英汉口译中文化因素的传达（四）

　　“Strike while the iron is hot”→“趁热打铁”

　　“Many hands make light work”→“人多好办事”

　　“More haste, less speed”→“欲速则不达”

　　“Out of sight, out of mind”→“眼不见,心不烦”

　　But, in fact, not all words or phrases in English have the similar or the same meaning in Chinese. In other words, the form is similar but the meaning is different. Therefore, we should attach much importance to the cultural connotations. For example, in China, the term “知识分子”, generally includes college teachers, college students, and people as medical doctors, engineers, interpreters——people who have had a college education. In the U.S and Europe, however, intellectuals would include only people of high academic status such as college professors, but not ordinary college students. More examples:

　　Each time he raised his glass, he would say: “Well, here’s mud in your eye!”

　　他每次举杯时都说:“祝你好运!”

　　“Heads I win, tails you lose!”

　　无论怎样,我都不会输!

　　The invaders have shown a clean pair of heels.

　　入侵者已逃之夭夭。

　　“Anyone can do it on his head,” said the old man.

　　“这件事谁做起来都很容易。”老人这样说。

　　3.2Explanation in E-C interpretation

　　Learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. It also includes learning to see the world as native speakers of that language do it, learning the ways in which how their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, learning to understand their “language of the mind.” Otherwise, an interpreter would interpret the superficial meaning of the speaker and miss his inner meaning which reflects the ideas, customs and behavior of his society. As a result, the listeners would not understand what the speaker really means. In this case, the interpreter should take up the technique of explanation. For instance, once a group of Chinese was visiting the home of a fairly well-to-do American. As they were shown around the house, they commented, “you have a very nice home. It’s so beautiful,” The hostess smiled with obvious pleasure and replied in good American fashion “Thank you”——which caused surprise among some of her Chinese guests. To English-speaking people, praise is to be accepted. It’s assumed that the compliment is sincere, there should be no show of false humidity, no pretended modesty. To Chinese, however, the customary reply to a compliment would be to claim that one is not worthy of the praise in order to show modesty. Acceptance of a compliment would imply conceit or lack of manners. More example, a native speaker says “There are some butterflies in my stomach” If the above sentence is interpreted as “我肚子里有蝴蝶”, it would cause confusion to the Chinese listeners. Because the sentence means that “I feel nervous very much.” Both the cases reflect the speakers’ Culture. Furthermore, some words also need explaining when interpreted, such as “clock watcher” “teenager” in the following sentences.

　　“She is a clock watcher.”——她是个看着钟等着下班的人。

　　“He is a teenager.”——他是个十多岁的小孩。

　　3.3Conversion in E-C interpretation

　　Because of the cultural differences, some words or phrases do not have equivalents or counterparts in Chinese. So we have to interpret them by conversion or shifting. For example, “Excuse me” is a general term preceding a request or interruption. In Chinese, however, there are different terms:“劳驾”when asking a favor or requesting a person to do something. Therefore, it can’t be interpreted as“对不起”in Chinese. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” This is an English proverb. It means“入乡随俗”in Chinese, not for“在罗马,就象罗马人那样做。”There are also some common English proverbs that do not seem to have their Chinese equivalents. The sampling below includes some that reflect different daily habits, some that show a different perception of things, or indicate a different philosophy or attitude. Consider.

　　Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

　　越是不见越想念。

　　An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

　　常吃苹果少得病。