語篇翻譯單位研究（英文全套）

語篇翻譯單位研究（英文全套）OntheUnitofTextTranslation一、綜述國內外對本課題的研究動態(tài)，說明選題的依據和意義：翻譯單位是翻譯理論中一個比較復雜的問題。最早提出有關翻譯單位研究的是俄國的巴爾胡達羅夫（Barchudarov）,他從語言學角度對翻譯單位進行從音位層、詞層、詞組層、句子層到話語層的形式劃分，并提出了翻譯單位的標準---翻譯單位是源語在譯語中具備對應物的最小單位（最低限度）的語言單位。尤金奈達（EugeneA.Nida）被認為是現(xiàn)代翻譯理論的主要奠基者。他認為，翻譯是在譯語中以最自然的方式重現(xiàn)原來的信息，首先是意義，然后是風格。按照他的理論，翻譯單位就傾向于話語（discourse）或語篇(text)。國內對翻譯單位的研究主要是從形式切分、語義確定以及語篇功能分析等不同視角研究。但是正如紐伯特（Neubert）所指出的那樣,關于翻譯的不同觀點實際上并不是完全對立的，而只是對現(xiàn)象的不同方面?zhèn)戎赜兴煌??？傊?，翻譯單位的運用是動態(tài)的而不是靜態(tài)的。翻譯的操作一般在語篇上進行。本文根據德國翻譯家威而斯（Wilss）的語篇理論即把對語篇的研究分為語言（上下文）語篇研究(linguistictextresearch)和交際（語境）語篇研究(communicativetextresearch)，結合一定的有針對性的實例著重從詞的選擇、故事情節(jié)和人物性格的對等翻譯以及語篇的連貫與銜接等方面介紹一些語篇翻譯的具體方法，并分析影響語篇翻譯的文化因素以及語篇翻譯中的不可譯現(xiàn)象。以此來說明把語篇作為翻譯單位的必要性和重要性。二、研究的基本內容，擬解決的主要問題：有關翻譯單位的爭論由來已久，究竟應該以什么為翻譯的單位或者說這個單位應該有多大才最有利于翻譯？對不同翻譯單位的選擇只側重有所不同而非真正的對立。本文在分析各不同翻譯單位后著重以語篇翻譯單位為研究對象，結合Halliday的語境理論即包括語言環(huán)境和非語言環(huán)境,介紹語篇翻譯的一些方法以及影響語篇翻譯的文化因素和語篇翻譯中的不可譯性，引導譯者在翻譯時樹立語篇意識、準確意識、合理意識以及文化意識。Theunitoftranslationisoneofthemostcomplicatedproblemsintranslationtheory.Since1970s,academicsbothathomeandabroadhavedefinedtheunitoftranslationfromdifferentangles.Althoughapparentlydivergent,itisgenerallyacknowledgedthattheunitoftranslationisdynamicratherthanstatic,andtranslator’scognitiveroleisofgreataccount.Translationwouldbechaosiftheunitoftranslationwasregardedasacertainlinguisticunit.Thisthesisintendstolookintotheunitoftranslationfromatextualperspective,basedonthetheoryofWilss,aGermantranslationtheorist,whosuggestslinguistictext(co-text)researchandcommunicativetext(context)researchbeinvolvedintranslation.Theauthorsuggestsinconclusionthattextbethemaintranslationunitastextitselfisflexibleandoperable.什么是翻譯單位？70年代以來，國內外研究學者都從不同角度對翻譯單位進行了定義和劃分。但是肯定的是翻譯單位是一個動態(tài)的過程，譯者的主體認知因素在翻譯過程中起重要作用。單純地把翻譯單位等同于某一語言單位只會造成翻譯的混亂。本文試圖從語篇角度審視和定義翻譯單位，并依據德國翻譯理論家把對語篇的研究分為語言語篇研究和交際語篇研究的相關理論，探討以語篇作為翻譯單位的必要性和重要性。關鍵詞：翻譯單位、語篇、語言語篇研究、交際語篇研究IntroductionTheunitoftranslationisaheatedlydiscussedquestionsince1970s.Whatistheunitoftranslationandhowtodefineit?Manylinguistshavemadegreatattempttosolvethisproblem.VinayandDarbelnetdefineitas“thesmallestutterance-segmentinwhichthecohesionofthesignsissuchthattheydonothavetobetranslatedseparately”(qtd.in

Nord68).Newmarkpointedoutthat“thelargestquantityoftranslationinatextisdoneattheleveloftheword,thelexicalunit,thecollocation,thegroup,theclauseandthesentence---rarelytheparagraph,neverthetext---probablyinthatorder”(55).WolframWilss,ontheotherhand,proposedthatratherthanawordorsentence,textshouldbetheunitoftranslation(65).ResearchontheunitoftranslationbecameactivesinceLuoJindeintroducedthisissue.Andwiththedevelopmentofotherbranchesoflinguistics,especiallytextlinguistics,academiciansathomearedoingmoreandmoreresearchonthis,whichhaspracticalsignificancetotranslation.Thisthesisintroducesfirstlytheunitoftranslation,followingWilss’stheoryontextualtranslation,recommendingsomeapproachesintexttranslationandsomefactorstowhichtranslatorsmustpayattention.Inthisway,theauthorindicatesthattextastheunitoftranslationhasitsownadvantageinthattextitselfisflexibleandcanbeadoptedonthetranslator’sowninitiative.1TranslationUnitsandRelatedResearch1.1TranslationUnitsTheunitoftranslationisaverycomplicatedquestionintranslation.Manyopinionsbothabroadandathomehavebeenputforthonthisquestion.VinayandDarbelnetdefinetheunitoftranslationas“thesmallestsegmentofanutterancewhosecohesionofsignsissuchthattheymustnotbeseparatelytranslated”(qtd.inNewmark13).ARoutledgeEncyclopediaofTranslationStudiesputitas“thestretchofsourcetextonwhichthetranslatorfocusesattentioninordertorepresentitasawholeinthetargetlanguage”(Baker286).Academicsathomealsohavedifferentopinions,amongwhichtodeterminetheunitoftranslationatdifferentlevelsorranksfromphonetictotext(phonetic,morpheme,word,phase,sentenceandtext)maybethemosttypical(伍曉君106-107).Inotherwords,inpractice,eachlevelasshortasphonetic,aslongastextcanbetreatedasaunitthatcannotbeseparated.Itiseasytoseewordslikeradar,watt,copy,tanktranslatedrespectivelyChineseas“雷達”、“瓦特”、“拷貝”and“坦克”allinvolvephonetictranslation.Translationatmorphemelevelappearsmuchless.Butithassignificancefornewwordstranslation,especiallyfornewtechnicalterms,becausealargenumberoftechnicaltermsareformedbycombiningtwoormoremorphemes.Wordslikehigh-tech,digi-tech,com-sat,data-commareinthiscase.Translationatwordlevelmostlyappearsinsimplesentences.Translationatphraseleveloccurswhenthephrasehascertainmeaningasawhole.Forexample,“pullone’sleg”means“開某人的玩笑”ratherthan“拉某人的腿”.Sentencesasthetranslationunitismostcommonjustastheyarethenaturalunitofcomprehension.AmericanfamoustranslationtheoristandlinguistEugeneA.Nidainclinestousediscourseortextastheunitoftranslationtoachieve“functionalequivalence”.Despitethedifferences,thosedivergentviewsmaynotreallybeinoppositionandtheyjustfocusondifferentaspectsintranslation.Thatis,thetranslationunitsaredynamicratherthanstaticandthetranslatorhastochangewiththesituation.However,justasPeterNewmark,Britishtranslationtheorist,pointsout“thetextcanratherbedescribedastheultimatecourtofappeal”(15),foratranslator,toconsiderthetextasawholeandkeepthisthoughtinmindwhentranslatingeachpartofthetextisnecessaryandimportant.1.2TextasTranslationUnitBeforegivingargumentonthenecessityandimportanceofusingtextasthetranslationunit,onequestionmustbefirstlyinvolvedandthatis“Whatisatext?”ThisthesisisinthelightofHalliday’sperspectiveoftext:Atextisaunitoflanguageinuse.Atextisbestregardedasasemanticunit:aunitnotofformbutofmeaning.Thusitisrelatedtoaclauseorsentencenotbysizebutbyrealization,thecodingofonesymbolicsysteminanother.Atextdoesnotconsistofsentences;itisrealizedby,orencodedinsentences.