“邓小平理论”就是Deng Xiaoping Theory吗?——从词语搭配的视角谈

Can Deng Xiaoping Lilun be Translated into 'Deng Xiaoping Theory'?

词语搭配几乎是每一种语言所独特的,一种语言中可搭配的词语在另一种语言中不一定可搭配。因此,在翻译实践中,词语搭配句型在大多数情况下不能进行简单的语际转换。这样做很可能会产生搭配冲突,甚至会在不同程度上改变源语文本的意义,从而降低译文的精确度。本文拟讨论英汉两种语言不同的词语搭配句型,并由此探讨"邓小平理论"译文的正确性。本文通过对两个目标语语料库中的"noun+theory/theories"的调查发现,"邓小平理论"译为DengXiaoping's Theory/legacy更贴近英语读者的语言思维习惯。

Lexical collocation is unique to virtually every language and words that collocate in one language do not necessarily co-occur in another.In most cases in the fieldwork of C-E translation,therefore,lexical collocational patterning does not allow simple switch between languages because this is very likely to produce collocational clashes,and even change the meaning of source-language text to a varying degree,hence denting the accuracy of the translation.The present paper,by discussing different collocational patterning between English and Chinese,attempts to inquire into the appropriateness of the translation 'Deng Xiaoping Theory.' Having investigated the 'noun + theory/theories' pattern in the two target-language reference corpora,the paper finds that it sounds more idiomatic to native speakers to use Deng Xiaoping's Theory/legacy.