How to Avoid Chinglish in the Chinese-English Translation.doc

how to avoid chinglish in the chinese-english translation thesis statement：this paper analyzes the reasons of engendering chinglish in the chinese to english translation, and how to avoid iti、introduction ii、the conception of chinglish and root of its appearance a、factors of chinglish b、usage of vocabularies in chineseenglish translation 1、chinglish often appears in the form of redundancy 2、misunderstanding of word brings about a kind of unbearable chinglish 3、similar to redundancy, unnecessary repetition also causes chinglish 4、another kind of chinglish in the form of redundancy c、the structure and its perfect in translation 1、the arrangement in short phrases is not good 2、complete ignorance or negligence of the correct syntactic structure and idiomatic collocation or usage in english also results in chinglishiii、three aspects in chinglishenglish translation a、idiomatic translation. b、the false faithfulness resulted from obligatory categoriesc、different classifications in different culturesiv、languages usage in its contexta、red b、white c、bluev、how to avoid chinglish in chineseenglish translation a、most unnecessary nouns in chinglish appear not alone but in short phrases, combined with articles and prepositions b、a good mastery of the comparative degree of english adjective and adverbs can help diminish chinglish c、a charge of the point of view in expressing idea form chineseinto english will help do away with chinglishvi、conclusion：to successfully convey the feeling-tone of the original, a translator should pay enough attention to have the primitive culture information well in handabstract: this paper analyzes the reasons of engendering chinglish in the chinese to english translation, and how to avoid it. firstly it describes the conception of chinglish and root of its appearation, and explains the method from the standard of translation. a translation standard is summed up in信、达、雅 which put forward by yan fu in the 19th century, has always been a rule to the translators in translatioin. because there are disparities between one language and another disparities in the lexicology, in the linguistic structure or even in the tradition and culture. so, the paper discusses the importance from three aspects. people from different language communities will meet cultural shock when they communicate together. such cultural differences can cause misunderstanding among chinese and english people. so, the paper mainly elaborates on the culture differences reflecting in color words to discuss the chinglish. the last part of the paper is about the feature of chinglish and how to avoid it. it analyzes the reasons of engendering chinglish in chineseenglish translation, and it introduces the methods of avoiding it.key words: chinglish, translation, culture, chinese, englishi、introduction chinese and english are quite different. however, when adult native speakers of chinese learn english, they tend to lose sight of the difference between the two. this is particularly the case when it comes to writing, because they have formed the habit of trying to write in english what they would in chinese. as a result, chinglish, an awkward mixture in which ideas conceived in chinese are ungrammatically expressed in english, runs riot in their writing. the main cause of chinglish is, of course, the linguistic interference. to remove the negative influence of the native tongue, therefore, remains a task of paramount important for students of english major in china.ii、the conception of chinglish and root of its appearancewhat is chinglish? it is that we create english based on the habit of chinese such as linguistic structure or even in the tradition and culture and the words straight translation. it is not appearing in the chinese-english dictionary. in the old times; the english learners usually hear the word “chinglish”. in qing dynasty（1840）, the british invaders brought the english to china, many people wanted to learn english, but they didnt have enough time to do. they just understood their physical meanings from the britishs conversations. and in the practical, they didnt avoid the influence of the mother language-chinese .so they just used fewer words to express the meanings, the chinglish was invented by them.these are some chinglish examples:give you some color to see see!给你点颜色看看！go and look!走着瞧！good good study,day day up好好学习，天天向上go a head!去个头！no three no four不三不四horse horse tiger tiger马马虎虎you ask me, i ask who?你问我，我问谁？no money no door没钱没门we two who and who？咱俩谁跟谁阿how are you ? how old are you?怎么是你，怎么老是你you do not bird me, i do not bird you你不鸟我，我也不鸟你kill one police hundred杀一警百give your face, you do not have给你脸，你不要！you me you me彼此彼此one car come, one car down, two car pang pang ,one man die一辆车来，一辆车往，两辆车“蓬蓬”，一个人死了know is know no know is no know知之为知之，不知为不知.come some music来点音乐5 talks, 4 beauties & 3 loves五讲四美三热爱watch sister表妹you give me stop!你给我站住！