老外不懂的“中式英語”如何翻譯

老外不懂的“中式英語”如何翻譯

1. 有他這顆掃帚星，什么事情都辦不成。

[誤] With a comet like him, nothing can be accomplished.

[正] With a jinx like him, nothing can be accomplished.

注：“掃帚星”是中國人對“慧星”（comet）的俗稱，因其后面拖著一條像掃帚一樣的長尾巴而得名。在中國古代，“掃帚星”被認(rèn)為是災(zāi)難的預(yù)兆，并被用來比喻不吉利的人或事；禍根：（person or thing that is thought to bring）bad luck（to sb/sth）；curse。英語的comet 雖然沒有這層含義，但卻有一個對應(yīng)的說法，即jinx。

例：There's a jinx on/Someone's put a jinx on this car: it's always giving me trouble. （這輛汽車上有什么妨人的東西，總給我找麻煩。）

2.蘿卜青菜，各有所愛。

[誤] Some prefer radish but others prefer cabbage.

[正] Tastes differ.

注：Tastes differ/vary是句英語諺語，除此以外，原句還可翻譯成 No dish suits all tastes 或 You can never make everyone happy 等。此外，我們還可以這樣說：One man's meat is another man's poison. 總之，應(yīng)采取意譯。

3.他一向嘴硬，從不認(rèn)錯。

[誤] He has always got a hard mouth and never admit a fault.

[正] He never says uncle.

注：say (cry) uncle: to give up or in; to surrender; to admit defeat. Mainly used by boys, as when fighting. 這句話主要是男孩們打架時的用語，當(dāng)一方想制服另一方時，就用命令的口氣說：“Say uncle!” 這時，有的孩子為了表示不服輸，就是不說。后來，say uncle 就成了“服輸”的代名詞，而 not say uncle 就相當(dāng)于“嘴硬”了。

4.老師很喜歡這個嘴甜的小姑娘。

[誤] The teacher likes this sweet-mouthed little girl very much.

[正] The teacher likes this honey-lipped little girl very much.

注：中國人喜歡說“嘴甜”，但 honey-lipped 更符合英美人的語言習(xí)慣。

5.同學(xué)們都很討厭他，因為他經(jīng)常拍老師的馬屁。

[誤] The students all dislike him because he often pats the teacher's ass.

[正] The students all dislike him because he often licks the teacher's boots.

注：以前在歐洲，臣民見到國王與王后往往要親吻他們的靴子。后來，人們將 lick the boots 引申為“為了某種目的而討好某人”，它與漢語的“拍馬屁”含義一樣。在美國英語中，“拍馬屁”還有另一種說法，即 polish the apple，源于以前的學(xué)生用擦亮的蘋果來討好老師。

6.你聽說了嗎？邁克把他的女朋友給甩了。

[誤] Have you ever heard that Mike broke up with his girlfriend?

[正] Have you ever heard that Mike dumped his girlfriend?

注：break up with sb. 雖然表示“與某人分手了”，但并沒說明是誰先提出來的。而 dump 的原意指“傾倒垃圾”，用在這里則表示像倒垃圾一樣地甩掉。

7.我們要把祖國建設(shè)成為社會主義的現(xiàn)代化強國。

[誤] We will build our motherland into a socialist modern powerful country.

[正] We will build our motherland into a modern powerful socialist country.

注：形容詞作為修飾語在漢語和英語中都很常用，但使用的先后次序卻有所不同。在英語中我們一般遵循“靠近原則”，即越能說明本質(zhì)屬性的修飾詞越靠近它所修飾的名詞，當(dāng)從這一點看不出區(qū)別時，就靠詞的長短來決定，短的在前，長的在后。原文中最能說明“國家”本質(zhì)的定語是“社會主義的”，所以 socialist 要最靠近它所修飾的中心詞。

8.人都是這山望著那山高，對自己的現(xiàn)狀沒有滿意的時候。

[誤] Almost all people think that the other mountain is higher than the one he's standing on. They never feel satisfied with what they've already got.

[正] Almost all people think that the grass is greener on the other hill. They never feel satisfied with what they've already got.

注：“這山望著那山高”是指人不滿足于現(xiàn)狀的心理，它在英語中已經(jīng)有了現(xiàn)成的說法，即 the grass is greener on the other hill（他山的草更綠），因此我們借用即可，這樣既方便又更有利于與西方人溝通。

9.轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)南北

[誤] fight south and north

[正] fight north and south

注：在地理方位的表達(dá)習(xí)慣上，中英文有一定的區(qū)別。中國人習(xí)慣于先“東西”后“南北”，而且在涉及“南北”時，習(xí)慣于先說“南”，再說“北”，如：“南征北戰(zhàn)”、“南來北往”等。而英美人與此正好相反，如“江蘇在中國的東南部”英文是 Jiangsu is in the southeast of China, 而“新疆在中國的西北部”應(yīng)譯為 Xinjiang is in the northwest of China。

10.這個教授教得很爛。

[誤] The professor teaches badly.

[正] The professor is so terrible.

注：有人認(rèn)為第二句的意思是“這個教授很可怕”，其實不然。英語中 terrible 意思很靈活，例如：feel terrible 指身體“不舒服”； The food is terrible 則是說食物“難吃極了”。而第一句純屬中文式的表達(dá)。