英漢互譯的可譯性限度及其應(yīng)對(duì)策略英語(yǔ)專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文

1、<p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　The question whether languages are translatable has been long discussed in the academic circle. This thesis briefly formulates the history and presents the con

2、dition of the research on the limits of translatability. Then, it clarifies its linguistic and cultural reasons and finds some ways to reduce the limits of translatability.</p><p>　　Through explaining the re

3、lationships of language, culture and translation, Chapter 1 leads to the proposition of this thesis-the limits of translatability. Because of the inter-restriction and inter-influence between language and culture, transl

4、ation, as a disseminative intermediary, means not only information exchange but also culture spread. Cultural universality makes translation possible, but its peculiarity brings about the limits of translatability. Chapt

5、er 2 expounds the notion, categorie</p><p>　　Key words: limits of translatability; linguistic; culture; compensating strategies.</p><p><b>　　摘要</b></p><p>　　語(yǔ)言是否可譯的問(wèn)題在學(xué)術(shù)

6、界長(zhǎng)期爭(zhēng)論不休，一直沒(méi)有達(dá)成一致的見解。本文將對(duì)可譯性限度的研究歷史及現(xiàn)狀作一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的介紹，然后闡明造成可譯性限度的語(yǔ)言、文化方面的原因，最后找出降低可譯性限度的方法。</p><p>　　本文第一章通過(guò)對(duì)語(yǔ)言、文化和翻譯三者之間相互關(guān)系的解釋引入該論文的論題—可譯性限度。由于語(yǔ)言和文化的相互影響和相互制約，作為傳播媒介的翻譯不僅意味著信息的傳遞，還意味著文化的傳播。人類文化的普同性使翻譯成為可能，但文化的差異性

7、又導(dǎo)致了可譯性限度。第二章著重闡述可譯性限度的概念、種類及產(chǎn)生的原因。第三章指出可譯性限度的相對(duì)性，然后探討降低可譯性限度的翻譯策略和補(bǔ)償方法。第四章是對(duì)前三章的總結(jié)。翻譯是一個(gè)貫穿語(yǔ)言、文化，綜合各種因素的系統(tǒng)工程，可譯性限度雖然存在，但它是相對(duì)變化的，隨著跨文化交際的加深和翻譯工作者的不懈努力，可譯性限度終將降低。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：可譯性限度；語(yǔ)言；文化；補(bǔ)償策略</p><p

8、><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　Abstract1</p><p><b>　　摘要2</b></p><p>　　Chapter 1 Language, Culture and Translation5</p><p>　　1.1 On Culture

9、5</p><p>　　1.1.1 The Definition of Culture5</p><p>　　1.1.2 The Categories of Culture6</p><p>　　1.1.3 The Traits of Culture6</p><p>　　1.2 Language and Culture7<

10、/p><p>　　1.2.1 Culture Contains Language7</p><p>　　1.2.2 Language Is the Carrier of Culture8</p><p>　　1.2.3 The Inter-influence between Language and Culture9</p><p>　　1

11、.3 Culture and Translation9</p><p>　　Chapter 2 The Limits of Linguistic and Cultural Translatability11</p><p>　　2.1 The Notion of the Limits of Translatability11</p><p>　　2

12、.2 Two Causes of the Limits of Translatability12</p><p>　　2.2.1The Limits of Translatability as Are Rooted in Linguistic Anisomorphism12</p><p>　　2.2.2 The Limits of Translatability as Are

13、Rooted in Cultural Anisomorphism13</p><p>　　2.3 The Limits of Linguistic Translatability16</p><p>　　2.3.1 The Limits of Translatability in Pronunciation16</p><p>　　2.3.2. The

14、Limits of Translatability in Character Structure18</p><p>　　2.3.3 The Limits of Translatability in Vocabulary20</p><p>　　2.3.4. The Limits of Translatability in Figures of Speech21</p>

