英语专业论文
-
2023年2月12日发(作者：)1
LexicalGapandMethodstoCopewithLexical
GapinTranslation
外国语学院****级指导教师***
[Abstract]Differentkindsoflanguagesallhavewordswithcorrespondingmeaning,whichisthebasisfor
r,translatorssometimesfindthattherearenocorrespondingwordsor
termsexistinginthetargetlanguageintheprocessoftranslation,whichresultsfromtheculturaldifference
lgapisacommonphenomenonintranslationandisalsothemostdifficult
lDavidhadgivenadefinitiontolexicalgap,“Lexicalgapisthetermlinguistsusetodescribe
asituationinwhichnosinglewordexistsinalanguagetodenoteaparticularconcept”(1995:116).Thispaper
simplydiscussesthereasonsofthisphenomenonfromthefollowingaspects:first,geography;second,modes
ofproduction;third,religion;fourth,historyandsocialculture;andthelast,e
authorproposesdifferentmethodsthroughexemplificationtocopewithproblemscausedbylexicalgapin
translations,suchasliteraltranslation,freetranslation,annotation,transliteration,epreliminary
enthetranslatoristhemasterofthe
twoculturesandconductssuitabletranslationstrategies,canproblemscausedbylexicalgapbewellsolved
andtheaimofcross-culturalcommunicationsbetweenChinaandthewestbeachieved.
[KeyWords]lexicalgap;translation;culturalword
uction
Languageisthecarrierofcultureandculturedistinctivenessclingsveryclosetowords.
Livingonthesameearth,differentkindsoflanguagesallhavewordswithcorresponding
mple,thereare“water”and“fire”inEnglish,andthereareequivalentwords
“水”and“火”r,differentenvironments,waysofthinking,historiesand
traditionsallcontributetoculturedifferencesinlanguage,whichleadstonocorresponding
ore,translatorswillsometimesfeelitdifficulttofind
xicalgapwasproposedbyscholarsto
w,differentscholarshavegivenvariousdefinitionsfor
lexicalgap.
“Lexicalgapisthetermlinguistsusetodescribeasituationinwhichnosinglewordexists
inalanguagetodenoteaparticularconcept.”(CrystalDavid,1995:116)
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“Therearenocorrespondingorsimilartermstodescribesomeuniqueconceptsina
languageforthediscrepancyofculturebackground,customs,religion,ideologybetweenthetwo
languages.”(DuShuping,2006:62)
ZhouZhipei(1987:321)alsousesculturalwordtodefinelexicalgap:
Theword(phrase)thatcarriesthemeaningofaculturaltraitthatparticulartoacertain
socio-culturalcommunity,thatis,whosereferentisauniquethingorconception,andtherefore
thathasnocorrespondingequivalentinothercommunity,whenitisusedincross-cultural
communication,iscalledwordofculturaluniqueorcultureword.
Uptonow,eabovethree
definitions,wecanseethatthethreescholarsemphasizeondifferentaspects.
Inmypaper,lexicalgapisdefinedasbelow:
Therearenotermsexistinginthetargetlanguagetodefineaparticularconceptoratermof
richculturalconnotationsinthesourcelanguage.
Lexicalgapexistsespeciallywhenthosewordsortermsareofrichculturalconnotation.
The5000years’historyofcivilizationcontributestosomanyuniqueculturalphenomenaof
inesevocabulary,wecanfind“天干地支”,“阴阳”,“道”,“气功”,“把脉”,“中医
术语”,whichallhaverichconnotationsandinEnglishtherearenowordsortermswith
rly,duetodifferentgeographicreasons,modesof
production,region,etc,Englishalsohavemanywordswhichwecan’tfindequivalentwordsin
Chinese,suchasDINK(doubleincome,nokids),hippie,atorsnotonlydealwithtwo
languages,butalsoculturesofthetwolanguages,whichisthemostdifficultpartintranslation.
Inthefollowing,Iwillpresentthereasonsoflexicalgapandsummarizesomeeffectivemethods
tocopewithlexicalgapintranslation.
soflexicalgap
implewordcanhavearichflavorofculture.
Culturaldifferenceisverycommonamonglanguages,whichresultsinlexicalgapamongthe
lowingarethemainreasonsoflexicalgap.
