翻譯中望文生義的錯(cuò)誤根源

上海翻譯公司是一家有資質(zhì)的翻譯公司，為大家整理了翻譯過程中容易產(chǎn)生望文生義的幾個(gè)根源，希望大家可以從源頭杜絕。

一、語法結(jié)構(gòu)理解不當(dāng) 
譯者對(duì)語法結(jié)構(gòu)理解不當(dāng)，如分不清詞性、指代關(guān)系以及句型等，就會(huì)直接造成誤譯。 
1. Magnetic fields of the former kind are geerally about a million times weaker than the Earth’s field ,whereas those originating from the traveling signals of nerve cells are even weaker, some hundred million times less than the earth’s field at their strongest. 
[原譯]前一類磁場(chǎng)通常只有地球磁場(chǎng)的一百萬分之一左右，而由神經(jīng)細(xì)胞傳播的信號(hào)產(chǎn)生的磁場(chǎng)則更弱，最強(qiáng)的時(shí)候也只有地球磁場(chǎng)的幾億分之一。 
[分析]此處some 不是形容詞（或稱determiner限定詞），而是副詞，經(jīng)常用在數(shù)詞之前，相當(dāng)于about“大約”，如There were some 40 or50 peop0le there.故some hundred million 應(yīng)譯成“約一億”。 
[正譯]……只有地球磁場(chǎng)的約一億分之一。 

2. Now Jeffreys points out that, if a number of observations have been found to conform to a law, it is highly probable that next one will do so whether the law is true or not. 
[誤譯]現(xiàn)在杰佛利指出，如果已獲得大量的觀察資料與一條法則一致，非?？赡芟乱粭l法則也將如此，不管該法則正確與否。 
[分析]此句的代詞one，它指代observation而不是law，否則變成“法則與法則相一致”，這在邏輯上也自相矛盾。 
[正譯]……非?？梢韵乱淮斡^察也與該法則相一致，不管它正確與否。

二、詞義理解不當(dāng) 
英語詞匯中一詞多義的情況是相當(dāng)多的，如“只知其一，不知其二”，就會(huì)造成錯(cuò)誤理解。勤查和細(xì)查詞典（包括用英語解釋英語的英英詞典）才能避免；所謂勤查是多查幾本詞典，所謂細(xì)查是從頭到尾地查閱，不厭其煩，才能擴(kuò)大視野，并找到合適的詞義。 

1. For the balance of the section, let’s speak in straightforward and elementary terms to describe the function and form of the electronic computer. 
[誤譯]為使這一節(jié)平衡起見，我們將用簡(jiǎn)單明了的術(shù)語來描述這種電子計(jì)算機(jī)的功能和形式。 
[分析]在《朗曼當(dāng)代英語詞典》balance詞條下可查到money or something else which remains or is left over,又見例句：May I take the balance of my holidays before the end of September ? 
[正譯]在本節(jié)的其余部分，我們將用簡(jiǎn)單明了的術(shù)語來描述這種電子計(jì)算機(jī)的功能和形式。 

2. We have a sales force at present of twenty-four salesmen of the road, each with his own territory. 
[誤譯]目前我們有一支由20名外勤推銷員組成的推銷隊(duì)正在途中，每人有他自己的推銷領(lǐng)域。 
[分析]在商業(yè)英語中on the road =away from home use,in regular travel on business esp. as a traveling salesman (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language) ，故salesmen on the road 作“外勤推銷員”解。 
[正譯]目前我們有一支由24名外勤推銷員組成的推銷隊(duì)伍，每人有自己的推銷地盤。 

3. Sleeping late on weekends can also disrupt your circadian rhythm. 
[誤譯]周未遲睡也會(huì)打亂人體的日夜周期。 
[分析]此句 sleeping late誤譯為“遲睡”即“睡得晚”，“晚睡”），實(shí)際上它表示“起得晚”或“睡懶覺”。《從中式英語到英語》的作者Janet Adams 寫道：“Remember that sleep late means to get up late and not go to bed late. 
[正譯]周末睡懶覺也會(huì)打亂人體的日夜周期。 

