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摘要: In this thesis, we will discuss the translation of the fuzzy language in A Dream of Red Mansions from Chinese into English according to Yang Xian-Yi’s translation. The paper focuses on discussing the translation different kinds of fuzzy numerals, which can be rendered into round numerals, and the other two are numerals in juxtaposition and numerals in idioms.
关键词:number; vague language;literary works;translation
Fuzziness is a pervasive phenomenon in language: Although specific words need to be made less fuzzy for specific purposes, it is unnecessary and impossible to make one’s whole language perfectly precise. As we know, notional words have more possibilities to be fuzzy than form words. Among notional words, adjectives, adverbs and nouns are more susceptible to be fuzzy than others. As to numerals, they are usually thought to be precise, but in reality, they are often used with fuzzy meanings.
Fuzzy numerals can perform the particular functions for which precise ones cannot substitute. When precise information is not available, fuzzy numerals are obligatory to provide rough information. Apart from this, fuzzy numerals are used for special purposes: Round numerals perceived as cognitive reference points might require less processing and can be interpreted faster; therefore they are frequently used as approximations to save efforts. In some cases, too much precision is unnecessary, and the information should be tailored appropriately to accommodate thepurposes. Fuzzy numerals can fulfill the task. Self-protection and withholding information deliberately are two ploys in communication. That is why available precise information is appropriate to give exactly and fuzzy numerals are still employed. Some fuzzy numerals can be used to place an emphasis or provide a contrast to make the information more salient and impressive.
There’re three main kinds of fuzzy numerals, one is round numerals, and the other two are numerals in juxtaposition and numerals in idioms. Round numerals are the words standing for the numbers of multiples of ten or five which are the structuring points of a number system, such as 10, 20, 25, 40, 100, 1000 etc. They will not be interpreted as exact quantities except functioning as precise counts, but with a certain range of fluctuation around them. Then where is the boundary of the fluctuation? It is hard to answer. Therefore their meanings are often fuzzy.
In a dream of red mansions, some of round numerals can be used in another way. They do not designate the quantities of themselves and a range of fluctuation around them any more, and their meanings are inflated into the indefinite "many". Therefore, the boundaries of the meanings are much fuzzier. These numerals include Chinese"十(ten)""百(a hundred)""千(a thousand)" and"万((ten thousand)" etc. For example,
(1)Chinese:警幻道:"此酒乃以百花之蕊,万木之汁,加以麟髓凤乳酿成,因名为’万艳同杯’."(《红楼梦》第五回)
English: Disenchantment told him, "This is made from the essences of the differentexotic young plants which grow in all famous mountain resorts. Distilled with the resin of every precious tree, its name is Marrow of Manifold Fragrance."
(2)Chinese:忽抬头看见前面一带粉垣,里面数楹修舍,有千百竿翠竹遮映.(《红楼梦》第十七回)
English: Suddenly they found themse-
lves before the white washed enclosing walls of a fine lodge nestling in a dense glade of fresh green bamboos.
(3) Chinese:林黛玉忽又想起《西厢记》中“花落水流红,闲愁万种”之句.(《红楼梦》第二十三回)
English: It reminded Daiyu of the lines from The Western Chamber: Flowers fall, the water flows red, Grief is infinite……
In the above examples, when we translate"百","千"and "万"into Engli-
sh, we use such words as "all""every" "dense"and "infinite", but not "a hundred", "a thousand" and "ten thousand", because"百" "千",and"万"in these sentences have the fuzzymeaning of the indefinite ’many’.
Next we’ll discuss the numerals in juxtaposition. When two numerals are used in juxtaposition, for example, they are used consecutively or connected by "or", their meanings will become fuzzy.
There are some restrictions on the structures of approximation uses of "or". First, the two exemplar numbers are adjacent or the distance apart them is small and the distance can increase with the size of the numbers involved. For example: "one or two days" "three or five weeks" "seven or eight books" "sixty or seventy desks" "eighty or a hundred people". But the following constructions are unacceptable, "twenty or a hundred people" "five or sixty desks".
