英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題及其翻譯

1、English News Title and Its TranslationOutline1. Introduction2. Development of English News Title 2.1 History of English News Title 2.2 Functions of English News Title 2.2.1 Pointing Out the News Content 2.2.2 Producing Attractive Effects. 2.3 Differences between Chinese and English News Titles 2.3.1

2、 Vocabulary Similarities and Differences 2.3.2 Tense Similarities and Differences 2.3.3 Rhetoric Similarities and Differences 2.3.4 Punctuation Mark Similarities and Differences3. Translation of English News Titles 3.1 Literal Translation 3.2 Free Translation 3.3 Addition 3.4 Omission3.5 Negation Tr

3、anslation3.6 Alliteration3.7 Making Use of the Advantage Chinese in Translation 4. Conclusion English News Title and Its TranslationAbstract English news titles play a special role in news reporting. Thus we should place special emphasis on the research of the characteristics and translation of Engl

4、ish news titles. This thesis focuses on the study of English news titles in terms of their grammatical features and its translation. When it comes to translation, it tries to reproduce the functions of English news titles which requires translators agility and ingenuity in applying semantic and rhet

5、orical devices. With grammatical and semantic exploration into the English news titles, such studies strive to benefit the readers in their understanding of what the editor wants to convey.Key words English news title; function; comparison; translations methods 英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題及其翻譯摘要 標(biāo)題在新聞報(bào)道中具有獨(dú)特的地位。因此在整個(gè)新聞?dòng)⒄Z(yǔ)

6、翻譯中標(biāo)題翻譯的作用不可忽視。本文擬從以下角度進(jìn)行論證：英文報(bào)刊標(biāo)題的文字簡(jiǎn)練醒目，無(wú)疑是來(lái)源于對(duì)英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法得心應(yīng)手的靈活運(yùn)用。而要再現(xiàn)英文標(biāo)題在原文中所起的濃縮主題、畫(huà)龍點(diǎn)睛的作用，需要譯者同樣在用詞和修辭等語(yǔ)法方面匠心獨(dú)運(yùn)。本文擬通過(guò)對(duì)英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題翻譯原則和策略的探討，以期能對(duì)新聞?dòng)⒄Z(yǔ)包括英語(yǔ)標(biāo)題翻譯找到一條具有特定翻譯規(guī)則的途徑作出有益的嘗試。關(guān)鍵詞 英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題; 作用; 分類(lèi); 對(duì)比; 翻譯方法1 Introduction What is the title? A title of a piece of news usually printed in large type and de

7、vised to summarize, gives essential information, or interests readers in reading the news content . Naturally readers buy newspapers in order to keep posted on daily happenings. However, todays English newspapers are getting fatter with a great number of pages. Therefore, many readers have formed th

8、e habit of scanning titles, which makes possible rapid news comprehension. Thus one of the most important purposes of titles is to inform readers quickly, which means that a well-designed title immediately tells them the gist of the accompanying story. Nothing is more important than packaging the pr

9、oduct. A piece of news and its titles resemble the product and the packaging respectively. Only when the titles grasp the attention of the readers, the whole page can obtain vitality. So we say a final requirement of titles is to stimulate the readers artistic sense. Therefore, news people need to m

10、ake sure that English title forms are set to beautify the layout of the newspaper and thus to interest readers in the stories.2. Development of English News Title2.1 History of English News TitleThe history of English news title is long and it can be divided into three phases. English news titles we

11、re originated in the Qing Dynasty. The characteristic of embryo is long and complex. The second stage of news title begins with the characteristic of diversity in the 19th century 70's. The third stage is from 20th century to nowadays and has the feature of concise and simplicity. In a word, the

12、 translation of English news title experienced the process from complexity to simplicity.2.2 Functions of English News TitleThe news title is the fundamental part of any piece of news. In a time when its harder to get peoples attention, good writers always spend too much time and creative energy wor

13、king on their titles, because they know that the title is one of the most important parts of their work. According to Bruce H. Westley, from the standpoint of the reader, newspaper titles serve the following purposes: 2.2.1 Pointing Out the News ContentNews titles summarize the news content, so the

14、news content can be reflected by the titles alone. By glancing over them, the readers will know what the story is about. Readers can quickly locate the parts that interest him mostly by following the sequence of the news points line by line. Titles rank the importance of stories by the size of the p

