Contrastive Analysis and the Translation of Passive

【Abstract】English and Chinese differ in so many ways from lexical to syntactic and to textual levels. The differences can be attributed to various causes such as different language families， different social cultures and different history of development. These differences have posed obstacles in translation. The translation of passive is a typical example. This article will focus on the translation of passive and use the research results of contrastive linguistics to provide some strategies in the translation of passive.

【Key Words】contrastive analysis； translation； passive

【作者簡介】 章楚萱，浙江越秀外国语学院。

Generally speaking， passive abounds in English. When the agent is unknown or need not be mentioned， or the object of the action is to be emphasized， the passive may be employed. But passive in Chinese is frequently used to denote something undesirable or unpleasant. As a result， English people and Chinese people tend to have opposite attitudes towards passive： English people may think it is neutral and reckon it as a symbol of objectivity， while Chinese people may relate passive to something negative. Since passive is important in both Chinese and English， it is necessary for translators to know something about differences between the two languages.

1. Implicit and explicit

It has been widely acknowledged that Chinese is a semantic language while English is a morphological language. Therefore， Chinese is implicit and English is relatively explicit. The explicitness of English can be shown in two aspects： grammar and semantics.

In the aspect of grammar， English adopts morphological changes to express different meanings. For example， “-s” is used to denote the plural forms， “be” plus “ed” represents the passive. However， Chinese rarely adopt these changes in its grammar. In the aspects of semantics， English people tend to put their main ideas at the beginning of the speech. But Chinese people do just the reverse.

Thus， when translate English into Chinese， implicitly expressing the passive is preferable to making passive clear in the target text. And since Chinese is implicit and passive may be hidden， translators should be adept at digging the passive and making it clear in English. E.g.

文章总算写完了。

The article has at last been hammered out.

2. Flexible and rigid

English is a language under the rule of law， while Chinese is a language under the rule of man. It is because， grammar plays a much more important role in English than in Chinese. In English， a sentence must have a subject and a predicate. But in Chinese， even a word or phrase can be a sentence （e.g. 好了。）. Also， English will adopt specific grammatical forms， but Chinese does not attach much importance to them.

Passive in English has a specific form like this “subject +be+v-ed+by+object”. Passive in Chinese is called “被动句” or “被字句”. But Chinese will not be confined by forms， “被”， which represents the passive， has several counterparts and it can be replaced by other words. For example， “I was beaten by him” can be translated as.

我被他打了。我挨了他的打。我受他打了。他把我打了。

We can see that “被” can be replaced by words “挨”， “受”， “把”. In addition to these， “被” can also be replaced by “由”， “遭”， “可” etc..

Therefore， when translate English into Chinese， translators should select the optimal word to express the meaning of passive. Also， when come across words or sentences that contain some passive meaning in Chinese， translating them into passive voice is more grammatically acceptable.

3. Subjective and objective

John Humphrys once said， “Language is more than a tool for expressing ourselves. It acts as a mirror to our world， reflecting back to us the way we live.” From the ancient time， Chinese people have maintained a thinking of the oneness of heaven and human while western people concentrated more on the reason and logic. Hence Chinese is more subjective and English is more objective. Passive voice is a way of emphasizing objectivity in English， and it is widely used in scientific articles and journalism. Thus， translators should pay attention to passive and translate a sentence into passive voice or submerge the passive when it is necessary.

4. Conclusion

Translators are always refereed to as “the bridge of two languages”. Since Chinese and English adopt different attitudes towards passive， it is the duty of a translator to understand these differences and enable them to assist translation.

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