(2)Fromthisdefinitionoftext,weacquaintourselveswithsuchthattextismarkedbysemanticunit,ratherthanlength,rangingfromone-wordtexttotextsaslongaspossible.Andforthisveryaccount,thechoiceoftranslationunitbecomesflexible.2ApproachesinTextTranslationTranslationisaprocessofunderstanding,reconstructingandverifying.Intexttranslation,thetranslatorshouldconsiderthewordsandsentencesbypreferencebecausetheyconstitutethewholetext.Wewillnextseethesebasicelementsandintroducesomeapproachesintexttranslationfromatextualview.2.1ToChoosetheMostPreciseWordsthroughTextualAnalysisWordchoosingisinevitableintranslation.Itoftenoccurswhensynonymyandpolysemyareinvolved.Polysemyisoneofthemostcommonphenomenainlanguage.InEnglish,monosemicwords,thatis,wordswithonlyonemeaningarehardlyseen.Anditissafetosaythatformostcontentwords,themorefrequentlyitisused,themoreactiveitwillbe.Justtakegetforexample,wecanfindinanOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionarythatthenumberofitsmeaningsandrelativeidiomsisupto154!Thespecificmeaningofapolysemycanonlybegottenthroughtextanalysis.Forexample:(1)Atthisstagethereisonlysoftintelligenceabouttheenemyintention.Weshouldnotshoothimfromthehip.(俞云根、張培基22)Softhasmorethantendifferentkindsofmeaninginthedictionary.Buttomodifyintelligence,noneofthemeaningisworkable.However,thesecondsentencetellsnottotakeactions.Sowecaninferthattheintelligencemaynotbetrueorreliable.Softgenerallymeans"nothard,firm".Itsconnotativemeaningi.e.additional,especiallyemotivemeaningcanbe“notonehundredpercenttrue”.Here,wegetthetranslation“不太充分的”.Thiscaseshowstheimportancetoconsiderwordmeaninginatextenvironment.TranslationisnotjusttakingplaceofonewordbyitsrelatedEnglishorChinesemeaningbutgettingfullcomprehensionofthetextbeforefindingtheexactone.Anotherdifficultyinwordchoosingcomesfromsynonymy.Synonymisthetechnicalnameforthesamenessrelation.Englishissaidtoberichinsynonyms.ThiscanbetracedbackintothetwosourcesofEnglish:Anglo-SaxonandLatin,whichhavemanypairsofwordswiththesamemeaning.ButjustasHuZhuanglinstresses“totalsynonymyisrare.Theso-calledsynonymsareallcontextdependent”(163).ComparenexttwotranslationsinTEM-8in1994and2014respectively:（2）我的最大愛好是沉思默想。我可以一個人長時間地獨處而感到愉快。獨享歡樂是一種愉快，獨自憂傷也是一種愉快。孤獨的時候，精神不會是一片純粹的空白，它仍然是一個豐富多彩的世界。情緒中的大歡快和大悲痛往往都在孤獨中產生。孤獨中，思維可以不依照邏輯進行。孤獨更多地產生人生的詩情—激昂的和傷感的。孤獨可以使人的思想向更遙遠更深邃的地方伸展，也能使你對自己或環(huán)境作更透徹的認識和檢討。(Mygreatestavocationismusing.Icanstaybymyselfforalongtimewithoutfeelingdisconsolateintheleast.Happinessenjoyedaloneisapleasure,soissorrowtastedprivately.Insolitude,themindisnotacompleteblank;itremainsarichandcolorfulworld.Solitudeofteninducesecstasyoranguish,andallowsthinkingtowonderinarandomway.Sheinspiresthemoodforpoems,passionate,orpathetic.Shealsoenablespeopletothinkfurtheranddeeperandtohaveamorethoroughunderstandingandexaminationofthemselvesandtheirenvironment.)I’mlonelyonlywhenIamovertired,whenIhavewalkedtoolongwithoutabreak,whenforthetimebeingIfeelemptyandneedfillingup.AndIamlonelysometimeswhenIcomebackhomeafteralecturetrip,whenIhaveseenalotofpeopleandtalkedalot,andamfulltothebrimwithexperiencethatneedstobesortedout.