15、rint and placement on the page. And titles can convey the relative significance of the news.2.2.2 Producing Attractive EffectsNews titles are essential to attract the readers attention. General speaking, two methods are used. First, the consistent use of familiar title structure gives the newspaper

16、a relatively familiar and welcome nature. Secondly, English news title is trying to make good use of the front page of a newspaper, especially in electronic media. All of that can help attract the publics attention. The front page plays the most important role of attracting the eyeballs of the reade

17、rs well. Since newspapers are usually sold on the newsstands with just the top-half of the paper showing to the passengers, reporters of newspapers try every means to make the banner titles across the top of the page attractive enough to be a crowd-stopper (Westley 1972).2.3 Differences between Chin

18、ese and English News TitlesUnderstanding the similarities and differences between the Chinese and English news titles are carrying on the accurate translation. Any thing has its general character and its individuality. The Chinese and English news title is not exceptional. Directness and factuality

19、are the two most prominent general characters. But the different language cultural context and the news tradition enable the Chinese and English title to have their own clear characteristics.2.3.1 Vocabulary Similarities and DifferencesIn most cases both English titles and Chinese titles share simil

20、arities in the vocabulary usage. First, in the news titles they both use shrinks and concise words (In Chinese we often used “armed police”, “Political Consultative Conference”, “WTO”, “Security Council” and so on. In English UN, UK, USA, NATO, WTO, NASA EU) “Minor term” is the popular word usage an

21、d the fashionable word usage in English news titles. Second, both enjoy using popular words. Third, both enjoy using stylish words. For example:(1) 全球矚目A股巨震，暴跌難阻股民入市熱情(2) MP demands probe into MoD bungles (MP=Member of Parliament; MoD=ministry of Defense(3) 越來(lái)越多的人在聚會(huì)時(shí)喜歡 “k歌”(K song is stylish word)(

22、4) American Online; Often Down, Never Out (Online is stylish word)The first two examples use the popular terms and the last two ones use the stylish word.Differences:Judging from vocabulary, the Chinese news title is fond of using several verbs together, but the English news title is fond of using s

23、everal noun words together. English news often uses short words and some initials or acronyms which are printed in large type, Such as EEC short for European Economic Community.(5) 開(kāi)放 搞活 改革 致富 (6) Britain “Flagship” Detention Center Abandoned(7) 武船再助“神舟”飛天（“武船”指武昌造船廠(chǎng)）(8) A 2nd LI Priest Removed (LI=

24、Long Island)The first example shows Chinese title uses four verbs together, while the second one shows English title uses four nouns together. Thats the difference lying in the Chinese and English news title in the vocabulary usage.2.3.2 Tense Similarities and DifferencesEnglish and Chinese news tit

25、les all massively use the phrase title. In Chinese we commonly use verb-object phrase, noun phrase and so on. In English we commonly use non-localization minor sentence (for example participial phrase, Infinitive phrase and gerund phrase), adjective phrase, and preposition phrase and so on. Translat

26、ion may happen according to respective characteristic transformation. E.g.(9) Five Ways to Be Romantic (10) Helping the Homeless to Help Themselves (11) US carmakers ready to cut output.(12) 走向美好明天的江西.(13) 變化中的股市(14) 中國(guó)與發(fā)展 In the above English news titles, the first uses the infinitive phrase, the s

27、econd uses the gerund phrase and the third uses the adjective phrase. In the Chinese news titles, the first uses two verb-object, the last one uses noun -verb.When we read English news title we will find English news titles often use simple present tense, present progressive tense and simple future

28、tense, whose sign is obvious. However, you will find Chinese news titles often use present tense and progressive tense. Who tense sign is not obvious (Peter, Newmark 2001). For example:(15) French Culture Is the Doldrums 法國(guó)文化頹然不振(16) China is growing strong. 中國(guó)正在發(fā)展壯大.(17) China had an earth-shaking

29、change.中國(guó)發(fā)生了一個(gè)翻天覆地的變化(18) 中國(guó)自然資源豐富. (19) 總理會(huì)見(jiàn)了受難群眾(20) 中國(guó)法律將更加完善.(21) 圓滿(mǎn)取得了成功. From the above examples we can find the first four examples use general present tense, general future tense, and present progressive tense, general past tense individually, and have obvious tense signs. The last ones use

