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Of course it is a good article. And do you know there is an English version of the same article on the internet, too? I guess the reason why even as a powerful goddess as Ms Ocean Heart couldn't find it is that this English version only circulates in a specific area of the internet which can only be accessed to through a special search engine called "Sesame, Open!" Fortunately, I have just upgraded my browser to Alibaba and hit a Bingo on my first adventure into the dark world. This article has a little story. The article was not finished when I first saw it. Among the last points in controversy is that a surfer in the underground "sesame" city, whose name is 首尾不現, was still not convinced that the software-headed robots populated in the city could really do anything meaningful while another surfer, A Sea Admirer, insisted that human beings would make mistakes totally untolerable. After a few rounds of negotiations, they finally agreed to a version and began to look for a person to typeset their new manuscript. I volunteered. Of course, you know, my purpose was to steal the manuscript! I have double checked that the two surfers didn't register on Backchina, so, at least for now I am safe. The following is a copy of the original manuscript, though still imperfect, it reads quite like an English text. Enjoy.
Discussing the translation of idioms
Idiom is the crystallization of language that people refined out in the course of practising and using in long-term and is also the concentrated reflection of the rhetorical devices. The idiom generally comes from ancient classics, famous work, historical story, popular legend, etc., so, the idiom has distinct image and strong national characters.
Because the world is connected, the thinking and emotion of people from all parts of the world will be interlinked. On culture and language, this is shown as mixability and similarity. Some idioms in English and Chinese are very similar in terms of the language used and the metaphor image chosen and can even translate directly, for example:
一箭雙鵰 Double gain
趁熱打鐵 Strike while the iron is hot
火上加油 Pour oil on the fire
晴天霹靂 Bolt from the blue
渾水摸魚 Fish in troubled waters
輕如鴻毛 Light as a feather
空中樓閣 Plans or hopes that are unlikely to be realized [Castle in the air]
破釜沉舟 Cut off all means of retreat [Cross the Rubicon]
如履薄冰 Treading on thin ice
However, there are considerable differences in such aspects as geographical environment, life custom, religious belief after all between the English and Chinese nationalities, so, the generation and application of the idioms demonstrate the characteristics in each of the two kinds of culture. For example, some idioms are close for their meanings, but different in the metaphor images chosen to be used:
守口如瓶 Keep one's mouth shut
一貧如洗 Penniless
健壯如牛 Stalwart like the ox
血流如注 It rains blood
to wake a sleeping dog 驚醒一條睡的狗 [打草驚蛇]
to cast pearls before swine 對牛彈琴
to paint the lily 過分修飾
to help a lame dog over a stile 幫助一條跛的狗度過一個梯蹬 [雪中送炭]
as easy as falling off a log 象從一根木材上落下一樣容易 [易如反掌]
Because of the different cultural backgrounds, sometimes, we are unable to derive the metaphor meaning of some idioms from their literal expressions, for example:
in a pig』s whisper 低聲
hang on somebody』s sleeve 掛在某人的袖子上 [依賴某人]
to be full of beans 充滿豆 [精神旺盛]
to get cold feet 膽怯起來
a skeleton at the feast 在宴會的一副骨骼 [令人掃興的]
粗枝大葉 Careless
揚眉吐氣 Feel proud and elated
無孔不入 All-pervasive
大張旗鼓 On a grand scale
風雨飄搖 Precarious
In addition, some idioms stem from the fables or historical allusions, including specific names and names of places, of the languages they are originated respectively. For this kind of idioms, if translated literally, readers will usually be unable to understand. If a lot of explanations is added, the concise characteristic of the idiom will be lost, causing a difficult problem in the translation of idioms of this kind, for example:
毛遂自薦 Recommend oneself
初出茅廬 Young and inexperienced
東施效顰 Dongshi, an ugly woman, knitting her brows in imitation of the famous beauty Xishi
Notes by the typesetter: All English texts above were translated from Chinese by the online free software Instant Translator. For the English texts printed in brown color, some but very slight human editing was performed. When the software performed a sloppy translation from English to Chinese, a human version of the translated Chinese was provided side by side in a pair of square brackets. The translation software does not handle some simple Chinese grammar correctly. It does not recognize sentences with complex structures. To avoid nonsense result, some modifications were made to the original Chinese texts as shown below. Try to put the two paragraphs of texts in the link http://www.netat.net and see the results yourself:
漫談成語的翻譯
成語(set phrase)是習慣用語(idiomatic phrases)的一種，是人們在長期實踐和使用過程中提煉出的語言結晶，也是修辭手段的集中體現。成語一般來自於古代經典、著名著作、歷史故事、民間傳說等，具有通常都具有鮮明的形象和濃厚的民族色彩特徵。 由於人類生活的世界、人類的思維和情感有共通之處，因此，各種文化和語言也表現出一定的相融性和共同點。英語和漢語中的成語有些在語言形式和比喻形象方面十分相似，幾乎可以完全一一對譯，例如：... 然而，英漢民族畢竟在地理環境、生活習俗、宗教信仰等方面存在相當的差異，所以，成語的產生和使用在兩種文化中表現出各自不同的特色。 例如，有些成語意思相近，但是使用的比喻形象有差別：... 有些成語由於不同文化背景的緣故，無法通過字面的意思來理解其中的比喻意思，例如：... 此外，英語和漢語中都有一部分成語源於各自的寓言或歷史典故，包含特定的人名和地名。這類成語如果按照字面直譯，譯語讀者通常無法理解。如果加上許多解釋，又失去了成語的精練特色，所以成為翻譯中的難題，例如：...
成語是人們在長期實踐和使用過程中提煉出的語言結晶，也是修辭手段的集中體現。成語一般來自於古代經典、著名著作、歷史故事、民間傳說等，所以，成語有鮮明的形象和濃厚的民族特色。 由於世界相通，世界各地的人們的思維和情感也會相通。 在文化和語言上，這就表現為相融性和相似性。 英語和漢語中的成語有些在語言形式和比喻形象方面十分相似，甚至可以直接翻譯，例如：... 然而，英、漢民族畢竟在地理環境、生活習俗、宗教信仰等方面存在相當的差異，所以，成語的產生和使用在兩種文化中表現出各自不同的特色。 例如，有些成語意思相近，但是使用的比喻形象有差別：... 由於不同文化背景的緣故，有時，我們無法通過字面的意義來理解有些成語中的比喻意思，例如：... 此外，英語和漢語中都有一部分成語源於各自的寓言或歷史典故，包含特定的人名和地名。 對於這類成語，如果按照字面直譯，讀者通常會無法理解。 如果加上許多解釋，又失去了成語的精練特色，所以成為翻譯中的難題，例如：...
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