2.1Geography
ChinaislocatedintheeastofAsiaandthewestcoastofPacificwhilemost
English-speakingcountries,suchasEngland,America,Canada,Australia,SouthAfrica,etc,
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graphicdistancewillbringaboutdifferent
climate,ecology,life-style,andthentherearedifferentexpressionstodescribethediscrepancy
mple,theancientChinesepeopleused“二十四节气”,“三伏三九”
heoceantransportationwasverydevelopedinthe
ancientBritain,therearealotofwordsortermswiththeword“fish”,“water”and“ship”,such
as“akettleoffish”(乱七八糟),“misstheboat”(坐失良机),“drawwatertoone’smill”(惟利是
图)andsoon.
2.2Modesofproduction
Inancienttimes,aintoolforplough,
ryeasytofindalotofChinese
phraseswiththeword“牛”(cattle).Herearesomeexample:“牛劲”,“牛角尖”,“孺子牛”,“牛
角挂书”,“牛顶烹鸡”,“牛衣对泣”,etc,forwhichitissohardtofindequivalentwordsin
nglish-speakingcountriesmainlyusehorsesasploughtools,sowecanalso
findalotofEnglishsayingswiththeword“horse”,suchas“horsedoctor”(蹩脚医生),horse
laugh(纵声大笑),hor nse(基本常识),changehorses(换班),backthewronghorse(下错赌
注),putthecartbeforethehorse(本末倒置),workforadeadhorse(徒劳无益),etc(FuXiaoling,
ShangYuanyuan,ShangChunlian,2004:230-231).
2.3Religion
ChinesepeoplearemainlyBuddhists,whilemostpeoplefromEnglish-speakingcountries
nowthatalotofEnglishtermsoriginatefromtheBible,suchas
“Judas”(犹大，喻为叛徒),“ministeringangel”(护理天使)(FuXiaoling,ShangYuanyuan,
ShangChunlian,2004:231).InDavidHawks’versionof“ThestoryofStone”（《红楼梦》）,“阿
弥陀佛”wastranslatedinto“Godblessmysoul!”,and“谋事在人，成事在天”wastranslated
into“Manproposes,Goddisposes”.AnotherversionfromYangXianyiandGladysYang’s
versionof“ADreamofRedMansions”(《红楼梦》),“阿弥陀佛”wastranslatedinto“Amitabha”
while“谋事在人，成事在天”,wastranslatedinto“Manproposes,Heavendisposes”(Jin
Huikang,2003:86-87).ComparingwiththetwoversionsfromHawksandYang’s,thelatterwill
bemoreappreciatedforthetransferoftheoriginalflavoroftheChinesecultureandHawks’may
causemisunderstandingbyEnglish-speakingreadersthatChinesepeopleatthattimewerealso
mainlyChristians,tosaynothingofBuddhists.
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2.4Historyandsocialculture
Chinahasalonghistorywithimportantevents,sotherearealotofuniquetermsinhistory
mple,“三八式干部”wastranslatedinto“cadresofthe1938”
(cadresthatwenttoYan’anandotherresistancebasesduringtheAnti-JapaneseWararound1938
toparticipateinrevolutionarywork)and“三八红旗手”wastranslatedinto“March8redflags
(anhonorifictitleforwomenwhohavemadeextraordinaryachievementsandoutstanding
contributionsonthevariousfrontsofsocialistconstruction(ChenHongwei,2000:47-48).Dueto
thefeudalhierarchyinChinesehistory,thereare“皇后”,“皇贵妃”,“妃”,“嫔”,“贵人”.While
inEnglish-speakingcountries,thereare“公爵（duke）”,“侯爵(marquis)”,“伯爵(earl)”,“子爵
(viscount)”and“男爵(baron)”.Forthesocialculture,InEnglish,theword“uncle”canconclude
“伯父”,“叔父”,“舅父”,“姑父”,“姨父”and“cousin”canconclude“堂哥”,“堂弟”,“堂姐”,
“表哥”,“表弟”,“表姐”,“表妹”(SiXianzhu,ZengJianping,2006:140).