(只有當我過于勞累，或者長時間無間斷地工作，或者感到內心空虛，需要充實的時候，我才會感到寂寞。而有時在我巡回演講完畢回家后，在我見過許多人，講過許多話，且經歷多得需要清理時，我也會感到寂寞。)InChinese,“孤獨”and“寂寞”havethesamemeaning,conveyingasenseofloneliness.Inthefirstparagraph,weknow“孤獨”justmeans“beingalone”or“staybyoneself”becauseitistheauthor’s“greatestavocation”.Togetthis,thetranslatorhastograspthetextbyhavingafullcomprehensionratherthanrestrictinghimselfwithinonewordoronesentence.2.2ToHaveaGoodUnderstandingofSentencesfromaTextualViewWehavediscussedhowtextualviewaffectsword-choosingintranslation,andwillgoontoseehowtogetagoodunderstandingofsentencesfromatextualview.Beforewegivedetailsonthis,wemustclarifythatherewhatwerefertoiswrittentranslationratherthanverbaltranslation.Weknowthatwhenwespeak,wehavecertainintonationthatcontainscertainmeaning.Sowhentheutteranceisdelivered,thehearernotonlycatchesthewordsbutalsothehiddenmeaning.Thiscanbeeasilyexemplified:(3)A:Whatisontelevisiontonight?B:Nothing.HowtotranslatetheutteranceofA?SupposeAhasjustcomebackfromoutsideandwantstowatchTV,heisprobablyaskingB’sadvice.ButifBisreadinganewspaper,thenAmayjustwanttoknowsomethingaboutthepreview,andhemaywanttowatchTVorhemaynot.Thetranslatormustkeepinmindthatwrittenstyletriestocompensatethelostintonationfeature,whichhassignificancetotheforceandaccuracyoftheoralstyle.Soitissometimesnecessaryforthetranslatortosupplyhisownunderstandingtotheeventheistranslating.2.3CohesionandCoherenceinTextTranslationWehavediscussedaboveabouttext,andwhatistext.Isthereanyrelationshipbetweencohesionandcoherence?Absolutely.In1976,HallidayandHason’sCohesioninEnglishsetthefoundationofresearchoncohesion.Theyholdtheviewthattheprimarydeterminantofwhetherasetofsentencesdoordonotconstituteatextdependsoncohesiverelationshipswithinandbetweenthesentences,whichcreateatexture(qtd.inBrown191).Theyputforwardfourdevicesofcohesion:reference,substitutionandellipsis,lexicalcohesion,conjunction.Herewewillnotdiscussthemindetail,butanalyzehowcohesionandcoherencerelatewithatext.(4)Asoftoday,Iamfedupwiththefoodservedinthecampusdininghall.MydisenchantmentstartedinSeptember---thedayIbitintoahamburgertofindmyselfstartingatalongstrandofgreyhairthattrailedoutofthemeat.Afterthat,IwasnotmuchsurprisedbythelittlethingsIcameacrossinOctoberandNovember:bugsinthesaladandbobbypininthemeatloaf,forexample.TheninDecemberthefoodwasworse---andalittledirtier.ForChristmasdinner,forinstance,thecookgavemeathinsliceofrolledturkey,straightoutofthecan,anddishedupacock-roachinmypudding.Eventhatwasexcusable(nobodyisperfect),butwhathappenedtodayisnot:IhadalreadyeatenmostofmyclamchowderbeforeIfoundit,atthebottomofthebowl,nestledamongthedicedpotatoesandthechoppedonions:oneband-aid,slightlyused.