15、<p>　　2.4 The Limits of Cultural Translatability25</p><p>　　2.4.1 Material Culture26</p><p>　　2.4.2 Traditional Culture27</p><p>　　2.4.3 Religious Culture27</p>&l

16、t;p>　　2.4.4 Historical Culture28</p><p>　　Chapter 3 Ways to Reduce the Limits of Translatability30</p><p>　　3.1. Adaptation30</p><p>　　3.2. Borrowing (Transliteration)31</

17、p><p>　　3.3. Translator’s Note32</p><p>　　3.4. Calque33</p><p>　　3.5. Paraphrase34</p><p>　　3.6 Contextual Amplification35</p><p>　　Chapter 4 Conclusio

18、n36</p><p>　　Aknowledgements37</p><p>　　Bibliography38</p><p>　　Chapter 1 Language, Culture and Translation</p><p>　　In the study of modern theories of translation,

19、 the research of the interrelationship of language, culture and translation is of great importance and influence. The research of the relationship between culture and translation should be based on that between culture a

20、nd language.</p><p>　　1.1 On Culture</p><p>　　The research of the interrelationship of language, culture and translation is a prerequisite of the understanding of the definition, structure and b

21、asic traits of culture. This section will give a brief explanation of them.</p><p>　　1.1.1 The Definition of Culture</p><p>　　As for culture, the definitions vary from one to another. A well-acc

22、epted one is “culture is the body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits constituting a distinct complex of tradition of a racial, religious or social group” (Springfield and Massachusetts, 1962: 552). I

23、t serves as a mirror reflecting the dynamic evolution of human society. Embedded in different societies, cultures naturally differ from one another. Distinctions between cultures are called “cultural incongruity”</p&g

24、t;<p>　　1.1.2 The Categories of Culture</p><p>　　For the word “culture” is polysemous, the classifications on it are thus varied and various. A Persian Englishman, Malinowski，according to the function

25、 of culture, classifies it as material facilities, spiritual culture, language and social organizations (李波陽(yáng), 田琳, 2006: 131). Liang Shuming, a Chinese scholar, from the perspective of the relationship between man and soc

26、iety, divides culture into three levels. The first one is spiritual level, such as religion, philosophy, art, etc. The second is </p><p>　　As a matter of fact, no matter how it is classified, it never surpas

27、ses the two general categories: “material culture” and “spiritual culture”. According to Eugene Nida, culture is divided into five types of sub-culture: linguistic culture, ecological culture, religious culture, material

28、 culture and social culture. (趙愛國(guó), 姜雅明, 2003: 203)</p><p>　　1.1.3 The Traits of Culture</p><p>　　To understand the basic traits of culture is of great significance for this thesis. Culture has

29、 many traits, for instance, culture is universal; culture is different in different speech communities; culture changes with the passage of time and culture is open. Cultural university refers to one of the characteristi

30、cs of culture that different nations hold something common which distinguishes human beings from the animal. “Cultural distinction” means culture is different in different speech commun</p><p>　　1.2 Language

31、 and Culture</p><p>　　If we make a research into language and culture in translation, we must firstly study the direct operating object of translation- the position of language in cultural system and its rel

32、ationship with culture.</p><p>　　It has long been recognized that language is an essential and indispensable part of a given culture and that the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsi

33、c and indispensable. Language and culture are inextricably linked together and closely related to each other. Language is a part of culture and plays a significant role in it. Without language, culture would not be possi

34、ble. Language, in its broadest sense, is the symbolic representation of a nation's culture but influenced </p><p>　　1.2.1 Culture Contains Language</p><p>　　Language is an accepted symbol sy

35、stem formed through a speech community’s common social practice. It acts as the tool by which people conduct communication. It is an integral part of culture, or we say culture contains language.</p><p>　　La

36、nguage is a special cultural phenomenon. It is deeply rooted in social life as both a representing form and a main vehicle of cultural transmission. Every kind of language is originated and developed in a specific histor

37、ical environment. It has a deep and complicated relationship with its birth nation’s culture, including its structure and function, its phonology, vocabulary and grammar. It’s safe to say that non-understanding of a lang