2.5Scienceandtechnology
elanddevelopingspeed
msofthescience
andtechnologyarecomingintobeingconstantly,suchas,hacker,AIDS,Internet,clone,“神州五
号”,“嫦娥一号”andsoon.
onsandevaluationofthesolutions
3.1Literaltranslation
Literaltranslationisagoodwaytoretaintheculturalconnotationofthesourcelanguage
uctingliteraltranslation,somany
wordswithChineseflavorhavebecomepartoftheStandardEnglish.
InChina,n
reasonisrelatedtoChinesepeople’straditionalcharacters-theyholdthevalueofcollectivism.
Theyoftenthinkforothers,sotheywouldrathertranslatefortheeasierunderstandingofthe
foreigners,rwords,the
translatorwouldratherbringtheauthortothereader,whichmeanstheyputthereaderateaseall
thetimeandalwaysneglecttheauthor’soriginalflavorofthework.
AnotherreasonmaybethatChineseisrichinvocabularyandtherearealotofidiomsin
easyfortranslatorstoadoptsometermswhichhavesimilarmeaningstothe
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ometranslatorsaretraditionalandtheywouldtaketheformermethodsof
translationandavoidriskingnewideasoftranslation.
Inmyopinion,literaltranslationshouldbeadvocatediftheaimofthetranslationisto
newcreatedculturewordsareunfamiliaratpresent,theymay
graduallybecomefamiliarasmoreandmoreinterculturalcommunicationstakeplace,oras
peoplereadmoreandmoresuchtranslatedtexts.
Thefollowingaresomeexamplesforliteraltranslation:
易经BookofChanges
号脉feelthepulse
龙舟dragonboat
春节SpringFestival
(ChenHongwei,LiYadan,ChenLang,XieJin,2004:108)
papertiger纸老虎
GreatLeapForward大跃进
CulturalRevolution文化大革命
Chineseherbalmedicine中草药
RedGuard红卫兵
oneChinapolicy一个中国政策
specialeconomiczone经济特区
ProjectHope希望工程
beggar’schicken叫花鸡
(SiXianzhu,ZengJianping,2006:146)
bullmarket牛市
bearmarket熊市
shedcrocodile掉鳄鱼眼泪
towerofivory象牙之塔
Trojanhorse特洛伊木马
aswiseasSolomon像所罗门一样聪明
aJudaskiss犹大之吻
(TanWeiguo,CaiLongquan,2005:247-248)
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bluetooth蓝牙技术
AccordingtoZviaBrowman,Differentculturalmind-setsconditionthereceptionof
informationsinceeveryreadercarrieshis/herownculturalandlinguistic“baggage”(Pan
Wenguo,2002:85).Soifthetranslatorisnotagoodmasterofbothtargetandsourcelanguage
andculture,heorshewillmistranslatebyliteraltranslation.
Forexample:
busybody大忙人(爱管闲事的人)
pullone’sleg拖后腿(开别人玩笑)
thelaststraw救命稻草(忍耐的极限)
eatone’sword食言(失言，被迫收回自己说出的话)
busboy公共汽车上的售票员或司机(餐馆中收拾碗碟、擦桌子的杂工)
(ThelatteroftheChineseversionisthecorrectone.)
Thenwhenshouldandcanatranslatorconductliteraltranslation?Firstly,thesourcetexts
areheavilyculture-loaded,suchasphilosophicalworks,politicalworks,historicalworks,etc.
Secondly,ty,
thereadershavesomeexperienceoftheforeignlanguageandcultureandtheyareinterestedin
ly,y,transliterationcouldbeconducted
onlywhenthetranslatorisagoodmasterofboththetwolanguagesandtheirculture,or
tnotleast,themethodshouldbefullyjustifiedsolongasit
doesn’tthrowenormousobstaclesinthetargetlanguagereader’scorrectcomprehension.
3.2freetranslation(senseforsensetranslation)
Literaltranslationhastheadvantageofconveyingtheoriginalflavorofthesourcelanguage.
However,astheabovementioned,literaltranslationcancausemistranslationifthetranslatoris
,inmostoccasions,literal
translationishardorevenimpossibletobeconductedforthegreatculturalobstaclebetweenthe
limitationofthesocialandculturaldifferences,thetranslatorhasto
abandontheoriginalliteralmeaningofsourcelanguageandconductfreetranslation.