Secondly, the smaller number precedes the larger. The above examples all present this characteristic. However, in Chinese, conjunctions are unnecessary in these structures, just as we can see from the Chinese equivalents of the above English examples:一两天,三五周,七八本书,六七十张课桌,百八十人.There are a lot of such examples in A Dream of Red Mansions,whichcanwelldemonstratethestructuralfeaturesofnumeralsused consecutively.
(1) Chinese:于是大家进入,只见入门便是曲折游廊,阶下石子漫成雨路.上面小小两三间房舍,一明两暗.(《红楼梦》第十七回)
English: With cries of admiration they walked in, from the gate porch a zigzag covered walk with a cobbled path below and parallel to it wound up to a little cottage of two or three rooms.
(2) Chinese:凤姐儿是个聪明人,见他这个光景,如何不猜透八九分呢. (《红楼梦》第十一回)
English: Xifeng had sense enough to see through him.
Just because two numerals used consecutively or connected by a conjunction, they create an interval of which the two exemplar numbers seem to be the extreme ends. But actually, the two exemplar numbers are not really the extreme ends and the interval will extend to some degree. This has been tested by Channel (1994). Take "six or seven hours"as an example, this test produced an interval centre of 6 hours 42 minutes, with 80 percent of respondents marking time above 7 hours and 42 percent marking time below 6 hours.
In many-valued logic way, Channel’s test result can be interpreted by the degree of truth value as follows:
a."6 hours 40 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (true)
b."5 hours 5O minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours" (less true than a)
c. "5 hours 30 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than b)
d."5 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours"(less true than c)
e. "4 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours" (far from true)
f."2 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (false)
a.16 hours 40 minutes belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (true)
b.1 "7 hours 10 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than a.1)
c.1 "7 hours 30 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than b.1)
d. l "8 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than c. l )
e. l "9 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (far from true)
f. l "12 hours"belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (false)
From above, we can see that it is difficult to draw a sharp line between true and false for the designation of "six or seven hours". The interval of "six or seven hours" has no clearly bounded extreme ends. In other words, it is fuzzy.
Last, let’s come to numerals in idioms. Such numerals mainly function as metaphor, hyperbole or repetition in the idioms and their meanings are usually fuzzy. For example,
(1)Chinese:我说那三姑六婆是再要不得的.(《红楼梦》第二十七回)
English: I’ve always said those nuns, bawds, go-betweens and the like are no good.
(2)Chinese:因此,薛蟠也假来上学读书,不过是三天打漁,两天晒网.(《红楼梦》第九回)
English: So Xue Pan enrolled as a student. But he was like the fisherman who fishes for one day and then suns his net for two.
(3)Chinese:他说一是一,说二是二,没人敢拦他.(《红楼梦》第四十七回)
English: Whatever she says goes, and no one dares to stop him.
In the above examples, the meanings of"三"and"六",in"三姑六婆",are inflated into indefinite "many","三",and "两"in the idiom"三天打渔,两天晒网" actually have the fuzzy meaning "several", and the meanings of"一"and"二"in the idiom"说一是一,说二是二"are also fuzzy.
To sum up, the innovation of this thesis lies in the study of the translation strategies of the culture-loaded expressions from a new angle—the theory of fuzzy language, in other words, this thesis has applied the theory of fuzzy language into the translation of A Dream of Red Mansions. Fuzzy numerals are only the imaginary numbers, and these are phenomena of figures’ semantic vagueness, which makes it difficult to translate during the translation process. These fuzzy expressions need to be translated in accordance with the appropriate treatment of the cultural connotations, translators have a good command of both languages, especially which requires that their habitual usage of each.
References:
[1] Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2004:36-41.
[2] Channel, J. Vague Language [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000:20-50.
[3] Nida, E.A. On Translation [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993:85,116-124.
