Comp Stud Trans EN 6

A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Translation——Stative vs. Dynamic

Abstract: as we all know, translation refers to transformation of different languages. Cultures underlie languages and different languages are manifestations of distinct cultural backgrounds. The comparative study of English and Chinese and translation has always been a hot field. Based on language and culture, this paper is devoted to studying on the English-Chinese translation in terms of the dynamic nature and stative nature of the two languages.

Keywords: translation; comparative study of English and Chinese; dynamic and stative

摘要：众所周知，翻译是指不同语言之间的转换。而语言的背后是文化，两种不同的语言必然有着差异的文化背景。英汉对比研究与翻译一直是一个热门的研究领域。本文基于语言与文化，致力于研究英汉翻译中的语言动态与静态的问题。

关键词：翻译；英汉对比；静态与动态

1.Introduction

With the rapid development of globalization, translation plays a more and more important role in international communication. However, translation is never a single issue regarding languages but a very comprehensive one. From a macroscopic view, translation indicates the exchange of two cultures. Therefore, cultural elements are of great significance in translation and the comparative study of different languages should always be taken into consideration. Basically, English tends to be stative while Chinese is a very dynamic language. How this difference of the two languages comes into being? How this divergence influences the translation practice of the two languages? And how can we deal with this issue when translating? This paper aims to discuss and analyze these questions under the background of culture and language.

2.Differences between English and Chinese languages in terms of dynamism In this paper, generally, dynamism refers to the frequency of use of verbs in a language. English tends to use more nouns than Chinese does while Chinese prefers verbs to nouns. In this term, the difference between English and Chinese is conspicuous. The manifestations of different levels of dynamism between English and Chinese will be detailed as follows.

2.1 The stative nature of English The stative nature of English can be seen from six aspects. Firstly, nominalization is a very common practice in English. Nominalization is to use nouns as substitutes of the concepts expressed by verbs or adjectives. For example, in English, abstract nouns are used to manifest some concepts such as move, behavior, feelings, change, etc. This “preponderance of nouns over verbs” usually makes expressions concise and sentences flexible. It also contributes to natural writing and is helpful to express some complicated contents.These advantages can be observed from the following example: The doctor arrived extremely quickly and examined the patient uncommonly carefully; the result was that he recovered very speedily. The doctor’s extremely quick arrival and uncommonly careful examination of the patient brought about his very speed recovery.

As a matter of fact, many linguists in Britain and America pointed that there exists a noun habit in English. More nouns result in increasing prepositions in English. At the same time, verbs with vitality decrease accordingly. Although the nominal style makes a narrative more precise and appropriate, it also leads to abstraction and obscurity. And excessive use of nouns will make a sentence wordy, vague and lifeless. Therefore, a lot of English stylists object the abuse of nominal expressions and advocate more use of vigorous verbs to simplify sentence structures and make a sentence more understandable and lively.

Secondly, English speakers tends to use nouns to indicate agentive nouns and thus avoid the use of verbs. As we know, in English, some abstract nouns are used to express notions of behavior and action, such as realization and completion. Besides, there are a great number of nouns derived from verbs which not only stand for agent but also keep their meanings of verbs. And this kind of nouns usually combined with prepositive adjectives to form some stative structures. For example, a hard worker＝someone who works hard

Thirdly, in English, it is common to replace adjectives with nouns, which leads to headline phrases. In order to save the layout of a printed paper, people usually try to omit function words and other secondary words and then squeeze stimulating words together to form headlines. Under this circumstance, the multiple use of nouns is a very effective and attractive way. For instance, January Crude Oil Output Beats Target This kind of phrases with multiple use of nouns bears very simple structures which greatly facilitates expressions of crucial information with few words while a great deal of information. Given its advantages, apart from headlines of newspapers and journals, this expression has been used in a wide range in modern English, such as gold reserve, generation gap, job opportunity discrimination,etc. Particularly, EST(English for science and technology) take full advantage of the multiple use of nouns and compound nouns, which can be seen from following examples: space shuttle fight test program, computer programming teaching device manual and satellite communications ground station equipment repairer. There is no denying that the multiple use of nouns strengthens the preponderance of nouns over verbs in English, but noun pileups should be avoided for the reasons have been stated above.

Fourthly, noun preponderance brings about preposition preponderance. As we all know, prepositions are used in front of nouns or noun phrases. Due to the noun preference, it is natural to see more prepositions in English as well. As the morphological changes of nouns and adjectives are greatly abandoned, propositions instead bear some functions of morphological changes. When the noun preponderance is combined with preposition preponderance, the stative tendency of English becomes more conspicuous.As prepositions in English are used very frequently, some scholars even named English as “the language of preposition”. The following sentence can serve as a great exemplification of this feature of English:

Adequate clearance between the rear face of the last stack in the load and inside surface of the rear doors was provided to enable the refrigerated air flowing from the front to the rear of the trailer to enter the longitudinal air channels through the load which opened on the rear of the load at this point.