ProfessorLiuChongde(1994:173)givesdefinitiontofreetranslation:
Byconductingliteraltranslation,whentheversioncannotconveytheoriginalmeaningof
thesourcelanguageortheversioncannotbeacceptedbythereaders,ortheversionisso
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obscurethatthereadersfinditveryhardtounderstand,thetranslatorhastogiveuptheformand
rhetoricalmannersofthesourcelanguageandusesomeidiomaticitemsofexpressionsinthe
targetlanguageorsomeitemswhichhavesimilarmeaningsandwhichareeasytounderstandby
thereadersinthetargetlanguage,andthenusessomesyntacticconstructiontoconveythe
connotationandthespiritofthesourcelanguage(TanWeiguo,CaiLongquan,2005:248).
Thefollowingaretheexamplesforfreetranslation:
皮蛋preservedegg
拜堂performthemarriageceremony
拔火罐cupping
(ChenHongwei,LiYadan,ChenLang,XieJin,2004:108)
穿小鞋tomakethingshardforsomebody
(SiXianzhu,ZengJianping,2006:149)
Achilles’heel唯一致命弱点
meetone’sWaterloo一败涂地
Delilah不忠诚的女人
(CaiJun,2003:103)
Whenconductingfreetranslation,thetranslatorshouldavoid“disorientationinintercultural
translation”(JinHuikang,2003:82).
InAnneBirrell’sarticle“AnAll-FemaleBandfrom10thCenturyChinaStoneSculptures
fromtheImperialTombsofWangJian”,shetranslatessomeChinesetraditionalinstrumentsas
following:
“Theyplay20differentinstruments:2clappers(paibai),onelarge,onesmall;a
balloon-guitar(pipa),traversepipe(chi);panpipes(paixiao),cittern(zheng);traverseflute(di);2
verticalreed-horns(pili);smallharp(konghou);leatwhistle(chuiye);smallpipe-organ(sheng);
cymbals(naoba,ornaobo);rattler(taolao);conchhom(bei,orli);drums(zheng,qihe,2jie,
jilou,dala,maoyuan).”(JinHuikang,2003:85-86)
Birrellu
thewesternreadersreadthebook,theymaybeconfusedthattherearesomesimilarinstruments
inChinaastheyhaveintheircountiesforthenamesoftheinstrumentaresimilar.
Freetranr,
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whenconductingfreetranslation,
freetranslationcanbeconsideredbytranslatorsonlywhenliteraltranslationisnotasuitable
methodandtheaimofthetextisnottoconveytheculture.
3.3Annotation
cases,
annotationisanindispensablemethodtotranslateculturalwordswhicharedifficultforatarget
languagereadertounderstand.
3.3.1Transliterationplusannotation
Forexample:
气功qigong,asystemofdeepbreathingexercises
磕头kowtow,totouchtheforeheadtothegroundwhilekneeling,andactofworshipand
respectinancientChinesecustom
粽子zongzi,akindofglutinousricedumplingswrappedinbambooleaves
功夫kungfu,aChinesemartialartbasedontheuseoffluidmovementsofthearmsand
legs
本命年Benmingnian,one’sbirthyearsamewithoneoftwelveanimalsrepresentingthe
yearsinwhichpeopleareborn
（FuJingmin,LvHongyan,2004:91-92）
胡同hutong,apassagebetweenrowsofcourtyardhouses,eachconsistingofarectangular
courtyardsurroundedbytile-roofedhouses
(ChenHongwei,LiYadan,ChenLang,XieJin,2004:110)
3.3.2Literaltranslationplusannotation
Literaltranslationisagoodwaytoconveytherichconnotationofthesourcelanguage.
However,literaltranslationwithoutofferinganybackgroundknowledgetotargetlanguage
ranslatoraddsexplanationinthetranslationsoasto
conveytheculturalconnotation.
Forexample:
八卦theEightTrigrams,eightcombinationsofthreelinesjoinedinpairstoform64
hexagrams,formerlyusedindivination
八股文eight-partessay,aliterarycompositionprescribedfortheimperialcivilservice
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examinations,knownforitsrigidlyofformapovertyofideas
满月酒One-Month-OldBirthdayFeast,specialceremonyheldafterababyhasbeenone
monthold
3.3.3Literaltranslationplusfootnotesforreference
Literaltranslationplusannotationalwaysmaketheversionlengthyanddestroythegraceof
rtoavoidthisproblem,thetranslatorputsfootnotesforreferenceatthefoot
ofapageorattheendofanarticle.