[4] Nida, E.A. Towards a Science of Translation [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993:55-60.
(作者单位:中南大学外国语学院,湖南对外经济贸易职业学院)
关键词:number; vague language;literary works;translation
Fuzziness is a pervasive phenomenon in language: Although specific words need to be made less fuzzy for specific purposes, it is unnecessary and impossible to make one’s whole language perfectly precise. As we know, notional words have more possibilities to be fuzzy than form words. Among notional words, adjectives, adverbs and nouns are more susceptible to be fuzzy than others. As to numerals, they are usually thought to be precise, but in reality, they are often used with fuzzy meanings.
Fuzzy numerals can perform the particular functions for which precise ones cannot substitute. When precise information is not available, fuzzy numerals are obligatory to provide rough information. Apart from this, fuzzy numerals are used for special purposes: Round numerals perceived as cognitive reference points might require less processing and can be interpreted faster; therefore they are frequently used as approximations to save efforts. In some cases, too much precision is unnecessary, and the information should be tailored appropriately to accommodate thepurposes. Fuzzy numerals can fulfill the task. Self-protection and withholding information deliberately are two ploys in communication. That is why available precise information is appropriate to give exactly and fuzzy numerals are still employed. Some fuzzy numerals can be used to place an emphasis or provide a contrast to make the information more salient and impressive.
There’re three main kinds of fuzzy numerals, one is round numerals, and the other two are numerals in juxtaposition and numerals in idioms. Round numerals are the words standing for the numbers of multiples of ten or five which are the structuring points of a number system, such as 10, 20, 25, 40, 100, 1000 etc. They will not be interpreted as exact quantities except functioning as precise counts, but with a certain range of fluctuation around them. Then where is the boundary of the fluctuation? It is hard to answer. Therefore their meanings are often fuzzy.
In a dream of red mansions, some of round numerals can be used in another way. They do not designate the quantities of themselves and a range of fluctuation around them any more, and their meanings are inflated into the indefinite "many". Therefore, the boundaries of the meanings are much fuzzier. These numerals include Chinese"十(ten)""百(a hundred)""千(a thousand)" and"万((ten thousand)" etc. For example,
(1)Chinese:警幻道:"此酒乃以百花之蕊,万木之汁,加以麟髓凤乳酿成,因名为’万艳同杯’."(《红楼梦》第五回)
English: Disenchantment told him, "This is made from the essences of the differentexotic young plants which grow in all famous mountain resorts. Distilled with the resin of every precious tree, its name is Marrow of Manifold Fragrance."
(2)Chinese:忽抬头看见前面一带粉垣,里面数楹修舍,有千百竿翠竹遮映.(《红楼梦》第十七回)
English: Suddenly they found themse-
lves before the white washed enclosing walls of a fine lodge nestling in a dense glade of fresh green bamboos.
(3) Chinese:林黛玉忽又想起《西厢记》中“花落水流红,闲愁万种”之句.(《红楼梦》第二十三回)
English: It reminded Daiyu of the lines from The Western Chamber: Flowers fall, the water flows red, Grief is infinite……
In the above examples, when we translate"百","千"and "万"into Engli-
sh, we use such words as "all""every" "dense"and "infinite", but not "a hundred", "a thousand" and "ten thousand", because"百" "千",and"万"in these sentences have the fuzzymeaning of the indefinite ’many’.
Next we’ll discuss the numerals in juxtaposition. When two numerals are used in juxtaposition, for example, they are used consecutively or connected by "or", their meanings will become fuzzy.
There are some restrictions on the structures of approximation uses of "or". First, the two exemplar numbers are adjacent or the distance apart them is small and the distance can increase with the size of the numbers involved. For example: "one or two days" "three or five weeks" "seven or eight books" "sixty or seventy desks" "eighty or a hundred people". But the following constructions are unacceptable, "twenty or a hundred people" "five or sixty desks".
