Methods of classical Chinese translation

1. Basic methods: literal translation and free translation.

There are two basic methods of classical Chinese translation. The so-called literal translation refers to the corresponding translation of the original text word by word with modern Chinese words, so that the content words and function words are as opposite as possible. Literal translation. Its disadvantage is that sometimes the meaning of the translated sentence is difficult to understand and the language is not fluent enough. The so-called free translation is to translate according to the meaning of the sentence, so as to conform to the original meaning as much as possible, and the sentence takes care of the original meaning as much as possible. Free translation has certain flexibility, words can be increased or decreased, the position of words can be changed, and sentence patterns can also be changed. The advantage of free translation is that the meaning is coherent and the translation conforms to the expression habits of modern languages. It is fluent, fluent and easy to understand. Its disadvantage is that sometimes the original text can't be implemented word by word. These two translation methods should be mainly literal translation, supplemented by free translation. < P > Second, the specific methods are: leaving, deleting, supplementing, changing, adjusting and changing. < P > "leaving" means keeping. All words with the same meaning in ancient and modern times, as well as ancient names and places. That is, delete. Delete the function words in classical Chinese that don't need to be translated. For example, "Pei Gong's participation in Fan Kuai is also"-Fan Kuai, Pei Gong's bodyguard. "Zhe Ye" is an ending auxiliary word, which is not translated. < P > "Complement" is an addition. (1) Change monosyllabic words into disyllabic words; (2) make up the omitted elements in the ellipsis sentence; (3) Make up the omitted sentences. Note: Make up the omitted components or sentences with brackets.

"Change" means replacement. Replace ancient words with modern words. For example, replace "I, Yu, Yu" with "I". Replace "er, ru" with "you".

"tune" means adjustment. Adjust ancient Chinese inverted sentences into modern Chinese sentence patterns. Generally, the word order should be adjusted when translating subject-predicate inverted sentences, prepositional object sentences, preposition-object postposition sentences and attributive postposition sentences, so as to conform to modern Chinese expression habits.

"change" means flexibility. On the basis of being faithful to the original text,

Make clear the theme first, collect information, from paragraph to sentence, from clause to word,

Understand them all and be coherent together. When dealing with difficult sentences, you need to be careful.

Take care of the previous text, contact the latter sentence, carefully consider and try to figure out the tone,

Make every effort to do it, be reasonable, and have close contact between words.

If there are omissions, make up.

"I" and "Yu" are for me, "Er" and "Ru" are for you. Omitting inversion is regular.

Content words and function words are interpreted with the text, which makes them sensitive to language, and vary from sentence to sentence.

After translation, you should carefully compare sentence by sentence, understand the tone, and

The sentences are fluent, and then put aside. Although (conjunction, pushing the meaning away, meaning "even if" or "even if") no clan (kindred family) can (can) know (know him), only (only) uncle (father's brother) is worried (happy, optimistic) about his childhood (childhood, childhood) and (turning word)

Ya (person's name) is a good person (a person who is knowledgeable and knowledgeable), who is modest (modest and serious) and delays (leads the way and teaches) Yu (person's name), and Yu (person's name) is (so) should (accept, conform) it, and even (very, truly) meet (get along with). 3. Translation skills of classical Chinese in junior high school

Three "compliance" 1. Compliance with the tone of the original text 2. Compliance with the semantics of the original text 3. Compliance with the habits of the original text 4 steps 1. Review the grammatical points in the sentence and find the right points.

before translation, we should first examine the important grammatical phenomena in classical Chinese sentences. You can first copy the classical Chinese sentences to be translated on the draft paper, and then circle these grammatical phenomena with a pen to attract your attention.

2. Cut the sentences into words and explain them one by one. 3. Lian connects the released meanings into sentences according to the grammatical habits of modern Chinese.

4. After checking the grammatical points of the original sentences one by one and fully implementing them, copy the linked translated sentences on the draft paper to the answer sheet. In the process of copying, we should also achieve "three cleanness" and "three noes": "three cleanness" means clean roll surface, clear handwriting and clear strokes; "Three noes" means not to scribble, not to write traditional Chinese characters and irregular simplified characters, and not to write typos.

the translation of classical Chinese sentences is based on accurate understanding, and understanding is based on mastering a considerable number of classical Chinese content words, function words and classical Chinese sentence patterns. Usually, the translation methods of classical Chinese can be summarized into six words: stay, right, change, supplement, deletion and tune.

1. retention: that is, the retention method. Keep some words in classical Chinese that have exactly the same meanings in ancient and modern times, and keep those special nouns, such as names of people, places, official names, posthumous title, year numbers, temple numbers, special titles, technical terms, etc., and just copy them when translating.

