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1、Chinese-English Television News Translation. IntroductionEnglish TV news is not something new in China. Early in 1985, Shanghai Television Station launched the first English news program in the mainland. One year later, the China Central Television, which is short for CCTV, began to offer its Englis
2、h news. In the 1990s, local television stations in various places, one after the other, began to provide English news programs and other programs produced in English. According to incomplete statistics, at present more than 30 provincial or municipal television stations offer English news in the cou
3、ntry. (wang 351).With the gradual deepening of the opening policy and her entry into the World Trade Organization, China needs more and more exchange with the outside world. And the Chinese people are more eager to know the world and to be known by the world. A large amount of information is transmi
4、tted by news media especially English news reports. So the translation of news English becomes no doubt a bridge for the communication.In promotion materials for foreigners, TV English news, with both spoken words and moving pictures, plays an important role in helping English-speaking foreigners le
5、arn about China, The receptors of TV English news program include foreigners in China, who speak English as native their language, as well as local English teaching staff and learners. The English news programs give information in English on Chinas development and investment, environment, local hist
6、ory, culture, and tourist attractions. So English news program can be seen as a window in international promotion of China, which enables the world to hear the voice of the country as English is an international language.As time goes by, Chinese nation-force becomes much stronger and makes a greater
7、 influence on the world, TV English news has played a significant role in foreign promotion of China, providing information on China today and yesterday for English-speaking audience, since the TV English news is produced by translating Chinese news, translation is an essential part in the news prod
8、uction the research on Chinese-English translation of TV news is therefore necessary.To better realize the goal of the program, TV English news writers need to know how to use English well in writing TV English news, and be familiar with the characteristics of TV news broadcast produced in English,
9、or what TV news broadcast copies should look like.So far, a lot of studies in China have been made in the English and Chinese translation of news from print news Medias, like newspapers, magazines, and broadcast news, which including TV and radio news. Little effort is made. This essay is an effort
10、on the studies of Chinese and English TV news translation in China, taking the way of the concerned translation theory. Meanwhile, some examples of news reports, proper names and events cited in this essay are widely used. Features of English TV NewsWe have known about TV English news, radio English
11、 news, English news from newspaper and Internet or other media. TV English news, in a broad sense, includes news story, news feature, and commentary and so on. In this chapter, we will see some features of TV English news writing in an attempt to do a better job in translating Chinese news into Engl
12、ish.A piece of TV English news, like Chinese ones, consists of three parts: headline, news lead and news body. The translation of each part has its different ways. But the ABC rule is generally accepted in each part of a news story. A is stands for accuracy in content; B is for brevity in language o
13、r wording and C for clarity in order.There are some differences between broadcast writing and print copy. All the rules or guidelines we mention below do not change the language. They only make the copy easier to read and therefore, easier to listen to. The key in broadcast writing is “do not make a
14、udience work to get their information” (Vivian 33)A. Features of English TV News Headlines The news headlines of TV English news are different from those of Chinese news in many ways: grammar, rhetoric, and word number. Chinese TV news headlines sometimes can be very long, focusing on botulism. For
15、example:推动两岸双向旅游台湾方面应该少做表面文章多做实质工作。 Different from TV Chinese news headlines, TV English news headlines highlight in their accentuation, especially in the stylebook of many news media, such as the Associated Press, New York Times and China Daily. News editors are reminded that “never begin a head wi
16、th a verb. Adjectives and adverbs seldom appear in headlines for the ABC rules. TV English news headlines may appear as a sentence, and may not be a complete sentence, such as a phrase, or even a word. A phrase can make a good news headline. A TV news headline should be in one line, less than15 word
17、s usually, so that audience can easily get the information that it intends to impact. TV English news headlines appear at the bottom of TV screen. Like headlines on newspaper, the TV English news headlines are written for the eye, which is different from TV news body. Therefore the writing of TV hea
18、dlines shares the same features with that of newspaper headlines.Here are some features of TV English news headlines, together with examples of C-E translation of TV news headlines, which are translated in imitation of the English TV news headlines before them:1. Omission(a) Articles (definite and i
