Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ Ｎｅｇａｔｉｖｅ Ｔｒａｎｓｆｅｒ ｉｎ Ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｉｏｎ

王红琴

Abstract:The native language can help learn a foreign language, but foreign language learners constantly suffer negative transfer from their mother language. We,as Chinese English learners in the environment,in the English-Chinese translation in Chinese is often negative impact.The present paper probes into the essence of language transfer,making a detailed comparison between Chinese and English vocabulary in terms of conceptual meaning,connotative meaning and idioms in order to find out the basic principle of translation which may help avoid negative transfer from Chinese.

Key words:Chinese negative transfer; principle of translation

I Chinese negative transfer in studying English

1.1 The negative transfer from unequal conceptual meanings

Conceptual meaning is the basic meaning of a word; it is the essential meaning. English and Chinese are different languages,there are a lot of unequal meanings in vocabulary. For example,the word peasant in Chinese means the laborers who are engaged in agriculture directly. But in English,it means chuff,countryman,a rough fellow,boor or a man who has bad manners,a rash person,an unrefined peasant. It is derogatory.

The wound was under his hand and I persuaded him to let me move his hand away.

In this sentence persuade can be translated into“说服”in Chi- nese,we can say “说服” in Chinese no matter whether it will be successful or not. But you can say Persuade in English only when you advise somebody successfully,or you should use try to Persuade or advise.

The situation about unequal conceptual meanings in English and Chinese vocabulary is complicated. Learners always are disturbed by their mother language in translation,and are used to looking for equivalents from foreign words and phrases which are needed in the Chinese tought. In fact there are few equivalents in conceptual meanings. Such as“看”,it has four different meanings in English: read,see,watch,look.

So we should get rid of the idea of looking for the Chinese equivalents roughly in translating. We must pay attetion to all aspects,exclude the puzzle and impact from Chinese usage,and avoid Chinese negative transfer.

e.g. “come,come!” answered Miss Betsey,“have some tea,then youll feel better. What do you call your girl?” [West,Clare 4]

“行了,行了!”贝茜小姐回答说:“喝口茶水吧,这样你会好受些。你叫你的女孩(女用人)什么?”

1.2 The negative transfer from unequal connotative meanings

Connotative meanings are the meanings out of the concept of the word itself,such as the susceptibility of word or phrase,appraisement of a word or phrase,and so on. A large vocabulary in English and Chinese can be used to express all kinds of colors. Because of the difference between the west and the east,the significances of the same color are different. E.g. red in Chinese symbolizes propitious,lucky,happy event,goodliness,as shown in 红火 (prosperous,flourishing) 红艳艳(brilliant red),走红(Popularity). But in the western red is a very derogatory term. It is always associated with fire and blood. E.g. ①The red rules of tooth and claw: 残杀和暴力统治; ②red revenge: 血腥复仇,③a red battle:(血战)。

Opposite to red,another color word white in Chinese is a taboo term. It symbolizes death and boding in Chinese. But white is decorous and chaste in the western countries. It symbolizes purity,good luck and fortunate. E.g. ①a white soul 正直的精神,②white wedding 新娘穿白礼服的婚礼 ③white hand廉洁、诚实 ④one of the white days of sblife(某人生活中的吉日之一)

1.3 The negative transfer from Chinese idioms

According to Modern Chinese Dictonary,Chinese idioms are what the people have used for a long time with concise modes,penetrationg meanings,finalized words and phrases. They often have regular and logical structure. But English idioms can be very short or rather long English idioms take different structures. English idioms are usually made of commonly used words.(林287-290) Idiom in Oxford Advanced learners Dictiomary of Current English is explained in two ways: ①language of a people or country; specific character(一个民族或国家的语言,这种语言的特殊之点); ②(gram) succession of words whose meaning is not obvious through knowledge of the individual meanings of the constituent words but must be learnt as a whole(语法连串之词表示整体意义而不表示各词单个意义者).

We can see English idioms emphasize lingual peculiar usage,habitual use. English idioms and Chinese idioms have two different language structures. They are more different than similar. There are few instances between them where translation could be done literally,which increases difficulty with translation.

