1、THESISHow to use literal translation and free translation proper? INTRODUCTION People often discuss literal translation and free translation. We lay stress on how to handle two different kinds of language. And which way of translation is better to use to translation a sentence. Especially, target la
2、nguage must express what source language meams, distortion is not allowed. Literal translation and free translation are two main forms of translation. They are not repulsive, contrarily, they are complementary. Translation literally,if possible,or appeal to free translation. Literal translation reta
3、ins original skill. So it is get on for original. When literal translation, encounter some obstades, people often use free translation.Free translation expresses general idea of the original, and can be accepted by readers. A good translation composition contains literal translation and free transla
4、tion. CONTENT 1. What is the conception of literal translation and free translation? 2. How to use literal translation properly?2.1 Translate literally,if possible.2.2 Literal translationword-for-word translation.2.3 Some sentences should not translate literally.3. How to use free translation proper
5、ly?3.1 If it has some trouble to understand a sentence in using literal translation, use free translation.3.2 Don not add personal enmotion to the original works.3.3 Free translation skill needs extensive knowledge and culture of both source language and target language. CONCLUTION If use literal tr
6、anslation and free translation proper, you will success in translating a composition. KEY WORDS Literal translation/Free translation/Source language/Targer language/Word-for-word/Original 1. What is the conception of literal translation and free translation?Literal translation and free translation a
7、re two basic skills of translation. Literal translation refers to translate a sentence originally, keep the original message form, including construction of sentence, meaning of the original words, metaphor of the original and so on. Translation would be fluent and easy to comprehend by target langu
8、age readers. Free translation refers to, according to the meaning of the original, without paying attention to the details and translation would also be fluent and natural. Free translation need not pay attention to the form of the original, including construction of the original sentences,meaning o
9、f the original works, matapher of the original and so on . But free translation does not mean to delete or add content to the original and translators must consider the original carefully, know its stress, translate it natually, express the meaning of the original. Free translation is a skill which
10、translators must know the culture of both source language and target language, and must have extensive knowledge. When translating, should not use literal translation completely or use free translation completely. According to the passage which you are translating, you should use literal translation
11、 frequently and use free translation when neccessary.But what kind of translation is literal translation? And what kind of translation is free translation? For example:1) Dont lock the stable door after the hourses has been stolen.Literal translation: 不要等马被盗后,才去锁楖门.Free translation: 不要贼走关门.2) Smashi
12、ng a mirror is no way to make an ugly person beautiful, nor it is a way to make social problem evaporate.Literal translation: 砸镜子不能使丑八怪变漂亮,也不能使社会问题烟消云散.Free translation: 砸镜子并不能解决实际问题.Form the example 1), free translation is better than literal translation. From the example 2), literal translation is
13、 better than free translation. But how to use literal translation and free translation? There is a sentence:Translate literally,if possible, or appeal to free translation. 2. How to use literal translation properly? 2.1 Translate literally, if possible. Why translate, if possible? What is the advant
14、age of literal translation? Generally, rhetoric is often used in a passage to make the passage lively. Literal translation retains the rhetoric of the original, so it is lively as the original. But free translation only expresses the general idea of original, lively rhetoric of the original disappea
15、red. So generally speaking, literal translation is a good choice in translation. For example:3) For ma father know and I know that if you only dig enough a pasture can be made free.Literal translation: 因为我父亲知道,我也知道,只要挖到一定程度,早晚可以在这里辟出个牧场的.Free translation: 因为我父亲知道,我也知道,功到自然成.4) For Kino and Juana thi
16、s was the meaning of morning of their lives, comparable only to the day when the baby had been born.Literal translation: 在Kino和Juana看来,这是他们一生中最了不起的早晨,只有宝宝出生的那一天,才可以与之媲美.Free translation: Kino和Juana以为,这一天非常重要. Free translation of examples 3) and 4), only express the general idea of the original sente
17、nces. It is too simple. Metaphor and discribtion of the original sentences hava dissappeared. After free translation, it was inferior and dull. So it is undesirable. But the literal translation of example 3) and 4) is clearer than the free translation. Actually, literal translation is the chief way
18、of translation. It is close to the original, lively and natural. It is acceptable. Acceptableness is very important in translation. From theory of translation angle, translation is a theroy which uses target language to express the idea, content and style of source language.It should accord with the
19、 culture and customs of the target language. Translation not only does express the idea and style of the original message, but also need to accord with the culture and customs of the target language, so that the translation can easy be accepted by target language readers. Because the differences of
20、two languages, sometimes it is difficult to retain the idea and style of the source language. The advantage of literal translation is that almostly retain the idea and style of the original. So most of translators like to use literal translation. From all above, that is the reason of translate liter
21、ally, if possible. 2.2 Literal translationword-for-word translation. At first, which kind of translation is word-for-word translation? Word-for-word translation is that: When translating, consider every words. Every words of source language is translated cooridnatly. For example:5) It was an old and
22、 ragged moon.Word-for-word translation: 那是一个又老又破的月亮.6) Many of his ideas are especially interesting to modern youth. Word-for-word translation: 他的许多思想对当代青年特别有趣.From the example 5) and 6), we know word-for-word translation does not do any changes to source language. The form is close to the original,
23、 but it does not express the meaning of the source language. Strictly speaking, it is not translation. Nevertheless, some translation which did some change to source language and the structure of target language is also the same as source language, the translation is smooth, but the meaning and the
24、style are far from the original, usually, target language readers did not know what it said. This is also word-for-word translation. For example: 7) Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.Word-for-word translation: 你的肉中的每一个原子，对我来说，都像我自己一样亲；即使
25、在病痛中，仍然是亲的.8) Being a teacher is being present at the creation, when the clay begin to breathe.Word-for-word translation: 当一名教师意味着是创造的见证人，他目睹人体开始呼吸，开始了生命. Translation of 7) and 8) are smooth. But they do not accord with the expressive way of Chinese. It is word-for-word translation. From all above,
