汉英翻译文本中的歧义和语境解歧——以《私人生活》英译本为例

Financial Theory, Application Practice and the Cultivation of Finance Applied Talents——Context-Dependent Disambiguation in Chinese-English Textual Translation:An Analysis of the English Translation of Private Life

翻译歧义是存在于语言互译中的普遍现象,涉及语言系统中词汇、句法和语义各层面。英汉互译中能否准确解歧是影响译文质量和效果的关键。结合前人研究,从语言系统自身特点出发,总结归纳出同义近义、一词多义、同音异义、同形异义、同形同音异义、形态致歧和语义偏差七类可能导致翻译歧义的原因。同时结合陈染《私人生活》英译本中有代表性的例证,讨论了在翻译实践中如何借助语境还原语义、避免歧义造成的误读错译。

Translation ambiguity is a common phenomenon that exists pervasively in the translation across languages. Possible sources of ambiguity cover all aspects of the language system, including vocabulary, syntax and semantics. Whether and to what extent can ambiguities be solved is key to the quality and effectiveness of Chinese -English translation. Drawing from previous discussions on the topic, this paper attempts to sort out the seven sources of translation ambiguity (i.e., synonym, polysemy, homophony, homography, homonymy, morphological ambiguity, and semantic discrepancy) which typically troubles Chinese-English translators. Moreover, a textual analysis was made based on the English translation of Chen Ran's Private Life, with discussions on the representative instances. This textual evidence illuminates the role of context in restoring intended meaning of the original text so as to avoid misinterpretation and mistranslation caused by ambiguity.