Three Levels of Translation Analysis and Corresponding Strategies

I. Introduction

A translator must first know what his objective is to produce a translation which faithfully and naturally produces the message of the source text. In this essay， some major problems occur in the rendering process， and relevant strategies are put forward to overcome these difficulties.

II. Analysis

1.Word level

Example A

ST （Source Text）： If there is a common theme to the new celebrators of get-up-and-go…

BT （Back Translation）： If there is a common theme to the new celebrators of passion and power…

Get-up-and-go is an English-style word whose prepositional meaning is energy or drive， but it is much more visual and dramatic than them. Although it is not semantically complex， its expressive meaning is fairly vivid， depicting that someone is ambitious， full of passion and elaborately prepared for any unexpected occasion. Therefore， get-up-and-go deserves a colorful equivalent in Chinese. However， there is no direct equivalent for it in Chinese. In addition， in consideration of fluency and continuity of the target text， two Chinese near-equivalents are substituted by applying the strategy of “using a less expressive word”.

2.Phrase level

Example B

ST： At Trips， Ziegler denies that hard times in the parent clothing chain will trim the magazine's sails.

BT： Ziegler at Trips deny that hard times in the parent clothing chain will make the magazine control the rudder （of a boat） in view of the wind.

It is surprised to find that there are a few words in the source text besides porn. There is an idiom of similar meaning but different lexical items in Chinese： jian feng shi duo （to control the rudder in view of the wind）， which means： to fashion ones views for momentary popularity or advantage， or to change ones decisions to suit the needs of the moment. According to Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary， trim one's sails could means “to adjust （as one's opinions） for reasons of expediency”. It is stated that， “The translator must strive for equivalence rather than identity”. So it is available to use this Chinese idiom to replace the original one under the circumstances. The strategy used is “using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form”.

III. Conclusion

In cases where the purpose of the text is simply to convey definite information， and where the author has expressed himself with clarity， it is quite possible to produce a “perfect” translation， that is to say one which fulfills the same purpose in the new language as the original did in the language in which it was written， not a near approximation to that purpose. Various translation strategies should be bore in mind and adapted into future translation.

作者簡介：

區(qū)意婷 （1982-），碩士，現(xiàn)就職于廣東東軟學院英語系，主要研究方向為英語教育， 語言學及翻譯。endprint