The Chinese and the English-speaking people often think in different ways and have different customs. These differences in ways of living and thinking often express themselves in speech. Sometimes the difference is so great that the Eastern and Western people think and speak jus in the opposite way. What is affirmative in one language may be expressed negatively by another, or vice versa. Every language has its peculiarities in negation.

Hence great caution must be taken in translating English sentences implying negations so as to avoid ridiculous errors, especially when you translate materials about medical instrument, if you express negation as affirmative or vice versa, for the patients who use this instrument, you really put their life in danger, or “”kill” them. So the translator must carefully consider whether an English sentence should be converted into negative or affirmative, and how it is expressed in idiomatic Chinese. Correct translations save life.

1. Transfer of the negative

  1. Transfer of the negative from the main clause to the sub ordinate That-clause.

A strange feature of the syntax of subordination in colloquial English is the transfer of the negative from a subordinate that-clause. Thus “I think he will not come” is less often seen than “I don’t think he will come.” In Chinese, however, we usually say “我想他不会来” instead of “我不想会来”, hence the transfer of the negative in translation.

For example:

We don’t believe that our mother tongue is inferior to any other language in the world.

我们相信，祖国的语言并不亚于世界任何其他语言。

I don’t think Father will fancy living an idle life like that.

我想爸爸不会喜欢过那样清闲的生活。

  1. Transfer of the negative from the finite verb to the adverbial.

When a negative sentence contains an adverbial, care should be taken that the negative word actually modifies the adverbial in meaning even if it appears to modify the verb in form:

Read Also: The ways to translate Negation (II)

Example:

Rome was not built in a day=Rome was built not in a day

伟业非一日之功。

I cannot consider the matter as in any way urgent.= I consider the matter as in no way urgent.

我认为此事毫不紧急。

We do not live to eat, but eat to live.

我们不是为了吃饭而活着，而是为了活着而吃饭。

  1. Transfer of the negative to the verb from other parts of the sentence.

Example:

No modulated signal is detected.

没有检测到调制信号。

When gasoline burns, nothing visible remains.

汽油燃烧时，看不见有什么东西剩下。

He gave me not even a moment to collect my thoughts.

他甚至不给我片刻时间去集中一下思想。

The whole subject is so obscure, that I have succeeded in throwing hardly any light on it。

这整个问题如此深奥难解，我几乎未能对它做出任何阐明。