Secondly, the smaller number precedes the larger. The above examples all present this characteristic. However, in Chinese, conjunctions are unnecessary in these structures, just as we can see from the Chinese equivalents of the above English examples:一两天,三五周,七八本书,六七十张课桌,百八十人.There are a lot of such examples in A Dream of Red Mansions,whichcanwelldemonstratethestructuralfeaturesofnumeralsused consecutively.
(1) Chinese:于是大家进入,只见入门便是曲折游廊,阶下石子漫成雨路.上面小小两三间房舍,一明两暗.(《红楼梦》第十七回)
English: With cries of admiration they walked in, from the gate porch a zigzag covered walk with a cobbled path below and parallel to it wound up to a little cottage of two or three rooms.
(2) Chinese:凤姐儿是个聪明人,见他这个光景,如何不猜透八九分呢. (《红楼梦》第十一回)
English: Xifeng had sense enough to see through him.
Just because two numerals used consecutively or connected by a conjunction, they create an interval of which the two exemplar numbers seem to be the extreme ends. But actually, the two exemplar numbers are not really the extreme ends and the interval will extend to some degree. This has been tested by Channel (1994). Take "six or seven hours"as an example, this test produced an interval centre of 6 hours 42 minutes, with 80 percent of respondents marking time above 7 hours and 42 percent marking time below 6 hours.
In many-valued logic way, Channel’s test result can be interpreted by the degree of truth value as follows:
a."6 hours 40 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (true)
b."5 hours 5O minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours" (less true than a)
c. "5 hours 30 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than b)
d."5 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours"(less true than c)
e. "4 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours" (far from true)
f."2 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (false)
a.16 hours 40 minutes belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (true)
b.1 "7 hours 10 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than a.1)
c.1 "7 hours 30 minutes" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than b.1)
d. l "8 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (less true than c. l )
e. l "9 hours" belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (far from true)
f. l "12 hours"belongs to "6 or 7 hours". (false)
From above, we can see that it is difficult to draw a sharp line between true and false for the designation of "six or seven hours". The interval of "six or seven hours" has no clearly bounded extreme ends. In other words, it is fuzzy.
Last, let’s come to numerals in idioms. Such numerals mainly function as metaphor, hyperbole or repetition in the idioms and their meanings are usually fuzzy. For example,
(1)Chinese:我说那三姑六婆是再要不得的.(《红楼梦》第二十七回)
English: I’ve always said those nuns, bawds, go-betweens and the like are no good.
(2)Chinese:因此,薛蟠也假来上学读书,不过是三天打漁,两天晒网.(《红楼梦》第九回)
English: So Xue Pan enrolled as a student. But he was like the fisherman who fishes for one day and then suns his net for two.
(3)Chinese:他说一是一,说二是二,没人敢拦他.(《红楼梦》第四十七回)
English: Whatever she says goes, and no one dares to stop him.
In the above examples, the meanings of"三"and"六",in"三姑六婆",are inflated into indefinite "many","三",and "两"in the idiom"三天打渔,两天晒网" actually have the fuzzy meaning "several", and the meanings of"一"and"二"in the idiom"说一是一,说二是二"are also fuzzy.
To sum up, the innovation of this thesis lies in the study of the translation strategies of the culture-loaded expressions from a new angle—the theory of fuzzy language, in other words, this thesis has applied the theory of fuzzy language into the translation of A Dream of Red Mansions. Fuzzy numerals are only the imaginary numbers, and these are phenomena of figures’ semantic vagueness, which makes it difficult to translate during the translation process. These fuzzy expressions need to be translated in accordance with the appropriate treatment of the cultural connotations, translators have a good command of both languages, especially which requires that their habitual usage of each.
References:
[1] Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2004:36-41.
[2] Channel, J. Vague Language [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000:20-50.
[3] Nida, E.A. On Translation [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993:85,116-124.
[4] Nida, E.A. Towards a Science of Translation [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993:55-60.
(作者单位:中南大学外国语学院,湖南对外经济贸易职业学院)