist， thinks that in terms of English and Chinese， there is a significant characteristic of the sentence structure， which is the contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis.Generally speaking， English sentences often use various forms to connect words， pay attention to explicit answers and form of sentences. Therefore， the structure of English sentences is tight. However， Chinese sentences focus on implicit coherence， pay attention to logical order and functional meaning.

English discourses and sentences are usually front-weight while Chinese discourses and sentences are end-weight. Besides， the use of passive voice in English sentence patterns is extensive. However， Chinese is a prominent language. It often implies the passive voice on the verb. Therefore， active voice， personal expression， no main sentences and passive markers are often used in Chinese.

4. Part of speech

A significant difference between English and Chinese is that English is static and Chinese is dynamic. Many nouns in English are changed by verbs. They have dynamic meaning and are relatively simple in morphological change. They are often used to express the concepts of action， behavior， change， state， quality， emotion and so on. In contrast to English， Chinese is a logical language. It is not constrained by the change of verb form， and uses more verbs.

According to Curme， there are more than 280 English prepositions. Prepositions can lead nouns or noun phrases. They act as adverbials， attributions and predicative expressions， and express many meanings of verbs or verb phrases. Compared with English， the number of prepositions in modern Chinese is about 30， and most of them are from verbs.

5. Textual consciousness

In translation practice， the final effect of the translation is reflected through the whole text of the translation. Newmark， a British translation theorist， has discussed the relationship between vocabulary， sentence and text in translation，“...the text is the ultimate court of appeal， the sentence is the basic unit of translating （not of translation）， and most of the cruxes are centred in the lexical units， if not the words. ”

Comparatively speaking， English is a kind of language that attaches importance to lexical cohesion. In many cases， Chinese sentences without lexical cohesion can still be combined into a text through the logical relationship.

6. Conclusion

The essence of English and Chinese translation is the translation of the meaning between English and Chinese， the composition and combination of meaning in English and Chinese system can greatly improve the scientificity of the adjustment of the language form in the process of translation. In the case of translators consideration of translation strategies， we should first establish the idea that translation is a kind of interlingual information exchange. It is the key to success that to ensure the successful transmission of effective information.

References：

[1]Nida，Eugene A.：Translating Meaning[J].Penguin，1982.