19、nfinite articles are included) Israeli air strike kills boy in Gaza =An Israeli air strike kills a boy in Gaza. Pentagon halts Internet voting system =The Pentagon halts the Internet voting system(b) Conjunction “and”Translation examples:两岸经贸合作综述Economic collaboration between Mainland, Taiwan =The e
20、conomic collaboration between Mainland and Taiwan (c) Personal pronoun American arrested for obscene gesture = An American is arrested for his obscene gesture 上海美化市区环境 Shanghai to beautify environment =Shanghai to beautify the citys environment(d) Copula Courses on practical skill popular with stude
21、nts =Courses on practical skills remain popular with students Georgas ready for Peterson trial =Georgas is ready for the Peterson trial(e) Auxiliary verb Indonesia rattled by earthquakes =Indonesia is rattled by earthquakes 广东实行学生安全卡制度 Students-safety card system launched in Guangdong =A student-saf
22、ety card system is launched in Guangdong(f) Noun Grammies catch up with hip-hop =Grammies awards ceremony catch up with hip-hop 2 dead in Israeli strikes =2 people were dead in Israeli strikes2. TensesTV English news headlines use three tenses: simple present, simple future tense and present continu
23、ous tense. To be line with the tradition of English news writing, most TV news headlines use present tenses, especially simple present tense, trying to add freshness and immediacy to news stories. This tense, in journalism, is called Journalistic Present Tense, and functions the same as the Historic
24、al Present Tense in literary works. In news headlines of broadcast news, present perfect tense or simple present tense is often used to describe things happening in the past. This is to add timeliness, freshness and immediacy to the reports, so that listeners would feel like at the scene.The United
25、Nations has considered sending a large UN peacekeeping force with nearly 12 thousand soldiers to Croatia.For something that has happened, use the simple present tense: Translation Examples: 云南2006年茶叶产量达19万吨 Yunnan tea yield reaches 190,000 tons (Zhang 216)For something which will happen, use “to+ver
26、b”, Iran Council to review candidates Translation Examples: 合肥国际航班月底全面恢复 Hefei Airlines to resume the air services at the end of this month.For something that is happening, use Verb+ing, or the simple present tense, for example: Bush opens new campaign in WMD Fight =Bush President is launching a new
27、 push in the new campaign to fight spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction (Hakim, Basil 248).B. Features of News Lead and News Body and TranslationWe write essays or newspaper for the eye. In broadcast, we write for the ear. Readers of any printed material, like newspaper and magazines, have the oppo
28、rtunity to go back and reread sections that were not immediately clear. Broadcast audiences usually do not have such opportunities. So as TV English news writers, we have to make every sentence, which we write very clear, so that audience members understand what we are talking about after having hea
29、rd it only once.To make ourselves easily understood, the language we use has to be colloquial, conversational and common, which sounds good to audience. The wording in TV English news writing is very important. Daily used words with few syllables are preferred. . Editing before Chinese and English T
30、ranslationA. Differences between Two Cultures and LanguagesIn order to make the translation of news more acceptable to its receptors, translators should take care of every thing of the translation from the form of the content. Since TV English news produced by natives, which is much different from T
31、V Chinese news, both in content and in form, it is necessary to know about the characteristics of TV English News writing in the two languages. Make some adaptations in the Chinese TV news if necessary when it is translated into English.Translators should take care of the interests, reading habits a
32、nd news values of the foreign receivers of TV English news, and keep in mind the different use of rhetoric between two languages. Furthermore, translators have the right to modify the errors in source language text writing.To some extent, there have some differences between Chinese and English writi
33、ng in manner. Chinese enjoys features of literary grace and various rhetoric expressions, and English natives usually like the style of simplicity and prefer to concentrate on the facts themselves. In English facts are told usually in a plain way to audiences, while Chinese news pays more attention
34、to literary effects besides telling the facts. Chinese like using flowery language and personal feelings in writing and rhetoric, like metaphor, simile, personification, reiteration and parallelism. Writing without these can not be considered as good writings. In contrast, English writings are much
35、more direct. English enjoys features of being direct, logical, impersonal and concise. Repetition in writing is something to be avoided in English. They would feel it too exaggerated if excessive adjectives and adverbs are used. Native English speakers would feel confused to the flowery language of
36、Chinese writing translated word-forword, since the writing is just repetition of words to them. Here is a typical piece: 他具有 “明知山有虎，偏向虎山行”的英雄气概. In this sentence, 明知山有虎，偏向虎山行is a typical Chinese saying, by using rhetoric of simile and parallelism to show ones heroic courage in front of great danger.
