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We all had to translate at least one text in our lives. Sometimes it’s difficult; sometimes it’s a piece of cake. This takes exercise, time and patience. When it comes to translating a text, there are a few things you need to keep in mind, such as the meaning of the original text, the register the author’s using, the slang or the professional terms. We’ve written this article to give you a few tips on how to get better at translating texts.
我們在人生中多少都會翻譯到一篇文章。有時似乎很難，有時又輕松加愉快。它需要我們不斷地花時間耐心練習(xí)。翻譯文章時，需要考慮到很多方面，比如原文的意思、作者使用的語域、俚語或?qū)I(yè)術(shù)語等。我們寫這篇文章的目的就是要告訴你們一些提高翻譯水平的方法。
文章讀起來是否流暢自然？
An excellent translator is one that listens to the language. You need to ask yourself, at all times, if a certain term of the sentence sounds natural.
一名優(yōu)秀的譯者是懂得傾聽語言的人。你需要不時地問自己，句子中的某個詞聽起來是否自然。
This takes practice and you can only do this if you speak with natives. The dictionary you’re using will present you two or three options for a word. In these cases, you need to choose the one that sounds natural and that it’s used more. You cannot write something you’d never say, and you cannot even say it.
要達到這一點必須經(jīng)過反復(fù)的練習(xí)，而只有與本土人聊天，你才能具有這種辨識力。你使用的詞典能夠為一個詞提供兩三種替換選擇，這時你就要選擇聽起來比較自然、使用較多的那一個。如果你不會這樣說，甚至不能這樣說，那么你就不要這樣寫。
This is a good thing, as it also helps you with your language skills.
能做到這一點很好，這個過程還能夠幫助你提升語言技巧。
語域必須保持一致
It may sound obvious, but many people forget about this aspect. If a text is formal, you need to keep the same tone in your translation. The words and the style need to be appropriate. If you’re dealing with colloquial talking, you will need to find the words that can match the meaning of the original text. Either way, the register needs to stay the same for both texts.
這聽起來似乎很廢話，但很多人都會忘記這一點。如果一篇文章的文體比較正式，那么在譯文中也應(yīng)保持同樣的語調(diào)，詞語和文風(fēng)都應(yīng)得當(dāng)。如果你翻譯的是口語談話，那么你就要找到和原文意思相匹配的詞語。不論用哪種方式，都必須保持原文和譯文語域一致。
你的譯文受眾是誰？
It’s very important to know for what kind of audience you’re writing. This way, it’ll be easier for you to choose the words. Let’s take a clear example: if you’re translating a story for kids, you won’t be using words like hyperbole instead of excessive exaggeration or nefarious instead of wicked. Know your audience before starting to translate, because otherwise, some people may not understand your work.
要知道你是寫給哪種類型的受眾，這一點十分重要。這樣，你在選擇詞語時就會變得更加容易。讓我們來舉個明確的例子，如果你在給小孩翻譯故事，你不會說“夸張法”這個詞，而會說“太夸張了”；或者你不會說“窮兇極惡”，而會說“兇惡”。在開始翻譯前先搞清楚你的受眾是誰，否則有些人可能會看不懂你的譯文。
不要在細節(jié)中迷失自我
Details are important, but it’s best if you looked at the bigger picture. Before starting a translation, people assume that you know that language at a certain level – including all the grammar rules and the fancy words. You don’t need to complicate your work by losing yourself in the details. Your text can come up flawless, even if you don’t check out five times the text to see all the details. We’re not saying you’re not supposed to proofread your text. We’re just saying that it’s good just to see if the result is natural, without actually it being labored.
細節(jié)固然重要，但最好還是從大局著眼。在開始翻譯前，人們會覺得你在一定程度上了解這門語言——包括語法規(guī)則和各種華麗的辭藻。所以你無需在細節(jié)上迷失自我，使工作復(fù)雜化。即使你沒有檢查5遍譯文，查看到所有的細節(jié)，你的文章也可以完美無瑕。我們不是說你不應(yīng)該校對譯文，而是說只要看看最后的呈現(xiàn)是否自然就好了，實際上這個過程完全不需要太費力。
