党的重要文献英译不可忽视程度修饰语——以“明显”和“显著”为例

The Translation of Modifiers in CPC Literature into English

修饰语语义丰富,表意功能强大。党的重要文献常通过修饰语进一步明晰中心词的语义,界定中心词的范围、程度或频次,渲染情感、增强语势、美化语言,校准判断、强化结论,在隐含的逻辑结构里传递重要信息。将其进行精准翻译是向国际社会“展示真实、立体、全面的中国”的重要组成部分,不容忽略。但党的十八大以来四份党的文献英译本显示,近义程度修饰语之间的细微差别没有受到足够重视。比如,四份文献的英译本把原文中的“明显”和“显著”两个程度修饰语当作同义词对待,存在着用相同的英文单词翻译二者的现象。党的四份重要文献对二词的使用有分寸,语义存在差别,表示的程度有所不同,英文翻译中,不宜把二词当作绝对同义词用同一英文单词互换。

Modifiers in general and adverbs of degree in particular are large in number,rich in meaning and descriptive in nature,and are therefore extensively used in CPC literature to define and delimit,describe and emphasize,modify and intensify ideas under discussion,conveying subtle messages.Faithful translation of such words is essential to presenting“a true,multi-dimensional,and panoramic view of China”to the world.However,a review on the English version of the four most important CPC literature since the 18th National Congress in November,2012 shows that greater attention is required in the translation of near-synonyms,as in the case of the two Chinese words of mingxian(明显)and xianzhu(显著),which bear subtle difference in degree and should not be taken as absolute synonyms to be translated into English interchangeably.