三、缺乏專業(yè)知識(shí) 
科技翻譯往往涉及眾多領(lǐng)域，各種專業(yè)，為了提高翻譯質(zhì)量，譯者不僅要熟練掌握英漢兩門語言，而且也應(yīng)具有一定的專業(yè)知識(shí)的素養(yǎng)。隔行如隔山，每個(gè)專業(yè)都有各自一套術(shù)語。 
1. By the age of 19 Gauss had discovered for himself and proved a remarkable theorem in number theory known as the law of quadratic reciprocity. 
[誤譯]高斯十九歲已經(jīng)獨(dú)立地發(fā)現(xiàn)并證明了數(shù)理定理——二次互反律。 
[分析]將number theory 誤為“數(shù)理”，系不了解專業(yè)所致，其實(shí)它在數(shù)學(xué)上是指“數(shù)論”，與“數(shù)理”是兩個(gè)不同的概念。 
[正譯]……并證明了數(shù)論中的一個(gè)卓越定理，名謂二次互反律。 

2. Designed to predict the motions of hesavenly bodies ,it does its job with unbelievable accuracy——better than one in a hndred million for the motion of the earth around the sun——and it remains in daily use to predict the orbits of moons and planets ,comets and spacecraft. 
[誤譯]這個(gè)旨在預(yù)測(cè)天體運(yùn)行的理論，其準(zhǔn)確性令人難以置信——以地球繞太陽運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)為例，其誤差僅略大于一億分之一，并且時(shí)至今日仍然每日要用它來預(yù)測(cè)衛(wèi)星和行星、慧星和航天器的運(yùn)行軌道。 
[分析]原文并無“僅略”的含義，應(yīng)刪去。Better than 修飾accuracy,意為“準(zhǔn)確度勝于”或“比……更為準(zhǔn)確”，即“誤差小于”。 
[正譯]……，其誤差小于一億分之一，……。 

3. When allowance is made for the separate auxiliary load the consumption can rise to nearly 1 Ib/SHP hour and this is generally about 20% better than the overall fuel consumption of a steam plant at cruising speed. 
[誤譯]當(dāng)考慮分開的輔機(jī)負(fù)荷時(shí)，其耗油率幾乎能增加到1磅/軸馬力小時(shí)，一般來說比蒸汽裝置的巡航總油耗大約多20%。 
[分析]此處better than 用來修飾“油耗”時(shí)必然指油耗低，而不是指油耗高。 
[正譯] ……，一般來說，這是比蒸汽裝置在巡航速度時(shí)的總油耗約低20%。 

四、缺乏背景知識(shí) 
譯者如不了解所譯內(nèi)容的背景，也易造成望文生義。 
1. Anyone who has tugged heavy hand baggage down endless airport corridors, or waited for a deluged flight in a sterile lounge will bow how user unfriendly many airports are in design terms . 
[誤譯]任何人只要他曾拖著沉重的隨身行李，走過無止境的機(jī)場(chǎng)走廊，或者曾在枯燥乏味的休息室里等候延誤的班機(jī)，都會(huì)體會(huì)到許多機(jī)場(chǎng)在設(shè)計(jì)上對(duì)旅客多么不方便。 
[分析]此處endless 誤譯為“無止境的”，實(shí)際上作“環(huán)狀的”解（circular,with the ends joined ）,一般大型國際機(jī)場(chǎng)，從候機(jī)室通向各跑道的走廊呈環(huán)狀，兩頭是相聯(lián)接的。 
[正譯] ……，走過環(huán)形的機(jī)場(chǎng)走廊，…… 
2. I am/ we are carrying currency or monetary instruments over $ 10000 U.S. or foreign equivalent. 
[誤譯]我（我們）攜帶有貨幣或價(jià)值超過10000美元的儀器或相當(dāng)于10000美元的外幣的儀器。 
[分析]原譯將instruments 作“儀器”解，顯然是缺乏背景知識(shí)和脫離上下文所造成的失誤。此處系指“證券，票據(jù)”；monetary instruments 應(yīng)譯“金融證券”。 
[正譯]我（我們）攜帶超過10000美元或等值外幣現(xiàn)金或金融證券。 

