I have been engaged in translation for many years, and I very much hope to have the opportunity to discuss with my brothers and sisters. I'd like to take this opportunity to chat casually and get to know the experts.

Nowadays, many people are learning English and interested in translation. There are very few people who don't understand foreign languages now, but most of them are half jealous. Few experts can really serve formal negotiations, and even fewer can engage in professional text translation. Why is this? I think there are two main problems. First, people with a good English foundation have no practical experience. Most of these people are teachers, working behind closed doors in colleges and universities. Second, their practical English foundation is not enough. Most of them wander around the society and lack systematic theoretical training. It is indispensable to integrate theory with practice. Basic theory is like routine, and practical experience is like internal work. A real master must have these two things in order to gallop the rivers and lakes with superb kung fu. It is impossible to have a good English foundation but not to participate in practical activities; On the other hand, it is impossible for people with poor foundation to participate in more practical activities. Fundamentals and exercises complement each other.

First of all, to be an excellent translator, we must start with basic learning. Everyone knows the importance of foundation, which directly affects our English level in the future. Now not everyone can master the correct basic learning methods, and even some people will go astray.

I think the best time to learn English is from Grade One. At this age, he is smart, has a good memory, has a certain understanding, and his imitation is still there. Learning English too early is purely by imitation and rote memorization, and I can't understand English grammar and rules. We learn according to the way we learn our mother tongue. If we study, we should learn from it. You know, we are learning a foreign language! Our environment does not allow us to learn according to the method of learning our mother tongue. Personally, I think that if there are no real bilingual talents, there will always be one who is a mother tongue. Some people send their children to England when they are in primary school. Results British English is good and China Chinese is good. None of them are really good. In addition, you have to consider the cost of education. Can such a big investment be recovered? Especially for our poor children. However, if you are willing to spend China's money, you can still learn well. Unless you are like the upper class in India, they sent their children to Britain from an early age and deliberately used English as their mother tongue, but these children could not speak Hindi at all, at the expense of their mother tongue. Most Indians, including businessmen and technicians, have poor English pronunciation, which can't compare with British English, which is fluent in the upper class.

In addition, I found that there are all kinds of learning materials. In fact, I think we should still use the traditional textbooks in Chinese mainland. Foreign countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan, spoken and written materials can only be used for reference. If we can learn and master a set of formal teaching materials completely, we will have a solid foundation and can develop in any direction. This is the main problem I want to talk about. I have contacted some college and middle school students and found that their learning methods are very problematic. When they encounter some grammar, they will only memorize pronunciation rules, but they are not good at discovering their rules and do not know how to take shortcuts. Of course, this is directly related to the teacher. Give a simple example of linking and voiced consonants. In fact, this is a rule for the convenience of speaking. For another example, putting some English modifiers at the back is actually very human. When saying "thank you very much", it is very human to say "very much" later. You can add "very" or "not too" and put the modifier behind to make the expression progressive, brisk and flexible, just like "don't bask in the sun" and "drink tea first" in Cantonese. The same is true of the use of active voice and passive voice in English. Grammar is for people, and grammar is a good thing. As long as you master the rules and understand the grammar, you can learn by opportunism, take more shortcuts and take fewer detours. When we say that grammar is important, we mean basic grammar. Without rules, we can't be Fiona Fang. When we say not to pay too much attention to grammar, we mean not to play with grammar too much and find fault with the usage of prepositional adverbs. For example, when we call someone, can we just use … (phone number) to call someone, and can we only use … in FLT? There is also a question of spoken and written language. Many friends always say that their spoken English is not good and ask me how to improve my spoken English. My answer is simple. First of all, it is necessary to find out whether oral English is poor or the foundation is not good at all. As far as I know, most people don't have a good foundation at all, and they can't understand what they don't understand. You can't write what you can't say This is because, as I said above, we learn a foreign language, not our mother tongue, so I think it is impossible to improve our spoken English without foundation. Mother tongue may be spoken well but not written well. The written and spoken language of a foreign language should go hand in hand and should not be separated. People with good oral English have good written English. However, people who are good at written language may not be good at spoken language. Learn the written language well and lay a good foundation, and you will naturally succeed. Some old comrades do have this problem. They can read and write, but they are slow in reaction and poor in expression, because they never have a chance to practice their spoken English. Dumb English certainly needs to be reformed, but I think some young people should pay attention to oral English and practice their internal skills hard at the same time, and don't stop at showing off their gestures. Even the improvement of spoken English is very limited for ordinary people. For example, the level of oral English that can participate in simple negotiations is easy to achieve, but there are very few interpreters who are really qualified for simultaneous interpretation and interpretation in large-scale formal meetings. I think learning English should go hand in hand in all aspects, not just one skill. This is one of the differences between learning a foreign language and learning a mother tongue. Some translators think that speaking English can earn more money than doing translation work, and that translation can help you learn new things and enrich your knowledge. Translation is as fast as making money. In addition, it should be noted that the advantage of young people is good memory, while the advantage of old comrades is rational understanding. Girls have better memory than boys, and boys give full play to their understanding.

