On Collocation of Words

Language is composed of different words in a specific rule with limited compatibility among words, for example, some kind of verb can only occur with certain subjects or objects, some adjectives can only be used to modify certain nouns. As translation mainly consists of two phases: to understand the original text and to express the meaning in the target language, translators not only need to figure out what the collocation in the original text means, but also need to select appropriate collocation words during translation, which requires solid mastery of two languages and proficiency in customary collocation in these two languages. For instance, in Chinese, we could say “人老了” but could not say “年纪老了”. Thus the translation of “He was old and weak” should be “他年纪大了，身体衰弱” instead of “他年纪老了，身体衰弱”.



Different collocation should be employed even for the same word when it is used in different contexts. Let’s look at the translation of “shabby” below.
Original Text:
He lives in a shabby house.
Target Text:
他住在一间陋屋里。
Original Text:
She is a shabby old woman.
Target text:
她是个衣衫褴褛的老妇人。
In this case, “shabby” in these two sentences actually expresses the same meaning. However, the noun it modifies determines what collocation shall be used, “房屋” shall be collocated with “简陋” instead of “衣衫褴褛”. Similarly, “人” shall be collocated with “衣衫褴褛” rather than “简陋”.

Different collocation should be used even for the same word in the same sentence. Let’s look at this example. “They were friendly to me and my opinion”. In this sentence, “friendly” modifies both “me” and “my opinion”. The appropriate translation shall be “他们对我很友好，对我的看法表示支持”. We can’t say “对我支持” and “对看法友好”. Below is another example. “She once again demonstrated to us her great knowledge, experience and wisdom”. In this sentence, “great” is used to modify “knowledge”, “experience” and “wisdom” at the same time. However, we can hardly find a word to collocate with “学识”, “经验” and “智慧” at the same time in Chinese. The appropriate translation shall be “她再次向我们展示了她渊博的学识、丰富的经验和无穷的智慧”. “渊博” is collocated with “学识”, “丰富” is collocated with “经验” and “无穷” is collocated with “智慧”.

Collocation is a difficult issue in translation. In the understanding stage, we should correctly determine the collocative meaning of words and during the expression stage we should select appropriate collocation words, which requires desirable mastery of both the original language and the target language. Consequently, we need to accumulate typical collocation during daily life. What’s more, internet can also be used to solve such collocation issues.

On Handling of Attribute in E-C Translation

Attribute is defined as those words which are used to modify nouns. The difference between English and Chinese in terms of expression mode makes an appropriate conversion of attribute a necessity in translation. This article is focused on two kinds of conversion in terms of attribute in E-C translation: one is to convert the attribute to adverbial; the other is to convert the attribute to predicate.



In English, there should be only one verb used in each sentence. Consequently, if more than one motion needs to be expressed in one sentence, the rest motions except the one used as the predicate shall be described via noun instead of verb. In other words, there may be nouns in English which express the meaning of a motion though they are in the form of a noun. Instead, the chinese sentence structure is typically as follows: one subject plus several predicates. Therefore, when making E-C translation, the noun expressing the meaning of a motion usually shall be translated into the correspondent verb and the attribute used to modify the noun should accordingly be translated into adverbial. The following is an example of this kind of conversion. “The annual competition celebrates UK entrepreneurs that have demonstrated exceptional dedication and passion towards their work.”. If we translate this sentence in a word-for-word manner, the translation will be “这个年度比赛是为了表彰在工作中表现出非凡投入和热情的英国创业家”, which seems somewhat insufficient in smoothness. If we translate “competition” to a verb and accordingly translate “annual” to an adverb, the final translation will be “这个比赛每年举办一次，是为了表彰在工作中表现出非凡投入和热情的英国创业家”, which is more in compliance with the expression mode of Chinese. The structure of adjective + noun is extremely common in English. Therefore, the conversion of attribute to adverbial is frequently employed in E-C translation.

Another kind of conversion occurs between the attribute and the predicate. Let’s start by looking at this example: equipment designs allow faster operation and more efficient fuel usage. If we translate this sentence in a literal way, the translation will be “设备设计可实现更快的操作和更高效的燃油使用效率”, in which the function is not expressed directly enough. Instead, if we translate “faster” to “提高” and “more efficient” to “提高效率”, the translation will be “设备设计可加快操作和提高燃油使用效率”, in which, the function of the subject is explicitly described. Attribute of this kind typically expresses the meaning of a change in term of size, speed, or time, etc., such as faster, quicker, shorter, etc. By means of converting the attribute to the predicate, the function of the subject can be directly expressed and highlighted.

We should take full use of these two kinds of conversion in E-C translation to produce a translation in compliance with the expression mode of Chinese.

Word-for-word Translation Mistakes in APCP

Word-for-word Translation Mistakes in APCP

As is known to all, language and culture are interdependent and language is deeply influenced by cultural patterns such as beliefs，norms and values. Along with its distinctive 5,000-years historical background, Chinese language surely has many culture-specific terms. Some typical examples are available in the English version of APCP.

Word-for-word translation mistakes are common in the APCP translation, which attribute to the high fidelity to the source text, resulting in unidiomatic expression or redundant meaning and some Chinese English.

Example 1

目前已成为“庆铃汽车股份有限公司、长安（集团）股份有限公司、长安铃木汽车有限公司、上汽通用五菱汽车股份有限公司、湖南长丰汽车制造股份有限公司、长城汽车股份有限公司”等几十家知名企业的定点配套厂家，长安福特汽车有限公司等企业的二级配套商。（宁波鑫星汽车部件有限公司）

English version:

Today, our company acts as a designated subcontracted supplier for several ten prestigious enterprises, such as Chang’an (Group) Co., Ltd., Chang’an Suzuki Auto Co., Ltd., Changsha Toyota Auto Building Co., Ltd. of Hunan Province, Qingling Auto Co., Ltd. and China Putian Orient Telecom Co., Ltd., etc. (NINGBO XINXING AUTO PARTS CO., LTD.)

Example 8 makes typical word-for-word translation mistakes. There never exists the expression of “several ten” for”几十家” in English, which is not idiomatic. Moreover, the word-for-word translation for a series of company names is unnecessary, leaving the whole paragraph reads laggard and messy in both meaning and structure, which is not reader-friendly.

Mistranslation is unfavorable in company profile translation. Mistakes are principally resulting from translators’ carelessness, inability in English and lack of culture knowledge. Furthermore, they are apt to be subjective in the translation action and then liable to make some mistakes.

Example 2

并以其质量与信誉深受国内外客户好评,并衷心的希望与国内外客商和各界朋友建立长期友好合作关系,共展宏图。（浙江德众汽车零部件制造有限公司）

English version:

and its quality and credibility of the popular domestic and foreign customers, and sincerely hope that clients and friends at home and abroad to establish long-term friendly cooperative relations, the grand total. (Zhangjiang Dezhong Auto Parts manufacturing Co., LTD)

In this example, the source text is meant to convey the desire to cooperate with others while the translation means the opposite. Because the translation “hope that clients and friends at home and abroad to establish long-term friendly cooperative relations” implies that the company wants clients build relations with itself, definitely offending readers.

Reversion:

And is popular among domestic and foreign customers for its quality and credibility, and sincerely hope to establish long-term friendly cooperation with clients at home and abroad and all walks of friends.

The source is from http://www.ccjk.com/word-word-translation-mistakes-apcp/.