2Translation of Nouns.docVIP

Translation of Nouns Generalization A noun is a word that is the name of a person, place, thing, quality, action, etc. and it can be used as the subject or object of a verb or the object of a preposition. In communication, the noun is the basic element to express a concept. Different peoples have different symbols to express concepts and the relationship between the meaning and the symbol is arbitrary. Therefore the translation of nouns is of the first importance in bilingual communication. Nouns may be divided into two groups: proper nouns and common nouns. We will deal with some rules in handling the translation of nouns from English into Chinese. 1.1 Translation of Proper Nouns An English proper noun is a name used for a single particular thing or person, and spelt with a capital letter. The translators in China usually follow two principles to deal with the English proper nouns: transliteration and semantic translation. They will be discussed in detail below. 1.1.1 Transliteration: three rules 1) To follow the pronunciation of the owners of proper names England　英格兰 Deutsch　德意志 Paris　巴黎 Bangkok 曼谷 2）To use the standard pronunciation of the Chinese characters In other words, the translator should pick the common and simple ones and avoid rare and obsolete ones, use characters that will not be understood from the context, avoid the use of words in the derogatory sense, and shorten some ones by dropping one or two obscure sounds. Balkan 巴尔干 ？岜珥赣 Nepal 尼泊尔 ？泥渤洱 Latvia　　　拉脱维亚　？儠橐潍琊 Rwanda　　卢旺达　　？乱达 Cuba　　　古巴　　　？苦粑 Guatemala　 危地马拉　？鬼地麻辣 Roosevelt 罗斯福　　？罗斯伏尔特 Engles 恩格斯　　？恩格勒尔斯 3) To adopt the established popular translated names Caesar 　　凯撒　　　？西挲 Bethune 　白求恩　　？比松 1.1.2 Semantic translation Fully semantic translation The Pacific Ocean 　　　太平洋　 The Mediterranean Sea　地中海 Cape of Good Hope 　　好望角 Partly semantic translation New England 　新英格兰 New Guinea 　新几内亚　　 1.2 Translation of Common Nouns Common nouns m