浅谈英语新闻标题的翻译(2)
This paper introduces how to translate the English news headline from four aspects of vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and rhetorical device. In addition, the paper makes use of some examples to demonstrate these translating skills in detail so that people can get a better understanding of English news headline.
II. Translation of Lexical Items and Grammar in English News
Headline
The limited space of the newspaper demands that headline must be concise and brief, so the headline has developed its own lexical and grammatical features. In order to get an acceptable translation, the translators not only should understand the lexical and grammatical features of English news headline but also master some relevant translating skills.
2.1 Translation of Lexical Items
Nouns, acronyms, midget words and vogue words are widely used in English news headline to demonstrate such features of news as accuracy, brevity, and novelty.
Nouns which own a strong expressive function are able to be translated into adjectives and verbs in translation. When translating the nouns in the headline, the translators should pay attention to the changes of properties of the nouns. For example:
(1) China Court Releases Japan Ship after Compensation
获赔后中方法院释放被扣日船
“China”(中国) and “Japan”(日本) which are nouns refer to the countries, but in this headline, the two nouns are translated into the adjectives “Chinese”(中国的) and “Japanese”(日本的).
(2) Termination of Windows XP
Windows XP系统退役
The word “termination”(结束) is a noun meaning something is ended. In this headline, the noun is translated into the verb “terminate”(终结). The Chinese phrase “退役” is the synonym of the phrase “终结”, however, the usage of the phrase “退役” makes the headline more vivid.
(3) Borderline Insanity
国境线上的疯狂
The sentence “something insane took place on the borderline” is replaced by the two nouns “borderline insanity”. The translation version should add some function words to make up a complete Chinese sentence. In this headline, the preposition “of” is added in translation.