Forexample:
(1)IsuspectedshemightberightandIwrong;butIwouldnotponderthematterdeeply:
likeFelix,Iputitofftoamoreconvenientseason.
我怀疑她是对的，而我错了，但是我不想把问题深究下去，也像费里克斯一样，我把
他暂且搁下，将来再说。
(FromBronte,JaneEyre,chapter6)(LiuWenjie,2004:83)
费里克斯：《圣经》中一个遇事拖延的法官（吴钧燮译，人民文学出版社）(LiuWenjie,
2004:83)
(2)Stephen’sembarrassedhandmovedovertheshellsheapedinthecoldstonemortar:
whelksandmoneycowriesandleopardshells:andthis,whorledasanemir’sturban,andthis,
pilgrim’shoard,deadtreasure,hollowshells.
(FromJamesJoyce,Ulysses,chapter2)(LiuWenjie,2004:83)
斯蒂芬那双尴尬的手抚摩着堆在冰冷的石钵里的贝壳：油骡、子安贝、豹贝。这个有
螺纹的像是酋长的头巾，还有这个圣詹姆斯的扇贝，都是昔日香客的收藏品，死去了的珍
宝，空洞的贝壳。
圣詹姆斯（或圣雅客）的圣祠坐落在西班牙的康波斯帖拉。中世纪的香客到此朝圣回
去时，在附近一枚扇贝戴在帽子上作纪念。贝壳又是金钱的象征。（萧乾、文洁若译，译
林出版社）(LiuWenjie,2004:84)
(3)TheMay-daydance,forinstance,wastobediscernedontheafternoonundernotice,in
thedisguiseoftheclubrevel,or“club-walking”asitwastherecalled.(LiuWenjie,2004:84)
比如现在所讲的那个下午里，就可以看出五朔节舞旧风以联欢会（或者像本地的叫：
游行会）的形式出现。
(五朔节舞：英国风俗，五月一日奏乐吹号，采取树枝、鲜花装饰门窗，在草地上树起
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五朔柱，围柱跳舞，并选举五朔后。此风古时极盛，现在穷乡僻壤仍还举行。)
3.4Transliteration
AccordingtoZhouZhipei,transliterationcanbedividedintotwotypes:
3.4.1Loanwords
Culturewordsfromdifferentlanguagefamilies,areoftentranslatedbytransliteration,and
retwotypesofloanwords:oneisthe
transliterationbetweenlettersandletters,whichoccurswhenthewordsofthetwolanguagesare
composedofletters;theotheristhetransliterationbetweensyllables,whichhappenswhenthe
wordsofthetwolanguagesarenotcomposedofletters(2003:499-501).ChineseandEnglish
mple,“kowtow”wasderivedfrom“磕头”and“konfu”wastheloan
wordsof“功夫”.
Herearesomeexamplesforloanwords:
馄饨wonton
豆腐tofu
饺子jiaozi
荔枝litchi
乌龙茶oolong
(ChenHongwei,LiYadan,ChenLang,XieJin,2004:108)
golf高尔夫
TOEFL托福
disco迪斯科
quack夸克
脱口秀talkshow
(JinHuikang,2003:112)
功夫kongfu
麻将mahjong
算盘suanpan
(SiXianzhu,ZengJianping,2006:144)
3.4.2Semi-transliteration
Whentranslatingcompoundwords,onepartofwhichcanbetranslatedbytransliteration,
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andtheotherpartofwhichcanbetranslatedbyfreetranslation(ZhouZhipei,2003:499-501).
Forexample,“tongoil”wasderivedfrom“桐油”.Here“tong”isthetransliterationfor“桐”,and
“oil”wasthefreetranslationfor“油”.Stillotherexamples,“taoism”isfor“道教”and“迷你裙”
isfor“miniskirt”.