38、uage’s social and cultural backgrounds makes it impossible</p><p>　　As for the relationship between language and culture, there is a hot controversy among linguists, but it is universally accepted that langu

39、age is an indispensable part of and has almost all the characteristics of culture.</p><p>　　1.2.2 Language Is the Carrier of Culture</p><p>　　Culture is a complicated system which can serve to s

40、tore and transmit social experience. But the social experience is not stored and transmitted by culture itself but by language. That is, language is the carrier of culture.</p><p>　　Language functions as an

41、information medium, and a tool by which people express their ideas and feelings. Each language system is formed along with the formation of cultural system and reflects it. The language system of the whole human beings

42、is patterned complexly and variously. In another word, different speech communities have different language patterns. Each pattern of language system reflects its speech community’s cognition of the real world. It is the

43、 crystallization of its speech nati</p><p>　　1.2.3 The Inter-influence between Language and Culture</p><p>　　Language, as the most important tool in communicating and spreading information, carr

44、ies various cultural traces. Culture, as the driving force of language creation, steers the production and development of language. Culture not only determines language’s referential meaning, but also decides the way peo

45、ple use language.</p><p>　　At the same time, we are supposed to be aware of the reaction of language to culture. On one hand, language is the most important tool in human being’s communication and thought ex

46、change. Without language, communication and idea exchange in human beings are impossible, nor are cultural formation and development. It’s safe to say that cultural formation is based on the birth and development of lang

47、uage. On the other hand, language is the symbolic representation of culture. Its conceptual meanings</p><p>　　To sum up, language is the symbols of culture and the basis of cultural formation and development

48、. Culture influences language on its vocabulary, grammar, textual structure and style. Reversely, it is reacted by language. In this world, there is no culture separated from language or language without carrying cultura

49、l elements.</p><p>　　1.3 Culture and Translation</p><p>　　Language is a component of the culture, which is affected and limited by culture. In the course of doing translation, whether the transl

50、ator has the right understanding or not depends on his knowledge of the relevant culture to a great extent. For a translator, without the comparison of two cultures, it is impossible for him to correctly understand the s

51、poken or written languages. That is why we say, “Learning a language is a kind of learning the culture and habit of the country where the langua</p><p>　　Chapter 2 The Limits of Linguistic and Cultural Tra

52、nslatability</p><p>　　Translation deals with people’s emotions, thoughts and languages which have laws in common. In addition, as to culture, different countries have common features. Thus, translation becom

53、es possible. But each culture or language has its individual characteristics, which sets limits on translatability.</p><p>　　2.1 The Notion of the Limits of Translatability</p><p>　　Translati

54、on is a cross-lingual and cross-cultural activity. It is not only a process of transmitting linguistic meaning, but also a process of cultural transmission. Strictly speaking, absolute cross-cultural communication based

55、on inter-lingual translation is impossible, for the message to be conveyed is always at the risk of being partly lost. Nobody can claim to have the ability to transfer a complicated thought from one language to another w

56、ithout any distortion.</p><p>　　Limits of translatability have their roots deep in the cultural anisomorphism. In other words, the fact that cultures differ from one region to another is the premise on which

57、 the limits of translatability rest. We know that human species originated in regions isolated from one another, therefore, human culture-the byproduct of human evolution naturally bears some distinct regional features.