In addition, English usually replaces verb phrases with preposition phrases, which means it replaces “dynamic” with “stative”. For example:

He is at his books. (He is reading books) With these words he went away. (After saying these words, he went away.) They immediately set out in pursuit of the enemy. (They immediately set out to pursue the enemy.)

What’s more, in English, a series of preposition phrases are usually combined with weak verbs (be, seem, look, become, etc.) and “ponderous” nouns. The argument can be efficiently testified by the following letter in reply which is roundabout:

         In view of the fact that Mr. Jones is not very well, I am taking the opportunity of replying on his behalf. 
         Our company’s well-defined position is that it stands ready at all times to co-operate with your firm whenever it is called upon to do so. The 
         majority of stockholders are in complete sympathy with your company's goals and objectives in regard to the construction of a new plant. It may be 
         within your recollection that prior to 1963, this company tendered your company a loan consisting of a large amount of money in order to put it in a 
         solvent and strong financial position. The occasion was the time of your company's most ambitious retooling operation, when it was hardly in a 
         position to utilize existing resources. Despite the fact that the company had many obstacles to overcome, it did not wait until such time as the 
         situation would improve. The loan was repaid in short order. It is because of this fact that our company continually displays the utmost confidence 
         in the operations of your company.

In conclusion, it is common to see that a number of weak phrases in English manifest the “noun plus preposition” format. This kind of phrases usually weakens or dilutes the meanings of verbs, adjectives and other words which they originally are to express. As a result, the narration becomes circumlocutory and the dynamicity is weakened and the static state is strengthened. For instance: of great significance (significant), afford an opportunity to (allow), in view of the foregoing circumstances (therefore). However, some English stylists hold that the abuse of the debilitated style is not a good phenomenon because excessive use of these phrases will make expressions wordy, verbose and lifeless which should not be advocated. Therefore, there are increasing scholars argue that plain, lively and direct words should be used more in writing so as to lessen the stative feature of English. Fifthly, the weakening and grammaticalization of verbs in English is very obvious. As a matter of fact, the most frequently used verb in English is exactly the word bears the least meaning of action--to be and its varieties including there be, must be, may be and should be and so on. In particular, the sentence led by “it” or “there” and “be” manifests more stative tendency than that of others, which can be seen from the following comparisons:

     There was a tropical storm off the east coast of Florida.
     A tropical storm lashed the east coast of Florida.
     It was the finding of the committee that there had been bribes paid by company managers to foreign officials.
     The committee found that company managers had bribed foreign officials.

Apart from be, have, become, grow, feel, go, come, get and do are also commonly used verbs of feeble phenomenality in English. Also, in English, it is a common practice to transform or derive a verb into a noun and put it after a delexical verb (have, make, take, do, etc.) as its object. So there are many expressions as follows in English: take a walk, have a look, do some damages, make a proposal and so on. These verb phrases tend to be powerless and colorless, which can be seen from the following comparison: After he had a quarrel with his boss, Bob quit. VS. After he quarreled with his boss, Bob quit. It is not hard to perceive more strength in the second sentence that directly uses verbs. In addition, English often takes gerunds as the objects of delexical verb do, which gives birth to some phrases such as do shopping, do cleaning, do some washing and so on. And another example is here: The combine does the harvesting of the grain. Certainly, this sentence can also be made as: The combine harvests the grain.

Sixthly, adjectives and adverbs are used to indicate the connotations of verbs in English. A great number of verbs can be expressed by adjectives that are derived from them, which can be seen from support and supportive, thank and thankful, create and creative, etc. An adjective derived from a verb are often combined with the weakening of verbs to express the connotation of that verb. For example: I am doubtful whether he is still alive. (doubt, live) The teacher thanked her pupils because they are very cooperative. (cooperate well) The doctor felt sympathetic with his patients. (sympathize) Besides, in English, adjectives that express mental or physical feelings are often associated with delexical verbs to indicate the connotations of verbs. For instance: A postman is not afraid of dogs John seems content just to sit in front of the television all night. What’s more, adverbs are also used to express the meanings of verbs, which can be manifested in following examples: I am afraid Mr. Brown is out but he will be in soon. He’ll be home in half an hour. Down with the old and up with the new. To sum up, in English, through the derivation, transformation, weakening and grammaticalization of verbs, non-verbs (nouns, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc) are commonly used to express the meanings of verbs, which is the reason why English is characteristic of stative nature.