《高中英语语法-英汉报刊翻译常见错误1》由留学英语组编辑整理(m.liuxue86.com)。本内容整理时间为05月12日，如有任何问题请联系我们。
英汉报刊翻译常见错误1
Chapter 1 习语翻译中的常见错误
关于英语习语的概念,《英语习语大词典》在序言中说得很清楚:英语的idiom在汉语里相应的说法是“成语”或“习语”。成语/习语是在语义上和语法上受到限制的词组和句子,它们作为一个单位来使用。从语义学上看,成语的意义不是其中单个词的意思的总和;从语法上看,其中的词不允许任意变换,例如,英语的 It’s raining cats and dogs是“倾盆大雨”的意思,不是“下猫和狗”;不允许变换成It’s raining a cat and a dog,也不允许变换成It’s raining dogs and cats;汉语里如“七嘴八舌”表示“人多言杂”,不是“七张嘴八个舌头”,不允许说成“七舌八嘴”。所以有人把它叫做“现成的话语”,另外还有一种说法是“惯用组合”。
从本章的例子可以看出,英文习语的翻译最常见的错误就在于望文生义。比如score这个词,它有“二十”的意思,以为变成复数scores of 就是“几十”,殊不知词典上的释义是“许多,大量”。可见,望文生义想当然在英语习语翻译中是容易出错的。还有,英文的动词短语用的很广,可对我们中国人来说很头疼,一不小心就会闹笑话。光从字面上理解往往就会弄错。动词短语to tell sb. Off就是个明显的例子,光从字面上看,似乎是“叫某人走开”,可一查词典根本就没有这个意思。
请大家仔细研究下面的第一个例子:
例1、in to the bargain是“讨价还价”吗?
Georgia was waking up to a new president Monday but in to the bargain it was also getting as its first lady a green-eyed linguist from Holland who has already managed to cast a spell over the tiny Caucasus nation.
Sandra Roelofs is seen by some as the secret weapon which enabled her husband Saakashvili to win a landslide victory in a presidential election held on Sunday. She accompanied her husband on the campaign trail, impressing voters with her command of Georgian and her easy going manner, even gamely doing a turn on the electric organ on a television chat show.
But the tall, svelte and photogenic woman with strawberry blonde hair is more than just the stereotypical polit...