58、Anisomorphism in mankind’s culture and thinking modes has thus come into being. Anisomorphism has its mos</p><p>　　2.2 Two Causes of the Limits of Translatability</p><p>　　On the limits of tr

59、anslatability, Catford once wrote: “The cases where the limits of translatability occurs fall into two categories: those where the difficulty is linguistic, and those where it is cultural”. (J.C. Catford, 1965：94) In the

60、 following part, the author would like to start his study of the limits of translatability with an exploration of their two causes: the linguistic one and the cultural one.</p><p>　　2.2.1 The Limits of Trans

61、latability as Are Rooted in Linguistic Anisomorphism</p><p>　　Admittedly, the common core of human being’s experience, the similarity in man’s modes of thinking and cultural university all make cross-cultura

62、l communication possible. However, we shall at the same time be fully aware of the basic and conspicuous differences between languages which bring more barriers to translation than language similarities and cultural univ

63、ersities can deal with.</p><p>　　But how does the linguistic anisomorphism put influence upon translatability? Translation, in heart, is a process of achieving functional equivalence. In order to achieve fun

64、ctional equivalence, translators have to reproduce a target language (TL hereafter) situation which shares with the source language (SL hereafter) situation some key functionally relevant features. But sometimes, some gr

65、ammatical features peculiar to the SL are also part of the functionally relevant features. For example, in</p><p>　　2.2.2 The Limits of Translatability as Are Rooted in Cultural Anisomorphism</p><

66、p>　　Another category of translatability limits, according to Catford, arises from cultural anisomorphism. Culture, as the backdrop against which images assume specific meanings, is the origin of lots of translation di

67、fficulties. In fact, “concepts and literary cannons of a particular isolated culture” (Eugene A. Nida, 1964：84) are hard to understand, even less to translate in another language/culture.</p><p>　　For exampl

68、e, “龍” in Chinese culture is a miraculous creature worshiped as a sacred totem standing for supremacy, emperor, royalty and auspiciousness. However, native English speakers usually fail to perceive such rich and profound

69、 significations from its English equivalence “dragon”. Instead, they are very likely to misconstrue “龍” as a negative image, for what “dragon” generates in their mind is a dangerous monster or figuratively a violent pers

70、on. Then how do cultural features influence transl</p><p>　　As the above mentioned, cultural university will never change as a result of the change of geographical position, social structure and time. Though

71、 the inhabitants of different peoples may not be in the same natural and social environment, the planet they inhabit is the only earth, which inevitably leads to a certain extent of sameness in human beings. We call this

72、 sameness cultural university. Thanks to cultural university, people from different cultural backgrounds can conduct their intercultu</p><p>　　Despite cultural university, different nations do not share the

73、exactly same culture. Every nation has its own cultural distinctions as a result of its unique history, geographical position and surrounding environment. For example, China is located mainly in land. Therefore, it flour

74、ishes in inland culture. While the western culture originated in Europe, in which most countries are faced by sea. So sea becomes the cradle of their culture. The inlanders use “進(jìn)退維谷（谷：valley）” to express their dile<

75、/p><p>　　But culture is not static and it develops as time passes. In this sense, we say culture is changeable or open. “Culture is changeable” means its contents and forms change as time passes by. “It is open

76、” means it is not a closed system but interacts with other cultures. Different styled cultures can be assimilated one another. Take China as an example. Before her reform and opening, her culture was not understood by mo

77、st westerners. But after she opened to the west, an increasing number of wester</p><p>　　In conclusion, cultural university is the basis and premise of translatability. It makes international cultural commun

78、ication possible, while the cultural distinctions bring about the untranslatability. But because culture is open, it would make some changes to adjust to another one as time flows and international communication deepens.

79、 This phenomenon of cultural assimilation leads untranslatability to translatability. However, because culture is transferred from one generation to another and i</p><p>　　2.3 The Limits of Translatability

80、at Linguistic Level</p><p>　　The SL differs from the TL in pronunciation, character structure, vocabularies and figures of speech, etc. Those differences make it difficult to find the exactly same expression

81、s to reshow the SL’s linguistic characteristics. As a result, the elegance and emotion of the SL may be lost in the TL, thus occurring the limits of translatability.</p><p>　　2.3.1 The Limits of Translatab

82、ility in Pronunciation</p><p>　　As we know, English is an alphabetic language, while Chinese is an ideographic language. It’s very hard to find phonetic equivalents between them. If translators pursue only s