五、習(xí)慣勢(shì)力影響 
習(xí)慣勢(shì)力也會(huì)造成誤譯，如下列句中的at the same time,也許這一短語太熟悉了，因此往往習(xí)慣地譯成“同時(shí)”，其實(shí)此處上下文并不存在時(shí)間上的關(guān)系，而是讓步關(guān)系。 
1. In most cases,…h(huán)e knows that certain manufacturing processes will have to be employed .In many instances ,the selection of a specific material may dictate what processing must be used .At the same time .when certain processes are used ,the design may have to be modified in order for the process to be utilized effectively and economically. 
[原譯]在大多數(shù)情況下，……他知道必須采用某些制造過程。在許多情況下，選擇特定的材料就規(guī)定了須用什么加工過程。同時(shí)在采用某些加過程時(shí)，可能要修改設(shè)計(jì)，以便有效地、經(jīng)濟(jì)地利用這些加工過程。 
[分析]at the same time 有兩項(xiàng)釋義“同時(shí)”和“然而”。上句中該短語并非指時(shí)間上的關(guān)系，而是用這個(gè)短語引出一個(gè)需要人們注意的事實(shí)。英語詞典中至少有八部國外出版的詞典，在at the same time 條下僅列出however一項(xiàng)釋義。據(jù)國內(nèi)首屆一指的《英漢大詞典》編寫組稱：至于為何有些詞典只有however解，可能編篡者不收習(xí)語的literal meaning 之故，筆者以為言之有理。 
[改譯] ……。然而在采用某些加工過程時(shí)，……。 
2. The force of gravity and the friction of the air near the earth are working against the satellite. 
[分析]英文可說near the earth,不能照譯“地球附近”，因該詞語僅指位置（location）,即直線距離（linear distance），但地球不是單一平面，而是球體。 
[正譯]引力和地球附近的空氣阻力對(duì)衛(wèi)星起阻礙作用。 

六、疏忽大意 
有些譯作總體上說是高質(zhì)量的，但也有望文生義的現(xiàn)象，如不屬于本文上述五個(gè)方面的原因，則可能是疏忽大意所致。 
1. Feedback, which one-way communication like the printed page fails to provide, makes learning easy and, in the case of motor skills,is essential. 
[誤譯]反饋能使學(xué)習(xí)變得方便，而象印刷品之類的單向信息傳遞就沒有反饋。在學(xué)習(xí)駕駛摩托車時(shí)，反饋更必不可少。 
[分析]in the case of“就…來說（而言），論到，提到，至于”。Motors skills 是教育學(xué)上的名稱，指“運(yùn)動(dòng)技能”，而不是指“摩托車駕駛”。 
[正譯] ……就運(yùn)動(dòng)技能而言，反饋更必不可少。 
2. The results of that decision can now be evaluated as the first ships of the new gas turbine Navy far enough advanced to enable a comparison to be made with existing steam turbine warships. 
[誤譯] ……，并以英海軍第一艘先進(jìn)的新型燃?xì)廨啓C(jī)艦只與現(xiàn)有蒸汽輪機(jī)艦只相比來估價(jià)這個(gè)決定的結(jié)果。 
[按]將first 誤譯為“第一艘”，將advanced誤為“先進(jìn)的”，均系不認(rèn)真嚴(yán)肅所致。 
[正譯]現(xiàn)在可以來評(píng)論這一決定的結(jié)果了，因?yàn)橛＼娛着氯細(xì)廨啓C(jī)艦只已大有進(jìn)展，足以用來和現(xiàn)有的汽輪機(jī)軍艦作一比較。 
3. There is generally an advantage in being able to keep propelling machinery as far aft as a large gearbox restricts possible, but this positioning. 
[誤譯]一般來說，使推進(jìn)裝置盡可能遠(yuǎn)離艦尾是有利的，但是這樣布置會(huì)受到大齒輪箱的限制。 
[分析]如far aft 譯為“遠(yuǎn)離艦尾”，意思就完全顛倒了。此處far相當(dāng)于much,considerably,to a great extent. Aft [a : ft ]非常接近船尾。由于“盡可能接近艦尾”這一概念已相當(dāng)明確，故“非常”可不譯出。 
[正譯]一般來說，使推進(jìn)裝置盡可能靠近艦尾是有利的，但是這種布置會(huì)受到大齒輪箱的限制。 

最后尚須指出，有時(shí)望文是由多種因素所造成，請(qǐng)看下面的句子系受詞匯、專業(yè)、習(xí)慣等影響。 
In practice ,a rotor weighing about 10 tons and rotating at 3,000 r .p . m . may be so well balanced that the motion ,except for sound ,is just perceptible. 
實(shí)際上，一根據(jù)重約10噸、每分鐘3000轉(zhuǎn)的轉(zhuǎn)子可以平衡得非常好，以致除了響聲外，人們幾乎覺察不出它是在轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)。 
[分析]此處just =almost not, hardly 曾誤譯為“正好覺察得出……”，這樣意思就反了