26、word-for-word translation is so starchy, goes after the form of source language that it never think of the effect of target language. Because word-for-word translation does not accord with the expressive way of target language, it is obscure, hard to understand it even makes target language readers
27、did not know what does translator want to express. Word-for-word translation makes target language readers confused. It is unqualified translation. Literal translation also keeps the general form of source language,and keeps the structure and the metaphor of the original. But literal translation doe
28、s make some neccessary adjustment, make target language smooth, clean and acceptable. After reading, target language readers can have almost the same feeling as the source language readers. But word-for-word translation only translate word by word, it is stiff and unitelligible. Quality of literal t
29、ranslation is good. Word-for-word translation is inferior. Literal translation and word-for-word translation can give different feeling to target language readers. All translation which is hard to accept, which have bad effect, which message is indistinct, which meaning is far from the original is w
30、ord-for-word translation. This kind of translation is abortive. Some translation though that all translation keeps the form of the original is literal translation. That is erroneous. They confuse the conception of literal translation with word-for-word translation. These translators translate like t
31、his: first, they look up the meaning of every word of source language in dictionary. Then, they combine the meaning of every word, never do any change. They do not know what translation is, so word-for-word translation emerge. But excellent translators know the meaning of the original. When translat
32、ing, they do some neccessary adjustment, make target language clearer, smooth and acceptable. They know the difference between word-for-word translation and literal translation. They can use literal translation properly, it is a skill of translation.All in all. literal translation is not word-for-wo
33、rd translation. Literal translation is acceptable and nimble. 2.3 Some sentences should not translate literally. Some source language sentences are very difficult to translate literally. It only though of the meaning of surface, translate it literally, the result is unintelligible and indistinct. So
34、me sentences do not accord with expressive way in target language. Different country has different culture,different language, different custom and different way to express the same meaning, different language has different way about metaphors, and has different idioms. In China, people usually use
35、some idioms to describe an event or a person. So do in abroad. But Chinese idioms are unintelligible in western countries. In these suituations, if translate literally, usually, it would have bad effect and be unacceptable. When target language readers read, they could not know the exact meaning of
36、source language. Because the message which target language express was vague. There are two examples: 9) Our son must go to school. He must break out of the pot that hold us in.Literal translation: 我们的儿子一定得进学校，他一定得打破这个把我们关在里面的罐子. Free translation: 我们的儿子一定要上学，一定要出人头地.10) Their legs mored a little jer
37、kily, like well-made wooden dolls, and they carried pillars of blank fear about them. Literal translation: 他的腿轻轻痉挛地移动着，像做得很好的木偶一样，他们随身携带着黑色的恐怖柱子.Free translation: 他们每向前迈一步，腿就抖动一下，好似精制的木偶一样，他们身上带着一股阴沉的杀气. From the two examples, literal translation is unintelligible even absurd. But after had translat
38、ed it freely, translation became cleaner, smooth, acceptable and accord with the culture of target language. But in which suituation translators should not translate literally? How to use literal translation correctly? Any source language which does not accord with the expressive way of target langu
39、age should not use literal translation. For example: In example 9), Break out the pot that hole us in, it is an English idiom, it means do something successful. But how to translate it into Chines?There is also an idiom in China. It almost has the same meaning asBreak out of the pot that hold us in.
40、 It is 出人头地. So when translating that sentence translators should not use literal translation, translators should use free translation. And how to use literal translation correctly? First, know source language and target language culture as much as possible and translators should have extensive know
41、ledge with the problems which the original wrote or talk about, translators should be conversant. We often have experience like that: Because lake of some knowledge that somebody talking about, even after others explained, we still did not know or understand. So before translators translating some m
42、aterials, especially some proffessional materials translators must grasp some knowledge about the materials. For example, if translate some materials about economy,translators should know some knowledge about economy; if translate some material about news, translators should know some knowledge abou
43、t news;if translate some professional materials,translators should know some knowledge about that proffession, or be an export of that proffession. If translator was a man who did not know something about the material which he wanted to translate, his translation would be unqualified. Second, compre
44、hend source language message correctly and thoroughly. It is very important. Translators should not only know the surface meaning of the original and translators should read through the surface, know what does the original want to express. If a translator does only know surface meaning of the origin
45、al and translate it literally, his translation would be correspondingly. After target language reader read his translation, they would be confuse and have different feeling between the original and the translation or even have erroneous comprehension. Translation is different from reading. When we r
46、eading, it no matter how much we understand or can be understand or have erroneous comprehension. Because level of the readers is limited. Reading is only a feeling of himself. But translation affects others. Instead of the original author, translation is a man retell source language massage to targ
47、et language. So translators should comprehened the source language message deeply and thoroughly, then retell the meaning of the source language correctly and close to the source language message. If a translator comprehened the source language just a little nmbiguiously,translation would be differe
48、nt from the source language message. Therefore, comprehension is very important. If translators had false comprehension to the source language message, his translation could be far from the original. This will lead his translation to be unqualified. At last, enhance acceptability of translation. Fro
49、m above we know that translation should accord with the expressive way of target language, so that it can be easily accepted by target language readers. Actually, it is not difficult to retain the style of the original. But it is difficult to translate the original accord with target language expressive way. A translator who has abandant experience can surmount obstacle between two language. An excellent translator must have done his best effort on his translation. This is