Stillsomeexamplesforsemi-transliteration:
Sauna桑拿浴
AIDS爱滋病
yuppie雅皮士
雅思考试IELTS
hip-hop嬉蹦文化
(ChenHongwei,LiYadan,ChenLang,XieJin,2004:108)
芭拉舞Parapara
(JinHuikang,2003:113)
FangMengzhihaswrittenanarticleabouthow“TIMES”,arenownedmagazineinthe
world,ionedthat“TIMES”usuallytranslatescultural
wordsbytotaltransliterationorbytransliterationplusannotation,andanothermethod,byliteral
translationorliteraltranslationplusannotationsoastokeeptheChinesecultureorthecultural
imagewhichisfamiliartoChinesepeople(FangMengzhi,2003:314).
Herearesomeexamples:
(4)’llbringthemtogether.(Times,
Mar.19,2001)(FangMengzhi,2003:314)
“Yuan”isthetransliterationfor“缘”.WhenChinesepeoplereadthesentence,heorshe
r,IdoubtwhetherpeoplefromEnglish-speaking
countiescanunderstandthewholesentencetosaynothingoftherichconnotationofit.
(5)Thecrowdputaduncecaponthevictimandherdedhimthroughthestreets,callinghim
aizi-dwarf-anddog’shead,cattledemon,despot,capitalist-roader.(Times,Dec.9,1996)(Fang
Mengzhi,2003:315)
“aizi”isthetransliterationfor“矮子”inChinese.
(6)ToDeng,Mao’s1956decisionto“letahundredflowersbloom”—topermittheairingof
conflictingviews—soundedanarchic.(Times,Dec.9,1996)(FangMengzhi,2003:317)
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“letahundredflowersbloom”isatotaltransliterationfor“百花齐放”inChinese.
Ifthereaderhasnoideaaboutthenewword,transliterationisveryhardtobeappreciated.
However,transliterationmayarouseforeigner’sinteresttothesourcelanguage.
3.5Othertranslationstrategies
3.5.1CombinationofChinesecharacterandEnglishletters
Forexample:
卡拉OK
DVD影碟
PC机
IT技术
WTO论坛
IP电话
AA制
IC卡(JinHuikang,2003:113)
3.5.2Zero-translation
GDP
NBA
APEC
sions
WangZuolianghassaid:“Dealingwithtranslationofasinglewordisdealingwithtwoseas
ofculture.”(SiXianzhu,ZengJianping,2006:153)
LinYutang,afamouswriterandscholar,
hislongessay“OnTranslation”(1932)hedeclaresthattranslationisanartwhosesuccess
dependsuponone’sthese,therearenosetrulesfor
translationandthereisnoshortcutforit(LiuZhongde,1991:2).
Sofarwehavediscussedseveraltranslationstrategies;however,thepracticeisoften
gintheworldisimmutable,sothetranslatorshouldnever
ranslationisaneffectivewayto
promotecultureexchanges,thetranslatormustproceedfromtheconcretecross-culturalsituation
andadoptthemostappropriatemethodsoastodecidewhetherorhowtoestablishcultural
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enthetranslatorisa
goodmasterofthelanguageanditsculturecanheorshetranslateculturalwordswell.
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词汇空缺以及词汇空缺的翻译方法
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【摘要】不同种类的语言都有一些有着相同意思的词汇，这是文化交际的基础。然而，在翻译的过程
中，译者有时候在目的语中找不到相应的词汇来翻译，这是由于英汉两种语言受各自文化的影响而导致
了翻译中的词汇空缺现象。词汇空缺是一种很常见的翻译现象，同时也是翻译中最难解决的部分。克里
斯特尔·大卫是这样给词汇空缺下定义的：“词汇空缺是语言学家用来描述在一门语言中没有词汇来指示
一个特定的概念的术语。”（1995：116）本文从以下几个方面简单探讨了词汇空缺现象的原因：第一，
地理因素；第二，生产方式因素；第三，宗教因素；第四，历史与社会文化因素；第五，科学技术因素。
最后，作者通过举例分析，提出了不同的解决方案，例如：直译、意译、加注、音译等，并且对这些翻
译方法作了初步的评价。只有对中西文化进行深入了解，采取适当的翻译方法，才能真正解决词汇空缺
现象，达到中西文化交流的目的。
【关键词】词汇空缺；翻译；文化词