lecture03减词法概要1.pptVIP

Proper omission(省译) I. Definition By omission we mean properly omitting some words or expressions in order to make the translated version brief, concise, clear, instead of verbose or clumsy. Proper omission in English-Chinese translation often involves the omitting of some words (such as prepositions, articles, certain pronouns, conjunctions, etc.) that are indispensable in the SL text but not in the TL text in the process of translation. II. Motivation Omission is based on the differences between English and Chinese. Only by omitting or adding some words or expressions can we make the translated version more idiomatic and thus more expressive. For example, Chinese has no articles or infinitive markers, and pronouns, conjunctions, and prepositions are not as frequently used as those of English. So when we translate English sentences with articles and infinitive markers into Chinese, we often omit these articles or infinitive markers. E.g.: The time-keeping devices of electronic watches are much more accurate than those of the mechanical ones. Motivation You cannot build a ship, a bridge or a house if you don’t know how to make a design or how to read it. 不会制图或看不懂图纸，就不可能造船，架桥或盖房子。 It took him a long time to reach the bottom and to crouch behind a little dwarf palm. 他费了很长时间才爬到山下，蹲到一棵矮小的棕榈树后面。 When a man is over 70, his time of full activities is usually past. 人一过70，通常来说，精力最旺盛的时期也就过去了。 III. Principles Omission should be aimed at smoothness and conciseness or succinctness. Omission does not go against ‘faithfulness’. Omission only involves omitting words that are superfluous in the TL text but are indispensable in the SL text. Omission does not mean subtracting meanings from the original work. What is omitted may not be necessarily confined to certain parts of speech, as the traditionalists often say. Any parts of speech may be liable to be omitted depending upon the context and the translator’s translation techniques. Omission of p