Some people always overemphasize the environment and always say that their environment is not good. In fact, they can learn English well at home, because the English environment is everywhere, but not in other languages. First of all, we need a good foundation and language talent. The environment is helpful, but not absolute, mainly due to internal factors. In fact, the English environment everywhere is very good. On the other hand, many overseas Chinese have poor English, depending on whether they have language talent, just like Chinese in China have good and bad English, and English in Britain has good and bad English. Just as some northerners stay in the south and never learn southern dialects, South Renye Fang can't learn Mandarin well. I studied Cantonese when I was in Guangdong, but some of my friends didn't. In addition, China people who have been studying abroad for a long time are gradually unfamiliar with the domestic situation and some specific things. Their Chinese is not necessarily good, and even if they are good, they may not be able to keep up with the domestic trend. Although their English is very good, it is quite difficult to translate. Because translation is still a job with high IQ, it involves not only the quality of language, but also strong comprehensive ability, comprehensive professional knowledge, quick response and strong thinking ability, which are not something that foreigners who have stayed abroad for a long time or studied Chinese at home can do. The same is true of spoken English. How can people who can't learn Mandarin well pronounce English well? I have observed that people who are good at Mandarin and articulate also have good English pronunciation. Besides, some people always want to learn English from foreigners. We should know that communicating with foreigners is the purpose of learning English, not the process. Practicing English with foreigners, especially oral English, is only to test and assess their learning effect and improve their application ability, which is auxiliary. Foreign devils don't know Chinese, and they don't know how China people should learn English. I'm going to Shenzhen to meet the American who insulted women (I heard that he is a poor English teacher and came to China to make a living. ) that would be bad luck. So foreigners are the objects we use to learn English, not our trainers. In learning English, you should mainly learn from China, and China can better guide students according to the characteristics of China people. Of course, the China teacher you choose should be of high level, and must be someone who is good at English and Chinese, especially someone who has the ability to explain. It is best to learn by apprenticeship, and people with high understanding can learn by themselves. Another problem is that I have noticed that most young people nowadays advocate American English, but few have learned it. I still suggest you learn British English. British English seems complicated, but it is authentic, true and clear. When you really learn it well, you will find it easier to understand than American English. American English is simple and arbitrary on the surface, but it is not standardized. In fact, it is not easy to learn it well, and it is not suitable for foreigners. Of course, to be honest, I am still very different. In fact, most non-English speaking countries, including China, use traditional British English as their learning English. American English has a great influence on the world, but only a few places in American English carry forward British English, and the mainstream of American English cannot be separated from British English. In Australia, New Zealand, India and many other countries where English is the official language, British English is still the main language, while most people in non-English-speaking countries such as Europe, Asia and Arabia are still learning British English. Also, some people can learn some slang and dialects to express their own characteristics, but in vain. Many of them are nonstandard usages, and some people regard them as treasures. After all, we are foreigners, why should we spend precious energy to learn those things? Foreigners will use standard expressions when talking to us. As long as you can use standard expressions, that's no problem. It's like a foreigner I once knew asked me why many people in China learn Chinese without rolling their tongues. He thinks this is authentic Chinese. You don't need to remember too many English words. You just need to understand some words, not necessarily use them. You just need to play the words you have mastered. You need to remember the professional words you need at work, so that you can devote more energy to learning useful things.

