聊聊翻译

Translation is a challenging task. I observed many successful attempts on this forum recently. I attempted translation quite a bit in the past. I am sharing a few lessons from my own unsuccessful attempts. Monther tongue is so strong that it inevitably shows up in my translation. My attempts were mostly marredd with Chinglish. The English syntax is dramatically different from Chinese. My impression is English's priority in 4 W is this order, who, what, where, and when. Another impression is verb makes a stronger statement than noun, adjective, and adverb. I have to rely on dictionaries during translation due to my limited vocabulary. I learned that Chinese English dictionaries do not provide sufficient information to reveal subtle differences in English synonyms. Further reseach of a word using an English dictionary is essential. So much for my Chinglish, I am listing one example of problematic translations, at least I think they reveal the limitations of Chinese English dictionaries.

The word "Staggering" is not the best choice here. I guess the translator did not bother look up its definition in an English dictionary. 

Definition of staggering
: so great as to cause one to stagger : ASTONISHING, OVERWHELMING
a staggering feat
staggering medical bills

 

 

所有跟帖： 

• Yes, Looking up in the E-E dictionary is a good point! -beautifulwind- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 09:41:07

• Agree ^ -青松站- ♀ (185 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 09:42:40

• Thanks for sharing. Well said. Can ‘t agree more. -天边一片白云- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 11:14:56

• 谢谢 -颤音- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 12:50:53

• 翻译真的很难, 我很久没有英译汉汉译英的习惯了, comprehend, 我新学到的英文知识理解了也翻译不成汉语, -移花接木- ♂ (119 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 14:22:39

• 深有同感 -颤音- ♂ (0 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 16:57:07

• Thanks for sharing. Well said. Can ‘t agree more. - 天边一片白云 -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 05/13/2021 postreply 19:07:57