Thinking Chinese Translation

Thinking Chinese Translation is a practical and comprehensive course for advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students of Chinese. Thinking Chinese Translation explores the ways in which memory, general knowledge, and creativity (summed up as 'schema') contribute to the linguistic ability necessary to create a good translation. The course develops the reader's ability to think deeply about the texts and to produce natural and accurate translations from Chinese into English. A wealth of relevant illustrative material is presented, taking the reader through a number of different genres and text types of increasing complexity including: - technical, scientific and legal texts - journalistic and informative texts - literary and dramatic texts. Each chapter provides a discussion of the issues of a particular text type based on up-to-date scholarship, followed by practical translation exercises. The chapters can be read independently as research material, or in combination with the exercises. The issues discussed range from the fine detail of the text, such as punctuation, to the broader context of editing, packaging and publishing translations. Major aspects of teaching and learning translation, such as collaboration, are also covered. Thinking Chinese Translation is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Chinese and translation studies. The book will also appeal to a wide range of language students and tutors through the general discussion of the principles and purpose of translation.

Valerie Pellatt and Eric T. Liu are both based at Newcastle University. Valerie Pellatt is Lecturer in Chinese Interpretation and Translation and Tin-Kun Liu is Senior Lecturer and Head of Translation and Interpreting Studies.

Introduction History, theory and practice of Chinese translation The rationale and structure of Thinking Chinese Translation 1 Translation as a process Formal schema: decoding the marks on the page Content schema: knowledge and experience IMPLICATION AND Inference The benefits of collaborative thinking Reflective learning 2 Formal Schema: the framework: titles, sentences, punctuation and paragraphs Headings and titles: signposting the text Sentences: grammatical structures Sentences: discoursal structures Punctuation: loaded with meaning Paragraphs: fleshing out the structure Content schema: knowledge, preparation and collaboration Practical 2.1 Text structure and names Practical 2.2 Background knowledge of China 3 Growing the schema from small beginnings translating formulaic texts Content, context and register in the formulaic text Practical 3.1 Certificates texts without sentences dictionarIES AND GLOSSARIES Practical 3.2 Chinese restaurant menu Practical 3.3 Translating Accounts 4 Translating technical and scientific texts Technical translation: What is it? Who does it? Formal schema in technical and scientific translation Content schema: understanding the processes Practical 4 Technical exercises 5 Medical translation: persuading, reporting, and diagnosing in the Western tradition Public health information leaflets Practical 5.1 Persuading the public: health leaflets Translating medical reports Practical 5.2 Patient's notes 6 Translating Traditional Chinese Medicine The underlying principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine The language of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practical 6.1 Treatment methods: cupping Practical 6. 2 Textbook description of cancers 7 Translating for legal purposes Variations in legal systems and language the Authority of legal translation and the responsibility of the translator legal texts as speech acts Sentence Structures Verb Forms Terminology Logical Relations Culture and ideology in legal translation Domestic law translated for foreign visitors International law: UN drafting Practical 7.1 Analyzing bilingual laws Practical 7.2Translating domestic law on religion miscellaneous legal documents Practical 7.3 Translator's statement Practical 7.4 Report of legal proceedings Practical 7.5 Witness statement 8 Translating the business world: trust and obligation The world of business mOU, MOA and Contract Tenses Idiomatic usage Complex sentences Distinguishing the Parties Practical 8.1Translating a Memorandum of Agreement: Proofreading and Forensics Practical 8.2Translating a contract 9 Translating the nation Addressing the nation Translating ideology and power China's special brand of power The narrative of China's official discourse Commissioning the translation Addressing the people: the group, the individual and deixis in discourse Choice of lexis Metaphor and epithet Numbers in Chinese official discourse China addressing the world Formality and Courtesy Friends and Brothers Inclusiveness All Things Positive All Things Great Practical 9.1 Practical 9.2 Addressing the world Practical 9.3 Addressing a developing nation 10 Author-translator collaboration: a case study of reportage WORKING TOGETHER: Interview with Xinran and Nicky Harman 11 Paratextual analysis: a case study of autobiographical writing re-adjusting the formal schema for the foreign reader: zHAO ZIYANG'S DIARIES Practical 11.1 Transforming paratextual features for the target audience Translating the culture of the past: Zhang Xianliang's autobiographical writing Practical 11.2 Translating culture across time and space 12 Translating fiction Narration Translating chengyu Dialogue Portraying Character through Dialogue Expressing Inner Thoughts through Dialogue Relationship and Interaction in Dialogue Insults Description and depiction Genre within genre Practical 12.1 Translating description, emotion and reflection Practical 12.2 Translating the frustration of youth 13 Translation of traditional poetry Formal schema in Chinese poetry Content schema in Chinese poetry Trade-off in language structure Translating the past: allusion and culturally specific items Punctuation and space in poems Singular or plural, masculine or feminine? The influence of Ezra Pound Practical 13.1 Translating a shi Practical 13. 2 Translating a ci Practical 13.3 Translating with footnotes 14 Translating twentieth century poetry Translating Guo Moruo: the new poetry of the self Western cultural allusion in Guo Moruo's poetry Personal pronouns and repetition Sky Dog Practical 14. 1 Discussion of Sky Dog source and target text Translating the surrealism of Yang Lian The Composer's Tower Practical 14.2 Discussion of The Composer's Tower source and target text Postscript Glossary Appendix References Index a