all examples above are not often seen now. but the chinglish also appears in ourcompositions or articles.a、because language has nationality that born with its nation and survive with it, therefore special nations have their given language: there is no language without characteristic in the world as there is no race without characteristic. so, any language is not fully similar with each other, every race has its language. take a same sugar for instance, chinese call it “红糖” just in order to distinguish with white sugar; english call it “brown sugar” because its color is brown. then why is there a different name between things of one ? the answer is that they are effected by culture gene that references humans way of thinking, the spoken way of habit, and traditional cultureetc.all examples above are not often seen now. but the chinglish also appears in ourcompositions or articles.a、because language has nationality that born with its nation and survive with it, therefore special nations have their given language: there is no language without characteristic in the world as there is no race without characteristic. so, any language is not fully similar with each other, every race has its language. take a same sugar for instance, chinese call it “红糖” just in order to distinguish with white sugar; english call it “brown sugar” because its color is brown. then why is there a different name between things of one ? the answer is that they are effected by culture gene that references humans way of thinking, the spoken way of habit, and traditional cultureetc. people who is surviving in different culture will have their given culture including the origin of history、place of nation living, the development of society, the style of politic and economy. so, in chineseenglish translation, chinese will be influenced by their culture, languages structure and the way of thinking. chinese usually translate it in the way based on the habit of chinese such as linguistic structure or even in the tradition and culture and combine vocabularies straight translation. then we call it chinglish.b、usage of vocabularies in chineseenglish translation 出自本文作者more and more vocabulary with the feature of chinglish came out. after the reform, new vocabularies came out. they just exist in china. we did not find the corresponding words in english, so we translate them just word to word. so the chinglish came out. (1) “三讲” (讲学习，讲政治，讲正气)chinglish: emphasize the need to study, to have political awareness and to be honest and upright.english: emphasize on three things: study, politics and integrity.(2) 国际关系民主化chinglish: international relations should be democratized.english: democracy should be practiced in the international relations. 1、chinglish often appears in the form of redundancy, which arises when students fail to understand the exact meaning of an english word. for example, chinese students are inclined to say redundancy “a book desk “or “a writing desk” instead of simply “desk”. they do not know “a dance” and “a study” in english mean exactly “a dance party” and “a study room” in chinese. similarly, it is not uncommon to find the following redundant sentences in chineseenglish translation by chinese students.(1) the old man lived by catching fish. (fishing)(2) i cant afford to buy the color tv set for the time being. (afford)(3) please hurry to climb up the mountain to help him.(hurry up)(4) my mother has gone to the shops to buy things. (shopping) (肖启芬，2004：37)2、if chinglish caused by inexact understanding of the meaning of word, as appears in the above sentences, is still understandable, misunderstanding of word brings about a kind of unbearable chinglish. lets see the following sentences.(1) when he reached his hand into his pocket for his wallet , he found it invisible.(missing; gone; lost)(2) as the price for the coat was too expensive, i cant buy it. (high)(3) hi, mary. come along. i will first send you home in my car. (take)(4) i feel very painful in my left leg. (great pain) (肖启芬，2004：37)these sentences sound ridiculous to native speakers of english due to the misuse of word. to keep a good englishenglish dictionary handy in, therefore, seems to be a good remedy for the above mentioned two kinds of chinglish. 3、similar to redundancy, unnecessary repetition also causes chinglish. the following repetition sentences in translation show clearly the negative influence of the native language.(1) english grammar is very difficult and few writers have avoided making mistakes in grammar.(here “grammar” should be replaced by “it”)(2) our country is a great country with a long history and a large population.(use “ours” instead of “our country” here)(3) fish must stay in water. if they do not, they will die. (use “or” to compound the sentence.)(4) he gave many reasons for his failure, but the reason he gave did not convince people. (the underline part should be “but none of them was convinced”). (肖启芬，2004：38)to get rid of chinglish, students have to be made aware that chinese is, for the most part, a logically compact language while english strictly compact in its structure. unnecessary repetition is a deadly enemy to good written english. english verbs and nouns seldom repeat themselves in the same sentences, which are why conjunctions, pronouns and other substitutional or introductory words are more frequently used in english than in chinese.4、another kind of chinglish in the form of redundancy occurs when students are not taught that chinese is a verbredundant language while english a preposition-and-noun-oriented one. the following wordy sentences will serve to exemplify my point.(1) he ran out when it was raining hard. (into a heavy rain)(2) i looked at her and felt surprised.