Literal Translation and Free Translation 直译和意译探析.doc

literal translation and free translationcontentsintroduction1chapter one literal translation and free translation 1.1 the definition of literal translation and free translation1 1.2 analysis the main differences between literal translation and free translation 1.3 misunderstanding points of literal translation and free translation 1.3.1 literal translation is not word for word translation 1.3.2 literal translation is not dead translation1.3.3 free translation is not translation freely or do not add personal emotion to the original works1.3.4 free translation needs extensive knowledge and culture of both source language and target language chapter two the application of literal translation and free translation8 2.1 the application of literal translation and free translation in literature8 2.2 the application of literal translation and free translation in proverb 2.3 the application of literal translation and free translation in idiomchapter three combination of literal and liberal translation 24conclusion32notes bibliography内容摘要本文的题目是论直译和意译，讲的是直译与字译，意译与乱译及直译与意译的区别。说到直译、字译和乱译、意译，有人也许会认为这是一个老掉牙的话题，早已跟不上时代的潮流了。殊不知，以“直译”和“意译”为幌子，字字对译，死译、硬译、胡译、乱译的人仍不在少数;不懂直译、意译兼用之妙，只信奉直译一种方法，或意译一种方法,一条路走到黑的译者也大有人在。本文正是要还直译、意译一个本来面目，不仅论其长，而且论其短，旨在说明如何选择正确的翻译方法，不断提高翻译作品的质量。 直译和意译作为一种翻译流派或曰翻译方法，在中国翻译界可以说是源远流长。人们认为直译既忠实于原文又可以“输入新的表现法”，是一种理想的翻译方法;有的人则认为直译太过拘泥于原文，缺乏变通，实际上无异于逐字翻译，应予以排斥。这些观点往往只集中于直译的某个侧面，见木不见林，未免失之偏颇。本文试图对直译进行全面而公正的评述，既肯定直译从本质上区别于字字对译、字比句次的逐字翻译或曰字译，又强调直译的适用有其局限性，必须引入一种与之互补的翻译方法即意译，二者交相为用，扬长避短，方能产生好的译文。本文的第章谈的直译与意译的概念，由此来说明直译与意译的本质区别和误区。直译不等与字字对译、死译、硬译，意译不等于胡译、乱译。本文的第章谈的便是直译与意译的应用，说明并不是在任何情况都可以使用直译或意译的。本文的第章谈的直译与意译的兼用。俗话说，“实践出真知。”本文正是从翻译实践出发，译本大量翻译实例为基础，发现问题并试图解决问题，进行分析、总结、归纳。对拘泥于原文形式，亦步亦趋，逐字死译、硬译和胡译乱译译者敲一下警钟。关键词直译，意译，兼用abstract the title of this article is the literal and free translation。it introduces literal and free translation free translation and，the differences between literal and free translation。when we talk about literal translation, word for word translation, translation freely and free translation, some people may think it is an outdated topic which could not follow the trend of time. however, taking the he literal and free translation as the shop sign, many people do word for word translation, died translation, translation freely without some rules. some people do not know how to use literal and free translation together, only believe in one way: literal translation or free translation without any changes. the article will give the real condition of literal and free translation, not only talk about their advantage, but also disadvantage, aiming to explain how to choose the correct way of translation, and improve the quality of translation works.the literal and free translation as a kind of translation school or translation method, has a long history in the translation field. people think that the literal translation is loyal to the original text with the input of new way to express, so it is an ideal way of translation. other people think literal translation is bounded to the original text without changes. actually it has no differences with word for word translation, so should be rejected. these views only focus on one aspect of literal translation, and lack completed consideration. the article tried to give a completed and fair explanation. it makes sure that literal translation is different from word for word translation, translation freely, and emphasizes the limitation of literal translation. we should introduce another way of translation- free translation. only when we make a good use of the two the literal and free translation, can we produce the good versions.chapter one introduced the concept of literal and free translation, to explain the essential differences between literal and free translation and the habited mistakes. literal translation does not equal to word for word translation, died translation, and free translation does not equal to translate freely without any rules.chapter two talked the usages of literal and free translation, concluded that literal or free translation could not be used in any condition.chapter three talked about the combination of literal and free translation.as an saying goes:“only by practice, the real knowledge can be acquired.”this thesis started from the translation practice, listed many translation examples as the basic to find the questions and try to settle them, and made the analysis summarization and conclusion. the author hopes the article can give some warnings to those translators who are only bounded to the form of the original text, word for word translating without changes and translating causally as they like.key words: literal translating, free translation, combination introductiontalking about translation approaches, one may naturally think about the two terms popular among chinese translators, namely literal translation and free translation which made their appearances almost simultaneously in chinese translation history, among other things, literal translation is regarded as equal to“word-for-word translation”by a considerable number of translators, however, literal translation is actually different from word-for-word translation, which will be clarified in detail afterwards. as is known to all, literal translation or free translation has been generally acknowledged as a principal and effective translation approach handed down from generation to generation. however, different viewpoints, complimentary or derogatory have never ceased. just take the great debate launched by lu xun and liang shiqiu as an example, as a steadfast advocate and defender of literal translation, lu xun had truly believed that the method of literal translation could not only convey fresh ideas but more importantly bring in new ways of expression; whereas liang shiqiu and later his follower zhao jingshen, both are enthusiastic supporters of free translation, labeled literal translation as“rigid translation”and went so far as to allege “expressiveness rather than faithfulness”. although theorists afterwards gradually developed a more moderate attitude toward literal translation., some of them still mistook word-for-word translation for literal translation or at least regarded word-for-word translation as one type of literal translation, and some of them, while talking of literal translation in contrast with free translation, concentrated mainly on culture-specific expressions such as idioms, proverb, concluded that free translation is better than literal translation.in this thesis, the author goes on to give in-depth descriptions of both literal translation and free translation which are certainly one step further than the definitions offered by previous theorists and critics who touched the subject but failed to give a full-view-picture. while differentiating literal translation and free translation, the author did not choose to prove her views through argumentation and she would rather give descriptions to communicate her opinions regarding literal translation and free translation. the author tries to give a complete and just assessment of literal translation by comparing it respectively with word-for-word translation and free translation. in the first chapter is devoted to the definition of literal translation and free translation. from definitions we analyze the main differences between literal translation and free translation and point out misunderstanding points of literal translation and free translation. in the second chapter is to explain of the application of literal translation and free translation in literature, proverb, and idiom.in the third chapter, however, weaknesses or limitations of literal translation will be revealed through contrast with free translation in areas and the necessity of combining literal translation with free translation thus emerges.throughout the thesis, the author has employed a large number of examples to explain literal translation and free translation.chapter one literal translation and free translationpeople often discuss literal translation and free translation. literal translation and free translation are two methods of translation. literal translation is a good choice to use; it keeps the original message form. free translation is a translation skill which is flexible; it expresses general idea of the original. more details are given below. 1.1 the definition of literal translation and free translationliteral translation and free translation are two basic skills of translation. literal translation refers to translate a sentence originally, keep the original message form, including construction of sentence, meaning of the original words, and metaphor of the original and so on. translation would be fluent and easy to comprehend by target language readers. free translation refers to, according to the meaning of the original, without paying attention to the details but translation would also be fluent and natural. free translation need not pay attention to the form of the original, including construction of the original sentences, meaning of the original works, and metaphor of the original and so on. but free translation does not mean to delete or add content to the original and translators must consider the original carefully, know its stress, translate it naturally, and express the meaning of the original. free translation is a skill which translators must know the culture of both source language and target language, and must have extensive knowledge. when translating, should not use literal translation completely or use free translation completely. according to the passage which you are translating, you should use literal translation frequently and use free translation when necessary. but what kind of translation is literal translation? and what kind of translation is free translation? for example: smashing a mirror is no way to make an ugly person beautiful, nor it is a way to make social problem evaporate.literal translation: 砸镜子不能使丑八怪变漂亮,也不能使社会问题烟消云散.free translation: 砸镜子并不能解决实际问题.from the example, we can see literal translation is better than free translation, because literal translation keeps the meaning of the original words, easy to comprehend by target language readers.1.2 analysis of the main differences between literal translation and free translation in order to distinguish literal translation from free translation clearly, i would like to take one example to explain: for ma father know and i know that if you only dig enough a pasture can be made free.literal translation: 因为我父亲知道,我也知道,只要挖到一定程度,早晚可以在这里辟出个牧场的. free translation: 因为我父亲知道,我也知道,功到自然成.from the example and the definition of literal translation and free translation, we would see main differences between literal translation and free translation. they are:whether the version is according to the meaning of the original words;whether the version is according to the order of the original words;whether the version is according to the form of the original words;but they have the same aim, making target language readers would be fluent and natural to comprehend. 1.3 misunderstanding points of literal translation and free translationliteral translation and free translation are often misunderstood by people. literal translation is not word for word translation, it is not also dead translation .on the contrary, free translation is not translating freely or do not add personal emotion to the original works ,it needs extensive knowledge and culture of both source language and target language to keep the general idea of original.1.3.1literal translation is not word for word translationfirst of all ,word for word translation as its name has suggested, is the kind of translation featuring words translated one by one singly and out of context ,due to the similarities between literal and word-for-word translation both in “word” (translated singly out of context) and “structure” (resembling to each other),they are misunderstood as the same thing by not only beginner but also some translators, and are even equaled in such dictionaries as websters third new international dictionary in which “literal” is defined as“reproduced word for word”and the english-chinese dictionary which defines literal translation as“逐字翻译或直译”. however, literal translation has a clear-cut difference from word-for-word translation and the adoption of literal translation for word for word translation will inevitably lead to confusion and misunderstanding. the following examples might be welcome to illustrate the differences between literal translation and word-for-word translation.“is she original? is she piquant? i would not exchange this one little english girl for the grand turks whole seraglio; gazelle-eyes, houri forms and all!”11)“她古怪吗?她泼辣吗?我不愿拿这个矮小的英国姑娘，去换土耳其皇帝后宫的全部殡妃、瞪羚的眼睛、女神的形体和一切！”2)“难道她不是很独特?很泼辣?这小个儿英国姑娘就是拿土耳其苏丹后宫的全部娘妃来换我也不给，尽管她们有瞪羚眼、天仙般的身段和一切美质！”.as a typical example of word-for-word translation, 1) simply rejects semantic amplification and renders the grand turks whole seraglio; gazelle-eyes, hoary forms and into four parallel phrases, the last three of which, separated from the previous by a semi-colon, are actually the qualities to modify the first. therefore, the reader may be confused why“i would not exchange this one little english girl” for“ gazelle-eyes” and “houri forms”, which are only body parts or component qualities of human being. 2) tackles this problem by adding, according to the requirement of the original meaning,“尽管她们有”and turns the three qualities into an adverbial clause of concession and thus avoids a heavy reading for the reader. whats more, 2)amplifies all, a relatively vague word into“all fine qualities(一切美质)”，which are clearer and more specific yet not without semantic relevance to gazelle-eyes, hoary forms. so we can see 2) is distinct from 1) in that it makes adjustment, semantic amplification to be specific, which is a significant difference between word-for-word translation and literal translation .so literal translation is not word for word translation1.3.2 literal translation is not dead translationdo not mistake dead(or mechanical) translation for“literal”translation. we must try to find an appropriate and corresponding expression for a word when we translate something literally, because the meaning of the same word used in a phrase or sentence is often somewhat different from its definition in a dictionary. it would become dead translation if we only mechanically move the definition into our translation regardless of whether it is well-matched or not in the target language. the dead translation will not be intelligible because words lose their suitable places. for the example:it was an old and ragged moon.dead translation: 那是一个又老又破的月亮。literal translation:那是一轮残月。from this example, we know dead translation does not do any changes to source language. the form is close to the original, but it does not express the meaning of the source language. it make people confused, an eccentric idea would strike one mind “什么时候的月亮是又老又破呢？”strictly speaking, it is not translation, but literal translation does not only keep sentence structure and the figure of speech of the original, but also make readers understand. “残月” people in the world can understand, so literal translation is not dead translation. 1.3.3 free translation is not uncontrolled translation.uncontrolled translation as its name has suggested, is the kind of translation which is to translate wantonly, it is inevitable that translator add personal emotion to the original work. although free translation need not pay attention to the form of the original, including construction of the original sentences, meaning of the original works, metaphor of the original and so on, it has its rules. for example:天有不测风云free translation: something unexpected may happen anytime.uncontrolled translation: do as it please, said the day.in chinese this sentence is very common. but，if translated it freely into english，it did not accord with the habit of expressive. on the contrarily, it would be unintelligible and would not a chive the effect of the original. it would make target language readers inappreciatable. but in this example, free translation used a chinese idiom, after reading target language readers would comprehend and have nice feeling, so free translation is not according with the translators willing to translation. on the contrary, uncontrolled translation “do as it please ,said to the day”, it makes readers misunderstand, they dont know what translator wants to say, because this version is according to translators own will and add personal emotion to work, so free translation is not uncontrolled translation.1.3.4 free translation needs extensive knowledge and culture of both source language and target language free translation gives translators some leeway translators should use then correctly. not only should translators comprehend the meaning of the original message, but also they should be provided with extensive knowledge and culture of both source language and target language. especially, on literature works, translators should be provided with literature training, and they also should know extensive literature knowledge. a translator who wanted to translate a literature composition should do his effort to accumulate something about history, geography, custom, natural style and features, traditional culture and so on about the literature composition. in additional, translators should know the background of age and the author, style of the anther. mo