从对比语言学的角度看《红字》的三个中文译本

Comparison of Three Chinese Versions of The Scarlet Letter from the Angle of Contrastive Studies of English and Chinese

从对比语言学的角度,对美国作家纳撒尼尔.哈桑的名著《红字》的三个中文译本进行了详细的比较。其中有些译文非常精彩,不仅忠实地传达了原文的意思,而且在翻译过程中考虑了中文的语言习惯,因而从中文读者的角度来看,文字准确、流畅、自然。然而,另一些译文则忽略了中英文的显著差异,在中文译本中仍然使用英文的风格和句式,这些句子就不那么符合中国人的阅读习惯了。因此,作为一名译者,应当有意识地认真探究中英文的特点,从而使自己的译文更加生动,更加符合读者的母语习惯。

From the angle of contrastive studies of English and Chinese, a detailed comparison is made between three Chinese versions of the famous American novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Some translations are excellent because not only is the genuine meaning of the original novel conveyed but the linguistic habits of the Chinese language are also taken into consideration and therefore from the angle of a Chinese reader, the words read idiomatic and natural. Some other translations, however, ignore the distinctive features between Chinese and English and thus mistak- enly stick to the style and the patterns of the English language, making the corresponding Chinese sentences not so idio- matic in a Chinese reader′s eyes. It can be seen from the comparison that as students of English we should explore the differences between Chinese and English consciously so as to improve our ability to use the two languages properly and idiomatically.