翻译第2讲.ppt

第2讲 Handling vocabulary Introduction In this chapter we look at the importance of vocabulary in translation. This involves more knowledge and skills than many learners think. We should keep in mind the meaning, pronunciation, spelling, and grammar of new words, not least the use in communication. In translation, vocabulary is often more important than grammar. While grammar at least seems to be finite, vocabulary is virtually infinite. Learning new words and how to use them is not a simple thing. On the contrary, it is quite challenging.. Words are more complex than they appear to be on the surface. Vocabulary is the building material of the language. Wilkins David A. ( 1972:111),a famous linguist, argued that without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. (没有语法人们表达的事物廖廖无几，而没有词汇人们则无法表达任何事物) That is to say, words are very important in communication. Of course, word is a complex phenomenon in our daily life, because it is closely related to morphology形态学, semantics, etymology 词源学. In the process of translating, we must consider the correct understanding the meaning of words and their translation first, because Polysemy is a significant language phenomenon, and it appears widely in English language. 1 Polyseme  Polyseme refers to the situation in which a word has two or more different meanings. For example, the word bank is polysemous because it may mean: 1) a financial institution that people keep money in or borrow money from,2)a raised area of land along the side of river. In most cases, only one of the meanings of a polysemous word will fit into a given context, but occasionally ambiguity may arise. Consider the word bank in the following context: Mary may go to the bank this afternoon. Ambiguity results from the fact bank may mean either ‘river bank’ or ‘the place that deal with money’. Polysemy includes the following four aspects: 1 ambiguity of Proper Noun 2 ambiguity of common word 3 ambiguity of c