English translation skills

Top Ten Tips for English Translation:

1. Addition of Translation: Refers to adding some words during translation based on the different ways of thinking, language habits and expressions of the two languages. , short sentences or sentences to more accurately express the meaning contained in the original text.

This method is mostly used in Chinese translation of miles. There are many subject-less sentences in Chinese, but English sentences generally have subjects. Therefore, when translating Chinese subject-less sentences, except for a few that can be translated by English subject-less sentences, passive voice or "There be..." structures, most of them are Fill in the subject according to the context to make the sentence complete.

2. Provincial translation method: This is a translation method corresponding to the additive translation method, that is, deleting words that do not conform to the target language's thinking habits, language habits and expressions to avoid cumbersome translations. The example sentences of the additional translation method can be reversed.

3. Conversion method: refers to the conversion of the parts of speech, sentence patterns and voice in the original sentence in order to make the translation conform to the expressions, methods and habits of the target language during the translation process.

To be specific, in terms of parts of speech, nouns are converted into pronouns, adjectives, and verbs; verbs are converted into nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions; adjectives are converted into adverbs and phrases.

In terms of sentence components, turn the subject into adverbial, attributive, object, and predicate; turn the predicate into subject, attributive, and predicate; turn the attributive into adverbial and subject; turn the object into subject. In terms of sentence patterns, turn parallel sentences into compound sentences, turn compound sentences into parallel sentences, and turn adverbial clauses into attributive clauses. In terms of voice, you can change active voice into passive voice.

4. Splitting and merging methods: These are two corresponding translation methods. The splitting method is to break down a long and complex sentence into several shorter and simpler sentences, which is usually used for English-to-Chinese translation; the merging method is to combine several short sentences into one long sentence, which is usually used for Chinese-to-English translation. . Chinese emphasizes the combination of meaning and has a looser structure, so there are more simple sentences; English emphasizes the combination of form, and the structure is tighter, so there are more long sentences.

So when translating from Chinese to English, you should pay attention to using conjunctions, participles, prepositions, infinitives, attributive clauses, independent structures, etc. to connect short Chinese sentences into long sentences; The relative pronoun, relative adverb, subject-predicate connection, parallel or transition connection, connection between subsequent components and the subject, and the end of the meaning group cut off the long sentence and translate it into Chinese clauses.

In this way, the English word order can be basically preserved, the whole sentence can be translated sequentially, and it can comply with the syntactic and rhetorical principles of modern Chinese of alternating long and short sentences, and alternating simple and complex sentences.

5. Forward translation and back translation: These two methods are usually used for Chinese-to-English translation, and occasionally for English-to-Chinese translation. The so-called correct translation refers to translating sentences into English according to the same word order or expression as Chinese.

The so-called back translation refers to translating sentences into English in the opposite word order or expression to Chinese. Straight translation and back translation often have synonymous effects, but back translation is often more in line with English thinking and expression habits. So it's more authentic.

6. Inversion method: In Chinese, attributive modifiers and adverbial modifiers are often placed before the modified word; in English, many modifiers are often placed after the modified word, so translation is often done The word order of the original text is reversed.

The inversion method is usually used for English-Chinese translation, that is, transposing long English sentences back and forth according to Chinese customary expressions, grouping them according to meaning or inverting them all. The principle is to make the arrangement of the Chinese translation sentences conform to modern Chinese theory. The general logical sequence of a narrative. Sometimes the inversion method is also used in Chinese-English translation.

7. Inclusion method: This method is mostly used in English-Chinese translation. The so-called inclusion means that when translating a long English sentence into Chinese, the English post-component is placed before the center word according to the normal word order of Chinese, so that the modifying component forms a pre-inclusion in the Chinese sentence. However, the modifying elements should not be too long, otherwise it will cause procrastination or cause entanglements in the connection of Chinese sentence elements.

8. Insertion method: refers to inserting difficult-to-process sentence elements into the translated sentence using dashes, brackets or commas before and after. This method is mainly used in translation. Occasionally it is also used in interpretation, that is, using appositives, parentheses or attributive clauses to deal with some explanatory elements.

9. Reorganization method: When translating from English to Chinese, in order to make the translation smooth and more in line with Chinese narrative theory, on the basis of clarifying the structure of long English sentences and understanding the original meaning of English, Completely get rid of the word order and sentence form of the original text, and recombine the sentences.

10. Comprehensive method: refers to when a certain translation technique alone cannot translate, focusing on the text, based on logical analysis, and using transformation method, inversion method, addition translation method, omission translation method, etc. Methods for breaking down syntax and other translation techniques.