1.3.1 The negative transfer from a part of equal idioms

A part of equal idioms means there is inconsistency in meaning or use between English and Chinese idioms. But there still exists a common ground. The common ground causes obstruction for transla- tion. E.g.

1.“一丘之貉” vs. birds of a feather

Birds of a feather does mean Things of one kind come together,in Chiese,the persons gather whose nature or interest is alike. The meaning of birds of a feather is congener,and has not any derogatory sense. But一丘之貉 (jackals from the same lair) includes derogatory sense obviously,both of them are not equal in match in many cases. Try to compare:

(1) The neighbors thought that she and her boyfriend were birds of a feather.

译: 邻居们都认为她和她的男朋友是一个类型的人。

(2)He has conspired against me like the rest,and they are but birds of a feather.

译:他像其他人一样阴谋对抗我,他们都是一丘之貉。

2.“画蛇添足”vs. gild the lily

Gild the lily is from Shakespeares King Lear,it means to make a thing better and better,more and more beautiful,but it turns out to be a bit thick and ridiculous at list. The meaning of gild the lily is more like drawing a snake and adding feet to it,and they are unequal.

She was an attractive girl before she married,but then her husband gilded the lily by making her wear expensive clothes and she now looks just like all the other rich wives around her.

译:结婚以前她是个迷人的姑娘,婚后她丈夫让穿上华贵的衣服,想锦上添花,但却弄巧成拙,现在她和周围的阔太太毫无二致了。

3. “又要马儿好,又要马儿不吃草”vs. eat ones cake and have it

Eat ones cake and have it is often used together with the word cannot,it is cannot eat ones cake and have it,which means cannot enjoy both alternatives (两者不得兼而有之) because there are two repellent things. In Chinese expect the horse to run fast but not let it graze means“to provide on giving but want to get a good result. So they are different in usage.”

1.3.2 The negative transfer from unequal idioms

1. Pull somebodys leg vs. 拖后腿

Pull somebodys leg means try, for a joke, to make him believe something that is untrue (和人开玩笑,使人相信虚假的事情),拖后腿or 拉后腿 in Chinnese means obstructing or holding down someones action, thought. Both of them are in the same form;its hard to say the meaning are the same.

2. 同舟共济 vs.in the same boat

In the same boat and同舟共济 are the same in the meaning of in the same boat, but their signification are six to one. The former is only in the same bad situation(处于同样的困难境地),but not pulling together in times of trouble. However the meaning of同舟共济 just emphasizes pulling together in times of trouble, in the same boat is only a reason for pulling together in times of trouble.

3.患难之交 vs. a friend in need

A friend in need roots from part of the adage A friend in need is a friend indeed. He is the man who helps others when they need help. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1978) translated it into a true friend, who comes to help one in trouble.患难之交 is always translated as friends in adversity or tested friends. They had lived through trouble, maybe they would share weal and woe. E.g. If a rich man helped a poor man in time ,it could be said a friend in need. But they are neither in trouble nor sharing weal and woe impossibly. So they are hardly the same.

1.3.3 The negative transfer from unequal collocative meanings

The negative transfer interferes with translation of idioms in the form of non-equivalence of collocative meanings. The collocation of words, further more this collocation is accepted through common practice. For example, the collocation of verb and noun, verb and preposition or adverb. Because of the disturbance of the collocation in one's mother language, its easy to misunderstand the collocation of English idioms. E.g.

Literal translation English collocationChinese equivalent

黑茶 black tea 红茶

向外看 look out! 小心!

黑绵羊 black sheep 害群之马

绿色的手 green hand 缺乏经验的人

It looks like Free phrases. Free phrases are ones in which the meaning can be guessed from their components while idiomatic phrases are phrases with a special meaning that cannot be guessed from the combination of actual words used.

II Principles of tackling Chinese negative transfer in translation

Mu Shixiong proposed in his book Graduate Dissertation Writing,“Any kind of criterion is always devoid of full objectivity…… But, no matter which principle you agree with, you must think about three factors such as purpose of translation, object of translation and theme in any case. Different purposes of translation, different objects of translation and different themes always need different criteria of translation. And then, we can do that objectively and evenhandedly.” On the base of his view, according to my own practice, I get that three principles, maybe it can help avoid negative transfers from Chinese. They are the principle of situation, the principle of context and the principle of elasticity.

