On Differences of Sentence Groups in Chinese and English and Translation Strategies

By Jiang Shan

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

College of Liberal Arts

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May, 2018

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I am much grateful to my supervisor Xia Yang for his illuminating directions, valuable suggestions and constant encouragement through the writing of this thesis. I appreciate his warmhearted help so much in the progress of my research because he was always patient whenever I needed his direction. I am greatly proud to think him as my supervisor and feel it an honor to be his student.

Furthermore, I would like to appreciate all the teachers who have taught me when I look back on my past four-year study. They largely developed my interest in English language learning and broadened my knowledge and horizons. It is their considerate help that enables me to build up certain ability during my four-year study as an undergraduate.

Last but not least, I also want to send my gratitude to my dear family for their love and support behind me all through these years.

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Definition of sentence groups 1

1.2 Significance of studying sentence groups 1

2. Types and Characteristics 3

2.1 Sentence groups in Chinese 3

2.1.1 Types of sentence groups in Chinese 3

2.1.2 Characteristics of sentence groups in Chinese 3

2.2 Sentence groups in English 4

2.2.1 Types of sentence groups in English 4

2.2.2 Characteristics of sentence groups in English 6

2.3 Characteristics of sentence groups in Chinese and English 8

2.3.1 Reasons for differences between sentence groups in Chinese and English 8

2.3.2 Differences between sentence groups in Chinese and English 9

3. Common difficulties in translation 10

3.1 Common difficulties in translating Chinese sentences 10

3.1.1 Non-subject sentences 10

3.1.2 Classical Chinese 10

3.2 Common difficulties in translating English sentences 11

3.2.1 Absolute negative sentences 11

3.2.2 Partial negative sentences 11

3.2.3 Double negative sentences 12

3.2.4 Transferred negative sentences 12

4. Strategies in translation 13

4.1 Understanding of the main topic 13

4.2 Distinguish between the primary and the secondary 13

4.3 Usage of precise words in translation 14

5. Conclusion 15

On Differences of Sentence groups in Chinese and English and Translation Strategies

Jiang Shan

Department of English

College of Liberal Arts

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to study the differences of sentence groups in Chinese and English, as well as some common difficulties in translation, so as to strengthen the importance of sentence groups when translating and understanding a translated text. Sentence groups learning has become steadily standardized and scientific after decades of researches and application. However, there are still many problems existing in putting translation into practice. This paper lays emphasis on the differences of sentence groups in Chinese and English, as well as common difficulties caused by these differences in translation. In light of the problems and difficulties, it puts forward some corresponding solutions and suggestions, and explores how to improve the translation.

Key words: sentence groups; translation; strategy

摘要：这篇论文旨在研究英汉间句群的差异以及翻译中的一些常见难点，从而加强在翻译和理解翻译文本时句群的重要性。经过几十年的研究和应用，句群学习逐步规范化和科学化，然而，在翻译实践中仍然存在许多问题。本文着重论述了英汉句群的差异，以及这些差异在翻译中造成的常见困难，针对这些问题和困难，提出了一些建议。此外本文还提出了相应的解决方案和建议，并对如何提高翻译水平进行了探讨。

关键词：句群；翻译；策略

1. Introduction

1.1 Definition of sentence groups

A sentence group is consisted of several sentences which have a close relationship both in the meaning and structure (Sun, 1984: 34). To express it much more explicitly, a sentence group is a language unit which includes more than two sentences. Here is an example of a sentence group below.

During the first of his life, Watt studied weather. He used radio waves in his work and directed them up into the sky. They were sometimes reflected back to earth by the ionosphere (Wang, 2004:31).

Here is an analysis of the sentence group above. It is consisted of three sentences, and the first sentence is also the topic sentence, the second and the third sentence both reflect Watt’s continuous study on weather by the radio. From the analysis of the sentence group above, there are also some points we should pay attention to. Not all several sentences constitute a sentence group, but those sentences sharing a same meaning do.

To summarize, as a sentence group, it must have some basic characteristics, that is, it should not only have more than two sentences, it should also include sentences conveying the topic sentence from different angles. A sentence group does not equal to the accumulation of several sentences, and a series of sentences which share a same topic meaning and a similar logical relationship constitute a sentence group. These sentences are not placed randomly but are organized according to specific grammatical rules, which are totally different from just a paragraph or an essay.

1.2 Significance of studying sentence groups

Many scholars at home and aboard have studied sentence groups till now, for it is an efficient method to grasp a passage with several sentences or even a long paragraph. There are some benefits displayed below.

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