30、general present tense, the present tense replace past tense, future tense, past tense. But they have no obvious tense signs.2.3.3 Rhetoric Similarities and DifferencesBoth English and Chinese news title use the ordinary rhetoric, such as metaphor and hyperbole. It can attract more readers and make t

31、he news more clear and colorful. (22) Dam work brings flood of debate(23) 孩子是祖國(guó)的花朵(24) Graying Armies March to Defend Social Security(25) 一落千丈The first and second examples use the metaphor. The rest uses the hyperbole. The above two kinds of rhetoric are often used in English and Chinese news titles

32、. As for the rhetoric, English-Chinese news title style is respectively different. The Chinese news title highly values a literary talent especial in antithesis and controls rhyme. The English news title is insipid and pays more attention to the fact. The usage of rhetoric lattice is limited. It oft

33、en uses literary quotation, allegory, personification, harmonic tone, alliteration, repetition, word or phrase with double meaning, changing the order of rhetoric. Chinese news titles often use parallelism, overlapping, swing, aphorism, antithesis, comparison, word or phrase with double meanings. So

34、me rhetoric is respectively for English institute such as alliteration and swings.(26) Protestant Protest (27) Grammy Apple of New Yorks Eye? (28) The Scent of Descent (29) 名言草，實(shí)言人。(30) 不積跬步，無(wú)以至千里；不積小流，無(wú)以成江海.(31) 青山橫北郭，白水遶東城。In the above examples, English and Chinese news titles use different rhetor

35、ic. The functions of the rhetoric are different between English and Chinese news titles and they have their own features.2.3.4 Punctuation Mark Similarities and DifferencesIn some cases, Chinese and English news titles both have the abbreviation punctuation marks in titles. The function is to remain

36、 pause and divided into two or three title abbreviation topic. The meaning is still clear. The same lies in the comma and the exclamation mark. That is to say they all are used to divide the meaning group and the expression of intense sentiment. E.g. (32) 原來(lái)如此.(33) What, Who, Which.(35) Oils well th

37、at ends well, hopes rig chef (36) 克什米爾神廟附近發(fā)生火災(zāi)，死亡十人。The first two examples use the abbreviation mark. This function is to indicate pause. The rest ones use comma to divide the title into two groups.As far as the usage of punctuation mark is concerned, Chinese news title commonly uses comma, exclamat

38、ion mark, dash, quotation mark, ellipsis, parenthesis, spacer and question mark. While English titles often use comma, colon, dash, question mark, exclamation mark, possessive case mark, oblique line mark and quotation mark. Chinese title does not use the colon, possessive case mark, oblique line ma

39、rk. The English news title does not use the ellipsis, parenthesis, space. The dash is different between Chinese and English titles. The dash plays the connection and the supplement information role, and replaces the article “be”. The dash may express the meaning progressive and the transition in Chi

40、nese news. The quotation mark often emphasizes the essential information in English and draws out the original speech. In Chinese title the quotation mark expresses the content and the meaning directly either the irony or the exaggeration.(37) 目前世界上最高的山峰珠穆郎瑪蜂(38) The TranslatorJames(39)“神通廣大”的候樂(lè)為何如此

41、囂張(40)“walk with Lions” to come trueThe first two examples use dash mark to refer to the main topic. the last two examples use quotation mark to emphasize some information.3. Translation of English News Titles Understanding the content of news well is the first thing for translating. The English new

42、s title has its own distinctive grammar system and the language form characteristic. So translation ought to use the title grammar and language and keep the purity of the title. In the process of the translation from English to Chinese, we should consider their differences. We should take the custom

43、 of the translated language into the consideration. Once we come across the cases, we can not translate them liberally.3.1 Literal Translation Since being simplicity is the common characteristic of both English and Chinese news titles, we can consider literal translation at first (陳宏微 1997). When th

44、e English news title is correspondent to Chinese news title in meaning, we can translate them literally. Such translation will not influence concrete meaning and nature of both English and Chinese news titles. E.g.(41) Look Back to Look Ahead 回首往昔, 展望未來(lái)(42) Cold and Rainy Day Is Expected 預(yù)計(jì)將有寒冷的雨水(4