37、 (Xu 217). These Chinese saying and idioms can be easily understood and taken as good writing by Chinese audiences, but if it is translated word-for-word to English natives that would probably puzzled them. English audiences can not appreciate such a writing manner and can not response as Chinese au
38、diences do when they hear the description of the businessman. Under this circumstance, translators have to digest the text and convey the general idea to the English audience. In addition, Chinese audiences and the audiences from western countries hold different opinions towards news value. A lot of
39、 factors are involved in news value, such as significance, locality, bizarreness and interests. Many foreign audiences are more interested in culture, history and science news than political issues, which appear frequently in Chinese news reports.B. Ways to Edit News for TranslationTranslators of En
40、glish news should first translate news according to the characteristics of TV English news, which are discussed above. Then translators should learn to edit or process news in sentence structure, organization and rhetoric. The news editing for translation can be operated in word, sentence and discou
41、rse level. The editing usually comes before or during translating, including explaining and paraphrasing, summarizing and generalizing, digesting and extracting, reorganizing and restating, selecting and simplifying, etc. The general rule is to make the news more acceptable and to the taste of forei
42、gn audiences. To be specific, in editing broadcast news, translators can digest the text more concise by combining and generalizing; have those particular in Chinese or too specialized explained; omit or simplify anything that foreigners may not be interested; add background information. When it is
43、needed; put into simple facts those written in the spiral way of Chinese; change the sentence or word order in source language when necessary; and restate the text in the way foreigners are used to. Translators are entitled to do all these modification to the source language text to make the news ea
44、sy accepted so long as the facts in the news stories are not coined or made-up. . Problems in Chinese and English TV News TranslationTo a large extent, all kinds of problems in the news translation can be grouped into varieties. Some can appear in Chinese and English translation of general writing,
45、and some others are specific in TV news translation (since TV English news has its own characteristics). In this chapter, I will try to analyze the problems through examples.A. Special Problems of English News 1. Too Long and Complicated Sentences for News EnglishAs we have said, “TV news English se
46、ntences are short and simple. Some sentences are grammatically correct translation, but not good for TV news.”(Leech 181)Translation example:联合检查组对上海各地利用野生动物及其产品的生产企业进行清理整顿的情况做了检查，对各地在野生动物驯养繁殖的和经营加工活动中执行动物防疫法食品卫生法的情况进行了检查。A：The inspection team made tours throughout Shanghai and investigated into bus
47、iness dealing with wild animals, which had been screened and rectified.The sentences in the translation are too complicated (with an attributive clause) for TV news stories. So change it into:B: The inspection team made tours throughout the province and investigated into the situation of screening a
48、nd rectifying business dealing with wild animals. (Xu 237)2. Awkward ExpressionsIn Chinese, “隆重开幕”“圆满结束”“正式启动”，frequently used for important conferences and other events, are considered smooth. But the literal translation of these expressions: successfully convened, fruitfully concluded and officially launched is awkward expression in English news. English natives simply say, opened and closed in news reports.(wang 323).Translation examples:2007年第二届广州青年歌手电视大奖赛已经正式启动。The 2007 Guangzhou Youth TV Singing Contest opened.BTransl
