A Study Of Converting Words/Phrases Into Clauses In English-Chinese Translation

"Converting Words/Phrases into Clauses" means that a word or phrase in the original English sentence can be converted to a clause or subject-predicate construction in the target Chinese,thus breaking the original language form to convey the logical meaning through semantic,rather than formal,connection.In doing so,better translation can be produced.This study done from such a small angle is helpful for further research in that it provides a new micro perspective for applied studies of non-literary translation.With the translation of Tracking Clean Energy Progress 2015 as a case,this paper aims to introduce the theory of "Converting Words/Phrases into Clauses" and categorize the words at two levels,i.e.,the word and the phrase,in order to apply this theory and test its applicability.Analysis shows that this method is appropriate at both the two levels.Firstly,at the word level,single adjectives and adverbs can be turned into clauses.Secondly,at the phrases level,it is appropriate for translating noun phrases and prepositional phrases.To acquire satisfactory results,this paper adopts three methods,namely,theoretical review,case study and comparative study.Firstly,the theory of hypotaxis and parataxis is reviewed.Secondly,the application of the "Converting Words/Phrases into Clauses"is presented with adequate examples.Thirdly,different translated versions for one English sentence taken from the translation project are compared in order to look at the applicability of this theory.Compared with studies of other techniques,few literature has been found in discussing the conversion of words/phrases into clauses.In this sense,this can serve as a new contribution to the discussion of translation techniques,though examples may be not enough.It is hoped that with further translation practice and studies,this shortage will be overcome.