(張漢熙49)Inthisshorttext,thewritershowsusapictureoffoodwithbadservice.Fromthecontent,thewriterinthebeginningcomplainstheserviceinthedinninghall,whicharousesthereader’sinteresttoknowwhathavehappenedtothewriter.Fromtheorganizationofthesentences,hearrangeshisexperienceinachronologicalwaybyusingconjunctions.Sothewholetextiscohesiveandlogical.Thisdoesn’tcreatemuchobstacleintranslation.Butitisnote-worthythatcohesioninthetextisnotalwaysobvious.seethissentencefromPrideandPrejudice:(5)Shehasbeendoingeverythinginherpowerbythinkingandtalkingonthesubject,togivegreater---whatshouldIcallit?Susceptibilitytoherfeelings;whicharenaturallylivelyenough.（她總是想著這件事，談論這件事，極力想使自己變得更——我該怎么說呢？更容易觸動情懷，盡管她天生已經夠多情的了。）Herethetranslatornotonlyrestoresthemeaning,butalsomakesthetranslationfluentandreadable.Readersgenerallyassumethatthecomingsequencedescribesaseriesofconnectedeventsandinterpretsitunderthatassumption.Thetranslatorhastofollowthisassumptionandfindthehiddenlogicalconnectionbetweenthetext.Agoodtranslationofthesentencesisnotnecessarilyagoodoneofthewholetextbecausetranslationisnotajuxtapositionofsentencesbutareappearanceoftheflavorofthetext.3FactorstobeConsideredinTextualTranslationInthesecondpart,welaidheavystressontheapproachesoftexttranslating,whichagreeswithWilss’slinguistictext(co-text)research,andwillgoontodiscusshiscommunicativetext(context)research,whichisindependentwithtextitselfbutinseparablewithagoodtranslation.Inthefollowingpart,wewilllimitourselvestostyleandculturalfactorsandmakesomepreliminaryinquiryontheuntranslatability.3.1StylisticFactors“Translatingconsistsinreproducinginthereceptorlanguagetheclosestnaturalequivalentofthesource-languagemessage,firstintermsofmeaningandsecondlyintermsofstyle”(Nida12)Thisstatementrequiresthatbesidesreproducingthemeaning,theproductofaprosemustsoundlikeaproseandnotsomethinglikeapoem.Beingthemostelusiveandfascinatingphenomenon,thewordstylehasbeenusedinmanyways.Itmayrefertoaperson’sdistinctivelanguagehabits,orasetofcollectivecharacteristicssharedbyagroupofpeople.“stylemaybeseenasthevariouscharacteristicsusesoflanguagethatapersonorgroupofpersonsmakeinvarioussocialcontexts”(XuYouzhi8).Forthefirstcase,wehave“Shakespeare’sstyle”,“Miltonicstyle”orthestyleof“JamesJoyce”anditisacommonsensethatLuYou’sstylegoesfarawayfromLiQingzhao’s,withtheformerboldandunconstrainedandthelattermuchgracefulandrestrained.Asforthesecondcase,wecanunderstanditinsuchthatitisafeaturethatagroupofpeopleatagivenplaceoragiventimehaveincommon.Itiscommonlyacknowledgedthatalanguageisnotsomethinghomogeneous,somethingwithaunifiedstandardform.Rather,alanguageisacompositeofvarious“sublanguages”ofvarioustypes.Therefore,thetranslatedtextmustbeadaptedtotheoriginalintermsoflanguagetypeandgeneraleffect.(6)Encirclingwaterembraceshill,Hillembraceswater.Leisurelymenwatchactors,Actorswatchmen.