83、emantic functional equivalences in translation, they could take phonetic functional equivalences outside consideration in most cases. But if the things in the SL are shaped through phonetic elements and the TL must re-il

84、lustrate such a phonetic effect, then occurring the limits of translatability in speech sounds. </p><p>　　Let’s take two translation versions from Hong Lou Meng for illustration.</p><p>　　【S

85、T】 二人正說(shuō)著，見著湘云走來(lái)，笑道：“二哥哥，林姐姐，你們天天一處玩，我好容易來(lái)了，也不理我一理兒?！摈煊裥Φ溃骸捌且嘧訍壅f(shuō)話，連個(gè)‘二’哥哥也叫不上來(lái)，只是‘愛’哥哥‘愛’哥哥的?；貋?lái)趕圍棋兒，又該著你鬧‘幺愛三四五’了?！?.....湘云笑道：“這一輩子，我自然比不上你。我只保佑著明兒得一個(gè)咬舌的林姐夫，時(shí)時(shí)刻刻你可聽‘愛’‘厄’去。阿彌陀佛，那才現(xiàn)在我眼里?。ǖ诙幕兀?Yang Xianyi, Gladys Yang,

86、1999：:559)</p><p>　　【English】 They were interrupted by Xiangyun’s arrival. “Why, Ai Brother and Sister Lin!” she cried cheerfully. “You can be together everyday, but it’s rarely I have a chance to visit you;

87、 yet you pay no attention to poor little me.” “The lisper loves to rattle away,” said Daiyu with a laugh. “Fancing saying ai instead of er like that. I suppose, when we start dicing, you’ll be shouting one, love, three,

88、four, five...” ...Xiangyun rattled on: “Naturally I’ll never come up to you in this lifetime.</p><p>　　【English】 Just then Xiang-yun burst in on them and reproved them smilingly for abandoning her: ‘Couthin

89、Bao, Couthin Lin: you can thee each every day. It’s not often I get a chanthe to come here; yet now I have come, you both ignore me!’ Dai-yu burst out laughing: ‘Lisping doesn’t seem to make you any less talkative! Liste

90、n to you: “Couthin!” “Couthin!” presently, when you’re playing Racing Go, you’ll be all “thicktheth” and “thicktheth”!... ‘I shall never be a match for you as long as I live,’ </p><p>　　In the above example,

91、 Xiang-yun is laughed by Dai-yu for her erroneous pronunciation of “二” and “愛”. The dialogue between them plays an important role in depicting their characters. Mr. Yang translated “二” into “er”， “愛” to “ai” according t

92、o their Chinese pronunciations and gave notes(er means “two” or “second” and ai means “l(fā)ove”) for explanation. Though his translation has reshown the sarcastic implication of “愛”, the humor of the dialogue brought by fal

93、se pronunciation is lost. Mr. Hawkes tr</p><p>　　In this example, although the two translators have both made compensation in their translating “愛” and “二”, both have their own translation defects. We call t

94、his kind of translation defects limits of translatability in pronunciation.</p><p>　　Any language has its own special phonemic system which cannot be replaced by other languages. Surely, in pronouncing, ther

95、e exist many differences between Chinese and English.</p><p>　　Let’s have another example:</p><p>　　“石詩(shī)士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅……”</p><p>　　The author wrote the whole passage in homophonic words

96、 which all pronounce as “shi” in Chinese. If translated into English, it’s impossible that all the words in the English translation text are pronounced the same. This is a typical example of the limits of translatability

97、 caused by phonemic system.</p><p>　　2.3.2. The Limits of Translatability in Character Structure Chinese words consist of characters that have meaning(s) themselves, but English words are combined wit

98、h meaningless alphabets. They are completely different in writing. Chinese has a writing skill of describing characters. Some riddles that are relative to the structure of characters or English words are not absolutely t

99、ranslatable, for example:</p><p><b>　　“田頭長(zhǎng)草”</b></p><p><b>　?。纾?lt;/b></p><p>　　“What makes a road broad?”</p><p>　　(The letter B).</p><