When we talk about English-Chinese translation, it doesn”t mean we can do this well only by learning good English, the proficiency of our mother tongue matters as well. To a certain extent, the proficiency of Chinese might greatly influence how well the translation is.
But surely, mastering good English is the first essential.
Firstly, we should have good English reading ability.
Never think we can do good translation only by roughly understanding the English source and the help of dictionary. Things may get lost in the transmission. When we just re-express the segment we took from the source, the audience surely can not get the full meaning of which the source means to be.
Consequently, good English reading ability means we can exactly understand the source, not only the thought and viewpoints which is transmitted by the source, but also the exact meaning of each word, the exact structure of the sentence, and meanings behind the words, such as allusions, in order to transmit the information as complete as possible to the audience. It’s not easy to do this. But we can not ignore these information, even though you do not know the exact content casino online of allusions, you have to know, it has an allusion.
Thus, one who are lacking of reading ability can never do good translation.
But this is not enough.
We need good dictionary.
How to define a good dictionary?
Good dictionary should have exact translations.
Good dictionary should have thesaurus.
Good dictionary should provide illustrative sentences.
Thirdly, translation is a building-block process. We need to accumulate.
One word might have several different meaning in various circumstances, we cannot all use only one meaning.
Besides, although English and Chinese have many similarities, they also have many differences. The corresponding translation should be readable to all Chinese audience. As a matter of fact, word by word translation is not enough. We should re-organize the words and make it authentic Chinese.
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Furthermore, translation cannot be separated from one”s personal experience and knowledge. These factors can better our understanding. Thus, we should keep our eyes open and keep on learning.
Fourthly, we need the ability to searching. The ability to use search engine is so important.
One can not know everything about every industry; even the most excellent translator also needs tools. In this digital world, to search in library book may be a little bit old-fashioned. I do not mean the library books are not helpful, what I mean is that looking for information in book takes a lot of time. Sometimes, we don’t have much time to do so. So then, search engines can help us.
Fifthly, we should develop Chinese sense. In the above paragraphs, I have mentioned that, the translation is for Chinese audience; most of them read and write Chinese. So they may be particular on the translation materials. Therefore, translations should be more fit to the Chinese people”s taste. Actually, it is not an easy job. Rome wasn”t built in a day. We should work harder and practice more. When we finished the finished the translation, we should read it at lease once.