(曲水抱山山抱水，閑人觀伶伶觀人)（qtd.inLiuQingyuan193）Althoughthisinstanceistranslatedatthesentencelevel,itexemplifiesstructuresandformstranslatedinaccordancewiththeoriginal.Thisisoftenseeninpoetrytranslating.Inliteraryworks,writersalwaysstrivetogiveavividandcloseimagetoreaders.Soliterarylanguage,formalorinformal,elegantorrudeiscarefullydesignedandchosen,andserveshisfiguresandhiswholecompositionultimately.Inotherwords,literarylanguagecontributesmuchinreflectingthecharacteristicsofthefigure.(7)ProverbsarethepopularsayingsthatbrightensomuchLatinAmericantalk.Briefandcolorful,theymoreoftenthannotcarryasting.Whenaneighbor’sdismallyunattractivedaughterannouncedherengagement,Imeldaremarked,“Youknowwhattheysay,senora:‘Thereisnopotsouglyitcan’tfindalid.’”Andwhenherson-in-lawblusteredabouthowhewasgoingtogetevenwiththebosswhohaddockedhispay,Imeldafixedhimwithacoldeyeandsaid,“Littlefishdoesnoteatbigfish”.（諺語是使拉丁美洲人民言談生動活潑的流行俗語。諺語簡潔明快、豐富多彩，往往帶刺。鄰居一個丑八怪的女兒說她訂婚了，伊梅爾達就說：“太太，你可聽見大伙講開了：‘罐兒再丑，配個蓋子不發(fā)愁’”。當伊梅爾達的女婿氣勢洶洶要找克扣他工資的老板算賬時，她冷瞪著他說：“小魚吃得了大魚嗎？”）(張培基，俞云根202)Thetranslationabovenotonlyfaithfullyconveysthemessage,butalsogivesavividdescriptionofthecharacteristicsofImelda.Supposethetwosentencesinthequotationmarkaretranslatedas“沒有一個罐如此丑以至于找不到蓋子配”and“小魚不吃大魚”,thetonewouldbeweakenedandwewillnolongerfeelthatthey“carryasting”.Rather,bytranslatinginavulgarway,itbecomesmoreacceptablebythelistenerandbyusinganinterrogativesentence,itconveys,tothelargestextend,Imelda’scoarseness,makingtheexpressionmorelusciousandvivid.Generallyspeaking,newswritingtendstobefactual,withdirectandvividlanguage;scientificandtechnologywritingsformal,withahighconcentrationoftechnicalterms;practicalwritingfocusoninforming,withterseandvigoroustoneswhileartwriting,mainlyliteraryworks,intendstoappealthereader’semotionbymoredeviceslikesymbolsandcomparisons.Intranslating,weshoulddevelopasenseofstyletokeeptheflavoroftheoriginal.3.2CulturalFactorsItisgenerallyacknowledgedthatagoodtranslationcannotbeproducedwithoutconsideringtheeffectofculture.Still,thereisnoabsoluteideaofwhatcultureis.TheNewWorldEncyclopediagivessuchadefinition:Itisthetotalityofthespiritual,intellectual,andartisticattitudessharedbyagroup,includingitstradition,habits,socialcustoms,morals,laws,andsocialrelation.Sociologically,everysociety,oneverylevel,hasitsculture;thetermhasnoimplicationsofhighdevelopment.Obviously,thisisadefinitiononnarrowsense,excludingthedevelopmentofmaterialcivilization.AccordingtoHalliday,cultureisapartofnon-linguisticcontext.Intranslation,whetherthetranslatorcangettherightunderstandingofacertaintext,reliestosomeextend,onhisunderstandingsofrelatedculture.Andthatiswhywesaythatlearningalanguageisakindoflearningthecultureandhabitofthecountrywherethelanguageisspoken.3.2.1CulturalPhenomenaDifferentunderstandingsresultedfromvarietiesofculturemainlyhappeninthreeaspects:differentculturalbackground;imbalanceinwordsbetweencultures;salutationdifference.Everynationhasitsownculturalbackground,formedinthelonghistoryofdevelopment.Christianityhasagreateffectonwesternculture,soGodandJesuscanbeheardinadiscourseofAmericanorBritish.China,ontheotherhand,hasmanyofitstraditionalthoughtsfromBuddhismandConfucianism,andwehave“老天”（heaven）andsomeotheridiomslike“溫故而知新”(keepcherishingone’soldknowledgeandsoastobecontinuallyacquiringthenew),“敏而好學”（tobeofanactivenatureandyetfondoflearning）.Again,takingcolorasanotherexample,differentcolorsareendowedwithdifferentmeaningsconnotatingpeople’scharacterandemotion.