For example, "In the spring of the fourth year of Qingli, Teng Zijing was appointed to guard Baling County." (The Story of Yueyang Tower) "Celebrating the four years of the calendar" is not translated.

misunderstanding: forced translation. In classical Chinese, all country names, place names, names of people, official names, year numbers, names of utensils, weights and measures, etc., can be kept in translation, so do not force translation, because most of these words are difficult to translate with modern Chinese.

For example, "The marquis of Jin and Qin Bo surrounded Zheng because they were rude to Jin." The Duke of Jin and the Earl of Qin surrounded Zheng because Zheng was rude to Jin.

("Jin Hou and Qin Bo" should be retained) 2. Right: that is, the translation method. Corresponding literal translation, word for word implementation.

means that the translation corresponds to the original as much as possible, basically follows the sentence pattern and style of the original, and uses a large number of disyllabic words with the same morpheme, which requires the implementation of each word. Such as: "break his throat, do his best, but go."

(Wolf) can be translated as: "Bite its throat and eat its meat before leaving." Misunderstanding: the translation is not translated.

sentence-to-sentence translation requires one-to-one correspondence, and few words are untranslated. Especially the three function words, vice, intermediary and connection, are often missed in translation.

For example, "Take each other as a great achievement, and worship your highness." (Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru) translated as: "Lin Xiangru has made great contributions and worshipped him as Shangqing."

(The translation sentence does not translate "to", it should be translated into "because" and "worship", and it should be translated into "appointment" to be correct. ) 3. change: that is, replacement method.

For those words whose meanings have developed, their usages have changed and their expressions have been different, they should be replaced with modern words in translation. For example, the word "year" of "year-old" should be replaced by "year or year".

misunderstanding: learn from the present and learn from the past. With the development of society, the meanings of some words have changed, such as the expansion, contraction and transfer of their meanings. The semantics should be determined according to the context of the original text, and the present meaning should never be regarded as the ancient meaning.

For example: 1. The emissary is overjoyed, such as offering a compliment to make Khan happy. (Biography of Su Wu) Translated: The emissary was very happy to hear this, and resigned Khan as Chang Hui said.

("Rang" is a narrowing of the meaning. In ancient Chinese, it can express both the meaning of "resignation" and "humility" and the meaning of "blame", but now it is only used in the meaning of "resignation" and "humility". The word "resignation" in the translated sentence should be changed to "blame". )

Example 2. The late emperor was not mean to his ministers. My predecessor (Liu Bei) didn't think I was mean.

("meanness" belongs to color change. In ancient times, this word was a neutral word, referring to low status and shallow knowledge.

Now it is a derogatory term, which refers to a person's bad behavior or moral character. In translation, the present meaning should be used as the ancient meaning, and the ancient meaning should be used instead. )

example 3. I don't like treasures and treasure. Don't cherish the pearl treasure and fertile soil.

(It is not appropriate to translate "love" into "cherish". "Love" means cherish, but in this sentence it means "stingy". ) 4. Supplement: that is, supplement method.

Fill in the relevant ellipsis components and the meaning of ellipsis. There are many ellipsis in classical Chinese, and the subject, object and preposition "Yu" are often omitted. In order to make the translation clear and fluent, it is necessary to supplement the omitted components.

You can make it up first, then translate it according to the normal sentence pattern, and then mark it in brackets after translating the complement. (1) The omitted elements of the sentence must be supplemented.

for example, he called his chieftain, and gave him good fortune and bad fortune. All the barbarians believed your words. Zhejiang Volume (24) Translation: So they called their leaders and told (them) about their interests. All tribes thought that Xu Wei's words were credible.

the pronoun "zhi" (tribal leader) is omitted after the sentence "Yu", that is, "Yu is used to bring misfortune and happiness", which must be supplemented in translation. (2) When words are used flexibly, relevant contents must be supplemented according to the types of flexible use.

such as: yes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Translation: Being sure of what is right and denying what is wrong is called cleverness; To deny what is right and what is definitely wrong is called stupidity.

Misunderstandings: (1) Whether to make up or not. In classical Chinese, some omitted elements do not need to be translated, but some omitted elements must be translated to be complete in meaning.

for example, when the power is used to show the group, it will be shocked and eclipsed. ("Battle of Red Cliffs") translated: Sun Quan showed his ministers that there was no one who did not change his face with fear.

(The word "zhi" is omitted after the word "yi" in the sentence, which refers to Cao Cao's letter and should be added) (2) Hu Tian made a mistake. Generally speaking, the translation of sentences in classical Chinese must respect the original meaning, and you can't add some content according to your own assumptions, which even goes against the original meaning.

For example, "If you have a threesome, you must learn from me." Many people walk together, and there must be people who are noble, knowledgeable, helpful and can be my teachers.

(The phrase "a person with noble conduct, academic expertise and willingness to help others" was added by the translator at will and should be deleted. 5. deletion: that is, deletion method.

