On Self-modest Terms In Chinese And English And Their Translation

The study on"Ziqian Yu"("自谦语", self-modest terms or modest items) in Chinese-English translation is one of the interesting tasks. Few scholars and publications have solely touched upon this issue. So it is a meaningful mission to accomplish right now. The research of this thesis is designed to cover some of the items associated with the translating of modest terms right from the initial level. On the basis of a detailed analysis on some of Lin Yutang's great works, the thesis generally lifts a discussion on the definition and expressing forms of self- modest terms, on some of the differences between Chinese humble terms and English modest items from the perspective of syntax, semantics and pragmatics respectively. It focuses on different translation equivalence and also the optional translation strategies and methodology in the process and practice of translating self-modest terms.Lin Yutang, a well-known scholar and translator who straddled in the cultures of East and West, obtained great achievements in the area of C-E translation as well as in cross-cultural communications, which is definitely of important significance and values for today's translation research. In this thesis, two of Lin Yutang's major publications, Moment in Peking and Six Chapters of a Floating Life, have been selected as the target text for a case study. The two works, one modern English novel and one English translation of historical essays, both of which occupying a global fame and having wide and deep influence upon languages and cultures, are typical examples for a close research.According to Dr. Xu Yulong's concepts in contrastive linguistics, this thesis conducts a detailed contrastive analysis on modest terms between English and Chinese and a comparative study on modest speeches between ancient Chinese and modern Chinese. Beginning with the definition and classification of self-modest terms, it highlights different translation methods and focuses on the realization of translation equivalence in E-C translation and especially in C-E translation. A further research is also launched on specific applications of Peter Newmark's semantic translation (ST) theory in the interpretation of self-modest items. Many detailed examples are quoted to demonstrate the significance of literal translation in the real practice and some discussions are lifted to further explore the translation approaches applied in Lin Yutang's works.Specifically, the following questions are what the study is trying to explore and the thesis is trying to cover: (1) Are there any specific"Ziqian Yu"in both languages, namely English and Chinese? (2) If yes, then can they be entirely translatable and communicable? (3) If the answers to the above questions are definite,then how to translate those modest items in both languages? Via the research, we find that both Chinese and English languages have modest terms in the broad sense, but there is indeed a very clear distinction between the modest items in Chinese and those in English. It is shown that verbs or verbal phrases are frequently used in Chinese, while in English adjectives or adjective phrases can be popularly seen. Those modest items in Chinese, especially in ancient Chinese, are higher lexicalized while the humble terms in English are lower lexicalized. In Chinese language, the strategy of modesty, especially the strategy of self-depreciation or self-denial, is generally applied while in English the concept of politeness is usually to be identified. It is generally accepted, however, in traditional translation theories that the Chinese modest speech is usually untranslatable and it is most popular in real translation practice that the amphibolous eclectic strategies are usually applied. But a detailed contrastive study shows that self-modest terms can fully be translated between Chinese and English by the use of negative terms, the use of disparaging terms and the use of syntactic structures, etc. While the right and proper adoption of literal translation can not only effectively realize the cross-cultural communication and fulfill the interlinguistic exchange, but keep the characteristics and the charm of the source language as well.