(8)Mr.Brownisaverywhiteman.Hewaslookingrathergreentheotherday.Hehasbeenfeelingbluelately.WhenIsawhim,hewasinabrownstudy.Ihopehewillsoonbeinthepinkagain.(qtd.in

LiuQingyuan172)Tocomprehendthistextaccurately,theconnotationofthesecolorwordsmustbestraightenedout.InEnglish,whitehasthemeaningofloyalandfaithful,greensick,bluedismalanddepressed;“inabrownstudy”means“withaheavyheart”and“inthepink”means“ingoodsituation,ingoodhealth”.Anotherdifferenceliesintheimbalanceinwordsbetweencultures.Thatis,onewordinaculturecannotbefoundinanother.Forinstance,Chinesecuisineisextremelycomplicatedforforeigners.ThewayChinesecookcanbe“炒、爆、炸、煎、清炒、清蒸、紅燒、煲（燜、燉、煨）、燙、焙、鐵扒、熏、汁鹵、腌”fifteenkindsorso.Wecannot,however,expressthemonebyoneexactly.Salutationisanotherphenomenonthatbogsdownatranslator.Forexample,“老王”isacommonsalutationusedbetweenoldacquaintances.Somebodyrendersitas“LaoWang”,whichisfarfromappropriate.3.2.2WaystoSolvetheseProblemsConfrontedwithsuchdifferences,whatsolutioncanwetake?Nidasuggests:“Aconscientioustranslatorwillwanttheclosestnaturalequivalent”(13)Theoretically,culturalequivalenceisimpossible,whichalsoinvolvestheheatedlydiscussedtopicofdomesticationandforeignization.Generally,wechooseatranslationthatconfirmswiththetargetreader.Threewaysareputforwardhereforreference:literaltranslation,literaltranslationplusexplanationandliberaltranslation.LiteralTranslationAlthoughculturehasgreateffectontexttranslation,wealwaysfindthatundercertaincircumstancetwodifferentlanguageshavetheamazingsimilarexpressions.Take“armedtotheteeth”forexample.Wehavearoughideathatitmeanstoarmineveryaspectandprepareforthebattleatanytimeandwehave“全副武裝”inChinesetoconformwithit.Buttosaytheleast,insteadofasexpected，“武裝到牙齒”doesn'tcontainsuchstrongsenseofurgency.So“武裝到牙齒”isabetterchoiceanditalsoenrichestheChineseexpression.LiteralTranslationplusExplanationEachculturehasitsownspecificcharacterswhichdistinguishitselffromothers,andinthiscase,tosupplywiththerelatedbackgroundisnecessary.(9)中醫(yī)起源于6000年前的神農氏時代。(TraditionalChinesemedicineoriginatedwithShennong,thecelebratedherbalmedicinemasterofancientChinawholivedabout6000yearsago,atimewhichisbelievedtobetheembryostageinthedevelopmentoftraditionalChinesemedicine.)