Some function words in classical Chinese, such as phonetic words, auxiliary words and some conjunctions, only play a grammatical role in sentences and have no real meaning, so they can be deleted and not translated. Such as: all day long in the valley, pecking at the moss and walking on the white stone.

(Hunan Volume 24) Translation: Alone in the mountain stream all day. 4. Learning classical Chinese in junior high school: How to master the translation methods of classical Chinese

Mastering the translation skills of classical Chinese sentences (1) Literal translation is the mainstay, supplemented by free translation.

The so-called literal translation refers to the word-for-word translation of the original text with modern Chinese words, so that the content words and function words are as relative in meaning as possible. The so-called free translation is to translate according to the meaning of the sentence, so as to conform to the original meaning as much as possible, and the sentence takes care of the original meaning as much as possible.

(2) Translation of "six-character method": leaving, deleting, changing, adjusting, supplementing and changing. The first step is to understand the general meaning of the translated sentence and find out the key words that need to be translated in the sentence. One is to clarify the meaning of the sentence, and the other is to prepare for choosing the appropriate meaning for the key words later.

Step 2: Literal translation seeks the implementation of every word ―― leave, delete and change ① "leave", that is, keep. All words with the same meaning in ancient and modern times, as well as ancient names of people, places, things, officials, countries, years, units of measurement, etc., can be kept unchanged when translated.

② "delete" means delete. Delete the function words in classical Chinese that do not need to be translated.

There are mainly ① headwords such as "fu" and "Gai". (2) Sentence: auxiliary words that play a structural role, such as "Zhi" (Xu Gong is not as beautiful as a gentleman), and auxiliary words that express the role of mentioning, such as "Zhe" and "Ye", such as "It is too long to learn from others, and it is too difficult to be confused".

conjunctions that express the relationship of juxtaposition and succession, such as "Yi" in "Give four people a fire to enter". (3) At the end of the sentence: auxiliary words that complement syllables, such as "Zhi" in "Qing Zhi, Yan Yan Zhang Tian".

In actual translation, the above function words in classical Chinese do not need to be translated, and it would be a mistake to translate them forcefully. 3 "change" means replacement.

replace ancient words with modern words. Replace ancient words that are no longer used now with modern Chinese, such as "I" for "I" and "Er, Ru" for "you".

② change monosyllabic words into disyllabic words. Ancient Chinese is dominated by monosyllabic words, while modern Chinese is dominated by disyllabic words, so when translating, monosyllabic words in ancient Chinese should be changed into disyllabic words.

in the third step, free translation is to find the word order ―― tone, complement and change (1) "tone" is to adjust sentence patterns. There are mainly two kinds of sentence patterns that need to be adjusted, one is special sentence pattern, and the other is fixed sentence pattern.

The special sentence patterns that need to be adjusted mainly refer to inverted sentences (such as judgmental sentences, passive sentences, inverted sentences, etc.). When translating, the ancient Chinese inverted sentences should be adjusted to modern Chinese sentence patterns. Generally, the word order should be adjusted when translating subject-predicate inversion sentences, prepositional object sentences, preposition-object postposition sentences and attributive postposition sentences, so as to conform to modern Chinese expression habits.

There are some fixed sentence patterns in ancient Chinese, such as "Not yet ... Hu", "Nothing is ... Hu" and "... Which is which ...", etc. When translating, these special sentence patterns should be expressed in the form of modern Chinese. (2) "supplement" means supplement.

① make up the omitted components in the ellipsis sentence, which requires us to know something about the ellipsis sentence in ancient Chinese and judge which components are omitted in a sentence so as to make up; (2) to fill in the omitted sentences, the ancients used a simple pen, and often what was said before was not repeated later, but in modern Chinese, it should be given. Note: Make up the omitted components or sentences with brackets.

③ "change" means flexibility. On the basis of being faithful to the original text, it is translated into relevant words.

This mainly refers to the meanings of metaphor, metonymy, quotation, exaggeration, euphemism, intertextuality, etc. in classical Chinese, which will be unclear in literal translation. For example, "Autumn dares not come near" (Hongmen Banquet), it is unreasonable to translate it literally as "even the hairs of wild animals in autumn dare not approach", but it should be translated freely as "even the smallest things dare not possess" to be clear.

5. Pay attention to seven key points. From the subjective translation of classical Chinese in recent years, the understanding of the whole sentence is examined, but the proposer's choice of sentences is unique. They often choose those sentences with important grammatical phenomena for candidates to translate, and at the same time, they are also listed as the scoring points of the college entrance examination. Therefore, candidates must pay special attention to these scoring points.

when answering questions, we should pay attention to the following seven points besides grasping the requirements of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" in sentence translation and mastering six translation methods: (1) Flexible use of parts of speech is a unique grammatical phenomenon in classical Chinese, and sentences with flexible use of parts of speech are also of special concern to college entrance examination proposition experts.