翻译中的选词法(diction)
? I. 选择语法意义(choice of grammatical meanings)----语法结构分
析
? The same word, when used as different parts of speech and playing different roles in a sentence, has different meanings.
? 1.Take the cart back to the back yard and back it into the shed at the back of the stable.
? 2.He had no stomach to follow us. ? I can’t stomach this job any longer.
? II.选择搭配意义(choice of collocative meanings)----语义分析
? Some words have the same basic meanings, but differ in collocation.
That is, they have different collocative meanings. For instance, “sense” and “meaning” are synonymous, but “John is a man of sense” is acceptable while “John is a man of meaning” is unacceptable.
? One problem with collocation is translation is that, very often what is
good collocation in English may not be so when rendered into
? Chinese, or vice versa. For instance, “pretty” and“handsome” are rendered into “漂亮的” and “英俊的” respectively.It is perfectly all right to say “a handsome car” but “英俊的车子” would be totally unacceptable to the Chinese reader. Thus in E-C translation, a translator must ensure that the version is idiomatic or collocatively acceptable in the target language. E.g.build
? Build a house/ a ship/ a fire/ a car/one’s confidence/scholars of tomorrow/ an answer/ a bridge/ a dam/ a stamp collection
? III. 选择情感意义(choice of afffective meanings)-----语义分析（情
感）
? Affective meanings refers to what is communicated of the feelings
and attitudes of the writer towards the reader. You may address somebody as an “idiot” to convey your despise, or describe something as “marvelous” to express your positive evaluation. There are basically three types of affective meanings: positive(褒义),neutral(中性),and derogatory (贬义).
? Positive neutral derogatory
Portly(发福的)Overweight(超重的)Obese(臃肿的）
Slender,slim((苗条的) Underweight(体重不够的）Skinny(瘦削的) Senior,elder(长者)Old man/woman(老人)Fossil(老朽)
? Examples:
? 1.Aggressive nations threaten world peace. ? 侵略成性的国家威胁世界和平.
? A salesman must be aggressive if he wants to succeed. ? 推销员要成功,必须有闯劲.
? 2. He incited the soldiers to fight bravely.
? He was charged with inciting people to violence.
? 3. Every dog has his day.
? “You chicken!” he cried, looking at Tom with contempt.
? Ⅳ.选择模糊意义(choice of ambiguous meanings)------语义分析
(歧义)
? Ambiguity, according to D. Bolinger, is defined as one surface structure covering two or more deep structures, that is, one linguistic expression allows more than one udnerstandings or
interpretations. Ambiguity can be classified as lexical ambiguity(词汇歧义)and structural ambiguity(结构歧义).
? 1.lexical ambiguity(词汇歧义)
? The multiple meanings of the utterance depends on the meaning of
the single word. E.g.
? ⑴ She cannot bear children.
? ①She cannot give birth to children because she is sterile. ? ②She cannot tolerate the children.
? ⑵As Green desiged the machine, he must have realized its capability.
? ①因为这台机器是格林设计的,他一定事先知道它的性能. ? ②格林设计这台机器的时候,一定事先知道它的性能.
? 2. structural ambiguity(结构歧义)
? The multiple meanings of the utterance depends on the sentence structure.Eg.
? She showed her baby pictures. ? ①她拿出了自己婴儿时期的照片. ? ②她把婴儿的照片拿给她看.
? ③她把一些照片/图片拿给孩子看.
? Ⅴ.选择引申意义(choice of extended meanings)----语义分析（关联义）
? It is often difficult to find a suitable Chinese translation for an English word or expression in E-C dictionaries, and a mechanical translation may be unintelligible to our readers. One way out is to extend the meaning from the concrete or specific to the abstract or general, or vice versa.
? 1.”实”→虚”.词义从具体引向抽象,从特殊引向一般,从局部引向概括 ? ⑴ Nowadays a student heading for college may pack a frying pan along with his books.
? 实译:如今上大学的学生除了带他的书上学校以外,还可以带上
一个煎烙饼的平底锅了.
? 虚译:如今大学生在学校里也可以自己做点吃的了.
? ⑵ When I go around on speaking engagements, they all expect me to assume a Quaker Oats look.
? 实译:我应邀外出演讲时,他们都指望我摆出一副像麦片商标中的老头那样的表情.
? 虚译:我应邀外出演讲时,他们都指望我摆出一副毫无表情,一本正经的面孔.( Quaker Oats 是欧美一种有名的麦片商标,商标中画的老头模样毫无表情,我国读者不熟悉,应虚译.)
? 2.“虚” →”实”.词义从抽象引向具体,从一般引向特殊,从概括引向局部 ? ⑴There is more to their life than political and social and economic
problems; more than transient everydayness.
? 虚译:他们的生活远不止那些政治的,社会的和经济的问题,远不止一时的日常性.
? 实译: 他们的生活远不止那些政治的,社会的和经济的问题, 远不止每天的柴米油盐.
? ⑵He is a valuable acquisition to the team. ? 虚译:他是该队一种宝贵的获得. ? 实译:他是该队不可多得的队员.
? Ⅵ.选择对应意义(choice of equivalent meanings)-----语义分析（对
概念义的误解）
? Some English words or expressions look equivalent to their Chinese counterparts, but actually they are different.
? They are called “false friends”. Care should be taken not to be confined or taken away by what we see in the original text.
? Eg.
? Busybody≠忙人=(贬义)好管闲事的人=a person who takes too
much interest in other people’s affairs.
? The long and the short of it≠它的长短处=总的结果/情况/要点
? She has a weakness for pork≠吃猪肉她可不行.=她有爱吃猪肉的嗜好.
? Ⅶ.选择准确意义(choice of exact meanings)----语义分析（所指意
义）
? A careful translator should weigh the meaning of the original befroe choosing a suitable Chinese word or expression. Three criteria are proposed here for choosing suitable words: preciseness(准
确),conciseness(精练),and gracefulness(优美),common mistakes in this respect may be chiefly due to the following:
? ⑴lapping up a word or expression without digesting it(囫囵吞枣) ? ⑵extending the meaning beyond its limits(引申过头) ? ⑶Rigidly adhering to letter or form(拘泥字面)
? Thus a comparative study of synonymous expressions in the two
languages is always necessary for appropriate translation. In given context, the choice of words is a matter of diction calling for our careful consideration.
? Eg.in Chinese: ? *词义轻重不同
? 祝贺(轻)—庆祝(重) 批评(轻)—批判(重) 轻视(轻)—鄙视(重) ? 欺侮(轻)—欺压(重) 损坏(轻)—毁坏(重) 责备(轻)—责骂(重) ? *词义范围大小不同
? 信件(大)—信(小) 树木(大)—树(小) 时代(大)—时期(小) ? 河流(大)—河(小) 战争(大)—战役(小) 车辆(大)—车(小) ? *词语搭配不同
? 充足(阳光)—充分(理由) 侵犯(主权)—侵占(土地) ? 发挥(作用)—发扬(精神) 召集(众人)—召开(会议)
? Ⅷ. 选择语境意义(Choice of contextual meanings)----大语境分析 ? The same word, when used in different contexts or fields of discourse (business, law, medicine, education, politics, forestry, etc.),has different meanings. For instance, in some contexts “mad” means “foolish”, in some “angry”, and in others “insane”. ? Eg. Book