(仲偉合189)ChinesepeoplearefamiliarwithShennong,butitwillputtheforeignreadersinamazebecauseitisuniqueinChinaandtostepacrosstheculturebarrier,theexplanationshouldbeadded.Thisistruetheotherwayaround.LiberalTranslationLiberaltranslationapplieswhenthetwolistedabovedon’twork.Seenextexample:(10)InteractMilieu:ProfessorTulai,anAmericanlinguist,andprofessorYang,avisitingscholarfromChina,weretalkingabouttherelationshipbetweenteachinganddoingresearchintheoffice.Prof.Tulai:Todoresearchmeanstogetyourhandsdirty.Prof.Yang:Sodoyouthinkteachingisworthierthandoingresearch?Doesthephase“togetyourhandsdirty”havesomepejorativeconnotations?Prof.Tulai:Oh,no!Ididn’tmeanthat.WhenIwassayingthat,Isimplymeant“youarepracticingsomething”or“youareengagedindoingsomething”.（HuZhanglin232-233）“Togetone’shanddirty”and“topracticesomething”don’tseemrelevantfromaChineseview,andinsuchcircumstance,thetranslatormustfindtheexactmeaningofthephaseandnotjustrelyonhisownjudgment.Fromwhatwehavediscussedabove,wearesafetosaythatitisanecessityandamustforthetranslatortoknowsomecultureofthelanguageheisdealingwith.Ignoranceofcultureelementwillboundtoresultinmisunderstanding.Andthatiswhywesayatranslatormustalsobeaculturologist.3.3UntranslatabilityinTextualTranslationEachlanguagehasitsownsystemofconstructingwhichdifferentiatesitselffromotherlanguages.Toaddculture,history,customsandotherelements,differentlanguagestendtopresentcertaingapsinunderstandingsandcommunications.Sometimesitisevenimpossibleforthetranslatortotransferthemeaninginthesourcelanguageperfectlytothetargetlanguage,andanytransformationofthiscasemayleadtotheimpairmentorlossofthesourcelanguage.Thisisuntranslatability.Catforddistinguishestwotypesofuntranslatability,whichhetermsaslinguisticandcultural.CzechoslovaktranslationtheoristAntonPopovicdefinesuntranslatabilitywithoutmakingaseparationbetweenthelinguisticandthecultural.Healsodistinguishestwotypes,whichgoescorrespondentwithCatford.Thefirstgoes:Asituationinwhichthelinguisticelementsoftheoriginalcannotbereplacedadequatelyinstructural,linear,functionalorsemantictermsinconsequenceofalackofdenotation.(qtd.in

Bassnett40)Thesecondtypegoesbeyondthepurelylinguistic:Asituationwheretherelationofexpressingthemeaning,i.e.therelationbetweenthecreativesubjectanditslinguisticexpressionintheoriginaldoesnotfindanadequatelinguisticexpressioninthetradition.(ibid)Fromthis,itissafetosaythatthefirstsituationoccurswhenthetranslationisdealingwiththelanguageitselflikewordorthestructureofthesentence.Andthesecondisoutofthetextitself.3.3.1LinguisticUntranslatabilityUntranslatabilityatlinguisticlevelmayoccuratwordandsentencelevel.(11)----Whatkindoffishcannotswim?----SelfishIfwerenderitas“什么樣的魚不能游泳？自私”,thereadermaybetotallyconfused.Besides,ifwethinkthisquestioninaChineseway,wemayalsogetananswer“木魚”（apercussioninstrument,madeofwood,usedwhenchantingscripturesbyamonk）.FromaChineseperspective,thisisalsoright,buttheintentionofthesourcelanguagehascompletelychanged.Thepuzzleisuntranslatablebecauseitisform-orientationratherthanmeaning-orientation.Thisisanexamplewithalittlesenseofplayonwords.Thetranslatormayfindthatpoetrytranslatingisanotherdifficultpointinvolvinguntranslatability.e.e.cummingsisoneofthepoetsw