2.1 The principle of situation

All affairs happen in certain situation. What the character says in the affair, or his meaning, tone and emotion cannot be separated from the scene or the circumstance in which the action takes place. So we should abide by the context, understand the situation at first, and then choose the right meaning when we translate. The following dialogue is taken from Augustus Does His Bit.

The Clerk(entering):Are you engaged?

Augustus: What business is that of yours?However, if you will take the trouble to read the society papers for this week, you will see that I am engaged to the Honourable Lucy Popham, youngest daughter of...

The clerk: That isnt what I mean. Can you I see a female?

Augustus: Of course I can see a female as easily as a male. Do you suppose Im blind?

The Clerk:You dont seem to follow me somehow. Theres a female downstair; what you might call a lady. She wants to know can you see her if I let her up.

Augustus: Oh, you mean am I disengaged. Tell the lady Im busy.

see 看见 接见

to be engaged 订婚 忙于某事

According to the context here we should choose the second meaning.

2.2 The principle of context

A sentence expresses a relative and integrated meaning. If a word is a correct part of a sentence, it means it is suitable. So we can judge the meaning of the word in the sentence if we know the structure of the sentence. For example, we translate the word contract into so many meaning such as “合同、契约、订婚、包工、限制、染病”。But in the follow sentences, these meaning are different. E.g:

1.As a general rule, a body will expand when heated and contract when cooled.

一般来说,物体热胀冷缩。

2. Shes contracted skin cancer.

她患了皮肤癌。

On the other hand, the words meaning can change according the component part which plays a role in a sentence. E.g:

1.They wanted us to have tea, but we said wed just had it. Then Miss Standish wanted us to have tea and cake.

他们要我们吃晚饭,我们说刚吃过,于是斯坦迪什小姐就让我们喝茶,吃点心。

2. 破除迷信,解放思想。

Do away with all fetishes and superstitions emancipate the mind.

2.3 The principle of elasticity

Guo Zhuzhang points out the course of the translation is the course of comprehension in his book A Practical Course in Translation between English and Chinese. He also pointed out that the method is elastic and changeable too. So we should sum up all methods based on the literal translation and free translation, that is synthetic method. That is to say, to sum up these methods of transplant, transliteration, photographic translation, deduction, extension and explanation and so on. Specially, we must notice the rule of follow its form and get its meaning and structure connections of Chinese compound words. In order to get a coherent writing, we should struggle to choose the word's meaning. E.g.

blood heat (人体)血液正常温度

pentium 奔腾(计算机品牌)

H-beam 工字架

Words do not have meanings, people give meanings to words. We should take account of the original content and form, then understand the meaning at last, translate the original text correctly.E.g:

《把一切献给党》 Son of the Working Class

Wuthering heights 《呼啸山庄》

Conclusion

When we try to express our ideas in English, because of our deficient English knowledge and our modes of thinking we are always disturbed by our mother tongue more or less. We cant avoid the modes of Chinese thinking in studying English. In translation, for one thing, we should understand fully the function of Chinese, for another, we should realize the negative transfer in translation from Chinese. We ought to deal with each case on its function, and overcome the unfavorable influence from Chinese negative transfer. At the same time we should make full use of the favorable factors. In a word, we should notice the unequal phenomena in vocabulary and syntax between English and Chinese in order to get translation equivalence, which is the most important.

Works Cited:

1.West, Clare. David Copperfield. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1995

2. 郭著章、李庆生:《英汉互译实用教程》,武汉:武汉大学出版社,1996

3.林承璋:《英语词汇学引论》,武汉:武汉大学出版社,1997

4.穆诗雄:《英语专业毕业论文写作》,北京:外语教学与研究出版社,2003

5. 俞大因:《英语》(第五册),北京:商务印书馆,1990

作者单位:1:咸宁职业技术学院英语系, 湖北咸宁

2:湖北大学 外国语学院, 湖北 武汉