标志译写中的文化、认知、语言因素

The Impact of Culture,Cognition and Language on Sign Translation

改革开放以来,我国外语生活中出现了一个最有成效的重大变化:双语标志的译写完成了从无序化、随意化到规范化、标准化的历史性突破。面对这样一种变化,我们认为新时期双语标志译写实践过程中应当注重两个方面的问题:一是要注重国家标准的宣传、推广与落实;二是要注重文化表现、认知方式以及语言表达方面的影响。本文在简要介绍国家标准研制与出台过程的基础上,通过笔者国家语委重点项目“窗口服务业外语应用规范研制”的实践,以及参与国家标准《公共服务领域英文译写规范》制定的工作,结合国外社会语言学与构式语法研究,从文化表现、认知方式以及语言表达三个层面探讨标志译写中一些具有普遍性的问题。具体而言,文化表现部分阐述礼貌原则与语言禁忌的影响,认知方式部分分析思维模式与语言结构形成的差异,语言表达部分考察标志用语作为一种特定的构式在标志译写中的表现。本文还对我国的标志译写工作进行了展望,旨在对于国家标准的推广与落实起到积极的促进作用。

Since the Reform and Opening-up of China, a dramatic change has taken place in our foreign language environment. It is noted that the practice of sign translation has undergone a historic transformation,from disorderliness and arbitrariness to regularization and standardization. Such changes reinforced the two concerns that shall apply to this practice in the new era:(1) the promotion and implementation of national standards, and(2) the impact of culture, cognition, and language on sign translation. The present study addresses three issues identified in the practice of sign translation, namely culture, cognition and expression, based on our experience in a major national research project in which we made germane national standards and released them to the public, combined with foreign research trends in sociolinguistics and constructive grammar. More specifically, we identified Politeness Principles and linguistic taboos in the cultural expression,analyzed thinking patterns and linguistic differences in the cognitive style, and examined language expressions either as a specific construction or as a unique stylistic variation. The study ended the discussion with a prospect for further research in this endeavor, aiming to play a positive role in the promotion and implementation of national standards.