The way of thinking is the deep mechanism of language generation and development, which acts on all levels of language, and the huge difference in thinking between China and the West has led to a huge difference in language expression. In translation, if we can't keenly recognize this difference and flexibly switch between the two ways of thinking, it is likely that the translation will become stiff and strange.
The "Chinese-style English" that comes out of our mouths in our daily lives is because we are still thinking in Chinese when we speak English. The strange "translation tone" in the English translation is because the expression of the translated text is influenced by the English thinking when translating. To avoid these awkward situations, we need to have a deep understanding of the differences between Chinese and English thinking.
This paper will discuss the differences between English thinking and Chinese thinking from the aspects of sentence structure, tense voice, thinking patterns, and cultural influences, in order to improve our understanding of different language thinking styles.
The grammatical structure of English is stricter, usually using a subject-verb-object structure, the word order is relatively fixed, and it usually gets straight to the point, with the center of gravity falling at the beginning of the sentence.
The grammatical structure of Chinese is flexible and changeable, generally arranged in logical relations and chronological order, usually narrating first, then drawing conclusions, and the focus falls on the end of the sentence.
Example:
Chinese: If the people of small countries dare to rise up and struggle, dare to pick up the **, and control the destiny of their own countries, they will certainly be able to defeat the aggression of big countries.
English: The people of a small country can certainly defeat aggression by a big country, if only they dare to rise in struggle, dare to take up arms and grasp in their own hands the destiny of their own country.
It is not difficult to see that the sentence structure used in Chinese is: "If it is, the result will be the result". The former "condition" is light; The latter "asserts" are important. The expression of the translated text is inverse to the Chinese expression, that is, the English first "asserts" and then "condition", that is, "the result is what it is, if it is".
Although both Chinese and English have the concept of tense, there are great differences in specific expressions and structures. Chinese usually relies on contextual and modal words to express tenses and voices, while English uses verb morphology and the use of particles to clarify tenses.
Example:
he is always thinking of how he could do more for the people.
He always thinks about how he can do more for the people.
3. The difference between active and passive
Active and passive use is a typical difference between Chinese and English. Although both active and passive voices exist in both English and Chinese, in Chinese, active voice is used much more frequently than passive voice; In English, the passive voice is used more frequently.
Example:
English: lt was still thought unusual in some places that programs could be called up byviewers to be displayed on their TV screens at home
Chinese: In some places, people still think that it is unusual for viewers to play ** on their own TV screens**.
Westerners' linear thinking tends to be direct, concise, and practical, focusing on facts and logical reasoning, and is more inclined to use direct questions and declarative sentences.
On the other hand, Chinese spiral thinking pays more attention to implicit, indirect, and rhetorical expressions, pays attention to emotions and interpersonal relationships, and is more inclined to use rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questions, metaphors, and allusions.
Influenced by Western culture, English thinking emphasizes individualism, competition, and practicality, and pays more attention to the direct expression of personal opinions and rights; Influenced by Eastern culture, Chinese thinking emphasizes collectivism, cooperation and human touch, and pays more attention to maintaining harmony and avoiding conflict.
All in all, there are huge differences between Chinese thinking and English thinking, and mastering these differences is also a necessary prerequisite for mastering English-Chinese translation. This article only mentions some of these aspects, there are many more aspects that we need to learn and explore, I hope this article can provide you with some help.
Materials** The materials in the article and *** are on the Internet, non-commercial use, only used for popular science, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete).