Table Of Content
Thinking Chinese
Translation
Thinking Chinese Translation is a practical and comprehensive course for
advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students of Chinese.
Thinking Chinese Translation explores the ways in which memory, general
knowledge, and creativity (summed up as ‘schema’) contribute to the linguistic
ability necessary to create a good translation. The course develops the reader’s
ability to think deeply about the texts and to produce natural and accurate
translations from Chinese into English.
A wealth of relevant illustrative material is presented taking the reader
through a number of different genres and text types of increasing complexity
including:
● Technical, scientifi c and legal texts
● Journalistic and informative texts
● Literary and dramatic texts.
Each chapter provides a discussion of the issues of a particular text type
based on up-to-date scholarship, followed by practical translation exercises.
The chapters can be read independently as research material, or in combination
with the exercises. The issues discussed range from the fi ne detail of the text,
such as punctuation, to the broader context of editing, packaging and pub-
lishing translations. Major aspects of teaching and learning translation, such
as collaboration, are also covered.
Thinking Chinese Translation is essential reading for advanced undergraduate
and postgraduate students of Chinese and translation studies. The book will
also appeal to a wide range of language students and tutors through the
general discussion of the principles and purpose of translation.
Valerie Pellatt and Eric T. Liu are both based at Newcastle University. Valerie
Pellatt is Lecturer in Chinese Translation and Interpreting and Eric T. Liu
is Senior Lecturer and Head of Translation and Interpreting Studies.
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Thinking Chinese
Translation
A course in translation method
Chinese to English
Valerie Pellatt and Eric T. Liu
First edition published 2010
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2010 Valerie Pellatt and Eric T. Liu
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Thinking Chinese translation : a course in translation method:
Chinese to English / Valerie Pellatt and Eric T. Liu. – 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Chinese language–Translating into English. I. Liu, Eric.
II. Title.
PL1277.P45 2010
428′.02951–dc22
2009051695
ISBN 0-203-84931-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0-415-47417-5 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0-415-47419-1 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0-203-84931-0 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-47417-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-47419-1 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-203-84931-6 (ebk)
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
History, theory and practice of Chinese translation 1
The rationale and structure of Thinking Chinese Translation 8
1 Translation as a process 11
Formal schema: decoding the marks on the page 12
Content schema: knowledge and experience 15
Implication and inference 15
The benefi ts of collaborative thinking 17
Refl ective learning 19
2 Formal Schema – the framework: titles, sentences, punctuation
and paragraphs 21
Headings and titles: signposting the text 21
Sentences: grammatical structures 25
Sentences: discoursal structures 28
Punctuation: loaded with meaning 29
Paragraphs: fl eshing out the structure 33
Content schema: building knowledge, linguistic
enhancement, preparation and collaboration 35
Practical 2.1 Text structure and background knowledge 36
Practical 2.2 Background knowledge of China 37
3 Growing the schema from small beginnings 39
Translating formulaic texts 39
Content, context and register in the formulaic text 41
Practical 3.1 Certifi cates 41
vi Contents
Texts without sentences 44
Dictionaries and glossaries 45
Practical 3.2 Chinese restaurant menu 47
Practical 3.3 Translating accounts 49
4 Translating technical and scientifi c texts 52
Technical translation: what is it? Who does it? 52
Formal schema in technical and scientifi c translation 55
Content schema: understanding the processes 56
Practical 4 Technical exercises 59
5 Medical translation: persuading, reporting, and diagnosing
in the Western tradition 63
Public health information leafl ets 64
Practical 5.1 Persuading the public: health leafl ets 66
Translating medical reports 67
Practical 5.2 Patient’s notes 67
6 Translating traditional Chinese medicine 72
The underlying principles of traditional Chinese medicine 72
The language of traditional Chinese medicine 74
Practical 6.1 Treatment methods: cupping 74
Practical 6.2 Textbook description of cancers 76
7 Translating for legal purposes 78
Variations in legal systems and language 78
Authority of legal translation and the responsibility
of the translator 79
Legal texts as speech acts 80
Sentence structures 81
Verb forms 83
Terminology 83
Logical relations 85
Culture and ideology in legal translation 86
Domestic law translated for foreign visitors 88
International law: UN drafting 89
Practical 7.1 Analyzing bilingual laws 92
Practical 7.2 Translating domestic law on religion 94
Miscellaneous legal documents 95
Practical 7.3 Translator’s statement 95
Practical 7.4 Report of legal proceedings 96
Practical 7.5 Witness statement 96
Contents vii
8 Translating the business world: trust and obligation 98
The world of business 98
MOU, MOA and contract 99
Tenses 100
Idiomatic usage 101
Complex sentences 101
Distinguishing the Parties 102
Practical 8.1 Translating a Memorandum of Agreement:
proofreading and forensics 102
Practical 8.2 Translating a contract 104
9 Translating the nation 108
Addressing the nation 109
Translating ideology and power 110
China’s special brand of power 111
The narrative of China’s offi cial discourse 112
Commissioning the translation 113
Addressing the people: the group, the individual
and deixis in discourse 114
Choice of lexis 116
Metaphor and epithet 117
Numbers in Chinese offi cial discourse 120
China addressing the world 121
Formality and courtesy 121
Friends and brothers 121
Inclusiveness 122
All things positive 123
All things great 123
Practical 9.1 Addressing the nation 124
Practical 9.2 Addressing the world 124
Practical 9.3 Addressing a developing nation 125
10 Author-translator collaboration: a case study of reportage 126
Working together: interview with Xinran and Nicky Harman 127
11 Case studies: translating autobiographical writing 132
Paratextual analysis: re-adjusting the formal schema for
the foreign reader – Zhao Ziyang’s diaries 133
Practical 11.1 Transforming paratextual features for
the target audience 136
Translating the culture of the past: Zhang Xianliang’s memoirs 137
Practical 11.2 Translating culture across time and space 140
viii Contents
12 Translating fi ction 141
Narration 142
Translating Chengyu 143
Dialogue 145
Portraying character through dialogue 146
Expressing inner thoughts through dialogue 146
Relationship and interaction in dialogue 147
Insults 147
Description and depiction 148
Genre within genre 151
Practical 12.1 Translating description, emotion and refl ection 152
Practical 12.2 Translating the frustration of youth 152
13 Translation of traditional poetry 154
Formal schema in Chinese poetry 157
Content schema in Chinese poetry 158
Trade-off in language structure 159
Translating the past: allusion and culture-specifi c items 162
Punctuation and space in poems 164
Singular or plural, masculine or feminine? 164
The infl uence of Ezra Pound 165
Practical 13.1 Translating a three-syllable shi 166
Practical 13.2 Translating a yuefu 169
14 Translating twentieth century poetry 171
Translating Guo Moruo: the new poetry of the self 172
Western cultural allusion in Guo Moruo’s poetry 173
Personal pronouns and repetition 173
Practical 14.1 Discussion of Sky Dog source and target text 177
Translating the surrealism of Yang Lian 177
The Composer’s Tower 179
Practical 14.2 Discussion of The Composer’s Tower
source and target text 182
Postscript 183
Glossary 184
Appendix 186
References 211
Index 219
Acknowledgements
The authors and publishers would like to thank the following people and
institutions for permission to reproduce copyright material. Every effort has
been made to trace copyright holders, but in a few cases this has not been
possible. Any omissions brought to our attention will be remedied in future
editions. Bloodaxe Books for The Composer’s Tower by Yang Lian and trans-
lated by Brian Holton; John Cram for medical materials; Di Fer for extracts
from (cid:7056)(cid:7171)(cid:712)(cid:990)(cid:5105)(cid:8978)(cid:1370)(cid:3837)(cid:1363) (Whereupon, God Sent an Angel); Edwin Mellen
Press for Skydog by Guo Moruo, translated by Lin Ming-hui Chang;
University of Columbia Press for Nienhauser’s translation of The River has
Streams; Newcastle University for contract materials; Penguin for use of
material from Davis, A.R. (ed.) (1962) The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse, trans.
Kotewall, R. and Smith N.L.; Pul’ka for translations of Bai Juyi’s Waves
Scouring the Sand and The River Wanders; Michael Pushkin for valuable
advice on the poetry chapters; Renminwang and Xinhuanet for permission
to use news items; Global News Monthly for an excerpt from Lin Meng-Yi’s
article on (cid:1025)(cid:3295) + (cid:2372)(cid:5242); Su Liqun for material from (cid:9163)(cid:15892)(cid:1134)(cid:5415); Xinran and
Nicky Harman for giving us their time and experience in an interview; all
the translators, writers and scholars whose wisdom and experience have
provided grist for our mill.
