The Chinese Translation Of English If-Clauses

This data based research examines how English if-clauses are translated into Chinese. With English grammatical system as the point of departure, a comprehensive study is carried out to investigate various types of relation expressed by if-clauses and the corresponding Chinese expressions.The examination follows the framework of Quirk et al, which recognizes roughly 7 relations expressed by if-clauses: conditional relation, concessive relation, causal relation, contrastive relation, inferential relation, temporal relation, and wishes.As our study reveals, the strict grammatical distinctions between real conditionals and hypothetical conditionals in English usually do not occur in Chinese. Both real conditionals and hypothetical conditionals can be primarily translated into Chinese with the如果p,就q pattern and it's variants. The context of the sentence plays an important role in clarifying the relation between clauses.When it comes to the translation of indirect conditionals,请or如果…的话are usually used to express politeness or uncertainty of the speaker, and如果…那(么)pattern can also be used when the relation between the clause is topic-comment, or topic-explanation.When the relation between clauses is an inferential relation, an optional如果(说)…那么…pattern can be used, and this is the case with a contrastive relation. When if-clause expresses temporal relation,…时or每当…is plausible. When an if-clause expresses concessive relation, it can be translated into即使p,也q pattern or its variants if it is an assumed concession, or into虽然p,但是q pattern or尽管p,还q pattern or their variants if it is a factual concession. An if-clause that express wishes are typically translated into但愿…or要是/如果…多好!Each if-clause seems to have a counterpart in Chinese. However, the relation between clauses varies according to different contexts, and therefore, if-clauses that express the same type of relation may be translated by different sentence patterns in Chinese, which, reveals the complexity and subtlety of English if-clauses as contrast with the implicitness and flexibility of their Chinese counterparts.