( in surprise)(3) the meeting ended and everybody was bitter. (in bitterness)(4) we were shown in by two young men who wore black uniform. (in black uniforms) (肖启芬，2004：37)chinese students of english must be helped to discover that english prepositional phrases in many cases have the same semantic function as chinese predicate verbs plus their objects. a good knowledge of this fact will provide chinese students with a very useful means of becoming effective and idiomatic in their translation.c、the structure and its perfect in translation1、the arrangement in following examples is not good.the words：来信写道chinglish： the letter writesenglish：the letter readsthe words：取得成就chinglish：make achievements scoreenglish：attain achievementthe words：革命接班人chinglish：successors to the revolutionaryenglish：revolution successorsthe words：革命事业接班人chinglish：successors to the revolutionary causeenglish：the successors in the revolutionary cause 2、complete ignorance or negligence of the correct syntactic structure and idiomatic collocation or usage in english also results in chinglish.(1) the bankruptcy of his father has made him impossible to go abroad for further studies. (here “him” must be replace by “it”)(2) his english knowledge is very rich. (the correct sentence structure here should be “his knowledge of english is very rich.)(3) the “red guard” robbed all the books of the old professor. (the right collocation here has to be “the red guards robbed the old professor of all his books.(4) i want the newest information. (idiomatically speaking, the sentence should be “i want the latest information,) (肖启芬，2004：38)to eliminate chinglish of this sort, students should be keenly conscious of the differences in syntactic structures and word collocations between english and chinese, and adapt the chinese mind to english ways of expressing ideas.iii、three aspects in chinglishenglish translationa translation standard is summed up in信、达、雅which put forward by yan fu in the 19th century, has always been a rule to the translators in translation. in this standard,信meansfaithful (to the original). obviously, faithful is the most important among the three, and it is the first responsibility to a translator. however, there are disparities between one language and another disparities in the lexicology, in the linguistic structure or even in the tradition and culture.how to achieve the real faithfulness in a possible sense a faithful translation in good formality with is not only the original context, but also the original form and style.to achieve such an effect we should do well in two aspects. on the one hand, faithful to the original does not mean to give an equivalent correspondence to each word literally. while doing this we should take these factors into consideration idiomatic translation; the false faithfulness resulted from obligatory categories; different classifications in different cultures. on the other hand, faithful to the original also requires the translator to bring to the readers the feeling-tone of the original. however, there are disparities between one language and another disparities in the lexicology, in the linguistic structure or even in the tradition and culture. and to maintain that there is always an equivalent correspondence in one language that can match the one in another is a naive thought. and what a translator should do is to try every means to achieve the real faithfulness in a possible sense. that means a translation should be in good formality with the original context, form and style. and the real faithfulness includes two aspects. on the one hand, faithful to the original does not mean that a translator should give an equivalence to each word literally. what a translator should be faithful to is not the meaning of the odd words but that of the grammatical structure which is made up by these words. take a short letter for example.昨奉大函，诵悉一是。尊稿极佳，惟篇幅甚长，本志地位有限，故不克刊登，良用歉然。(/mofei_list.asp?id=188)it is the letter written in ancient chinese and the following compares these 2 translations.translation 1: i received your letter yesterday, and on reading noted all its contents. your article is very good. but it is very long, while this magazine has only limited space, so that it cannot be published. thus i have much cause to be sorry.translation 2: i received your letter yesterday. your article is very good, but i amsorry that owing to pressure of space, i find it too long to be published.obviously, on the surface, the first translation is more faithful than the second one, for it has translated out such expressions as诵悉、一是、良用, etc. but it seems rather rigid and too formalistic. in the second translation, i think it is wise not to give an correspondence to each word as 诵悉一是. for since i received your letter yesterday, andididnt just receive (奉) without reading（诵）or read（诵）without noting its content（悉）, the sentencei received your letter yesterday itself has already contained the meaning of the grammatical structure诵悉一是.a 、to do well in this respect, we should pay enough attention to the following three points.first, idiomatic translation.each language has its own idiomatic way of collocations, and in most cases it is impossible to find an expression in one language that is entirely equivalent to the one in another.b 、second, the false faithfulness resulted from obligatory categories.some translations seem to be quite faithful, while in fact they are not. the reason is that each language has its own obligatory categories, which differ from language to language. for inst