45、3) Tourist Is Arrested for Espionage Charges 一游客涉嫌間諜活動(dòng)被捕(44) Bill Clinton Assumes Office in White House as Us President 比爾.克林頓入主白宮,就任美國(guó)總統(tǒng)。(45) Betray by the press 報(bào)界的背叛Most of the English news titles can translate in this way and make the titles concise and good understanding. As the English news ti

46、tles are corresponded to Chinese news titles in meaning, so we translate the English news titles literally. In the first four examples, the meanings of English news titles are equal to Chinese news titles. So we can translate them literally. 3.2 Free Translation We know English and Chinese belongs t

47、o two language families. So they differ in many aspects such as vocabulary and tense in translation. When we meet such cases, we can adopt free translation. E.g.(46) Blown-away Hopes (Times February 1996)和平的希望被炸掉了（Free translation points out article content）(47）Men Do CryAll Over the World.今昔非比，保守的英

48、國(guó)紳士大膽流露感情。(48) Some Kids Are Orchids 血案的反思Between Chinese and English news titles, the English news title uses the simple present tense in the first example, while the translated Chinese news titles use the past tense. In the third example, the English news title is a simple sentence while the Chine

49、se news titles are a simple phrase. 3.3 Addition Addition refers to supplying necessary words in our translation so as to make the version clear and correct. However, due to the differences between Chinese and English news titles in vocabularies, rhetoric and tense. In the above cases, we may employ

50、 devices such as addition. Addition can help readers understand the English news titles. E.g.(49) Young Wheel Ers, Big dealers駕駛摩托車(chē)的青年們，成了（保險(xiǎn)公司的）大主顧(50) Culture Convention Barrier產(chǎn)品跨國(guó)銷(xiāo)售中的文化習(xí)俗障礙(51) Hanging up Their Hats英警察傳統(tǒng)錐形頭盔將束之高閣(52) Year 2000 Bug Unstoppable for some Companies計(jì)算機(jī)千年蟲(chóng)問(wèn)題迫在眉睫Accord

51、ing to the differences in vocabularies the English news title used two nouns together, in the first example, while the Chinese news titles use the verb. The second one is the same with the first one in translation. In the third example, the English news title does not use rhetoric while the Chinese

52、news title uses hyperbole. 3.4 Omission Omission refers to prune the redundant information in the original language. That is, to say make our translation as economical as possible. The most visible feature of titles is omission. The titles can be shortened by wiping out some unimportant words when t

53、he omission of such words does not provoke confusion. Owing to the similarities of vocabulary and tense between the English news titles and the Chinese news titles, we can adopt omission to translate from the English news titles to the Chinese news titles. E.g.(53) You Need to Eat Less Than You Thin

54、k 適量少吃有助于減肥(54) My wife is a Woman in a Mans world泡在男人堆里的女人(55) Cream of Shanxi Relics on Display 山西文物精品展覽(56) How Globalization Hurts the Poor in Africa全球化有損非洲窮人的利益 In the first two examples, usage of vocabularies in the English news titles is the same as the Chinese news titles the last two ones u

55、sed the same tense.3.5 Negation TranslationIf title literal translation can not express the article content rightly, it may change an angle and begin to write or paint from reverse side and express its own ideas on the contrary. This way of translation can be considered as negation translation. e.g.

56、(57) Never Too Old 最長(zhǎng)壽之人(58) You cannot be too careful.你可要特別小心?。?59) An opportunity is not likely to repeat itself.良機(jī)難再。(60) But all men are not born to reign.并非人人生來(lái)都是作帝王的。(61) Crisis law 反危機(jī)法案(62) Riot police 防暴警察(63) Crying Over Unsold Milk. 牛奶售不了，抱怨也無(wú)用In the first four examples, the English news

57、titles have the negative words while the Chinese news titles have not. However, the Chinese news titles have the negative words in the last three ones, while the English news titles do not have. Lots of titles can not express their means correctly but this method can solve the problems and make the

58、titles meanings more clearly. 3.6 AlliterationAlliteration is the recurrence of the same initial sound in words and close succession. Alliteration is used for the sake of brevity and vividness. In English news titles, there are many short titles but powerful titles. E.g.(64) Missing Mike緬懷邁克(65) Coca- Cola 可口可樂(lè)(66) Coffee 咖啡In the first example, the news title is pining for its former inspirational leader, Michael Bloomberg, who left to beco