We should try our best to improve our English after learning the basic knowledge. I think most people's learning purpose should be comprehensive application, not theoretical research. What is the most practical field now? Personally, I think it should be business, law and engineering technology. Of course, in a broad sense, our English application should cover politics, economy, culture, science and technology, education, sports and life, and comprehensive quality and knowledge are essential. There are similarities and differences between using English as a tool and translating English. The same thing is that they are all a translation process. As a tool, it is actually a process of translating for yourself. If you want to understand or understand English, it is a process of English-Chinese translation. Expressing it is a process of Chinese-English translation; Of course, you can express it according to your own wishes, which is relatively easy. The difference is that it is much more difficult to translate other people's things. Maybe some people can read a document in Chinese and English separately, but they may not be able to translate it themselves, because translation is a process of "transformation", and the ability of translation is reflected in this process of "transformation". We should not only be faithful to the original text and express it properly, but also "transform" the completed results to others quickly and decisively. Translation process is the battlefield to test foreign language proficiency. I don't think the title of translation review should be a senior title.

I have been engaged in all kinds of interpretation and translation for more than ten years, including large-scale important conferences, technical exchanges, high-level leadership meetings at home and abroad, large-scale imported projects, negotiation interpretation and formal interpretation activities for hundreds of times; The translation of engineering, finance, business and legal documents has reached nearly ten million words. Also engaged in import and export trade, international bidding cooperation, played international lawsuits, and handled huge claims of foreign multinational companies. I think the quality of English directly affects the quality of work, especially the accuracy, authenticity, euphemism and suggestibility of expression, which is very important in both spoken English and English documents. At present, there are many people who can speak English, but few experts. If you know a little English, you can make an offer at will. There are many mistakes in the project information of attracting investment. The English of China website is not very authentic, not to mention the English labels of city signs and even window units are wrong. In my opinion, at a high level, apart from native speakers such as Britain and the United States, China people have the best English, followed by Germans. This mainly refers to pronunciation, but the authenticity of usage is far less than that of many other non-English speaking countries, such as Southeast Asia and Arab countries. China people have the highest level of foreign languages. For example, if you want to translate French, Russian and German with the same content into Chinese, or translate Chinese into a foreign language, English must be the best. I have met many foreigners who can speak both English and their mother tongue, saying that I would rather talk to your English interpreter. In fact, the more accurate the expression and understanding in foreign exchange, the more conducive to work. I don't advocate that some people who are half jealous of foreign languages communicate with foreign countries alone without translation. In fact, there are many obstacles in the dialogue between foreigners and the parties themselves. Although they seem to understand out of politeness, they usually pretend to nod their heads, which can be seen from their expressions and reactions. Therefore, we should try our best to use translation for our own benefit. At present, the general situation is that many friends have appreciated others' expressions, but they still can't reach the same level of expression. Sadly, some users, especially some farmers and entrepreneurs, lack this awareness. They think translation is similar, so there is no need to spend more money on quality. In fact, if you skip a meal and smoke a pack of cigarettes, you will get the money. This is a matter of consciousness. You must understand that low-level translation is not only ineffective, but also affects your image. Look at these people's business cards. None of them do well. So foreigners say that China people now learn to pay attention to product packaging, but the information packaging is still very poor. In addition, by the way, as a qualified translator, you must adapt to the English of various countries. For example, you must understand the English spoken by French, Italians, Arabs and Southeast Asians.

Therefore, according to my personal experience, in order to improve my application ability, I should start learning professional English from the third and fourth grade of college. For example, I will start teaching English in professional technology, business, law and engineering, such as studying joint venture contracts, standard Chinese and English tender documents, steam engines and automobile manufacturing technology. But now the situation that school theory is divorced from reality is quite serious. They pay too much attention to basic theories and may not be able to teach literature in the past. What's the use? At present, he is also an economic and trade teacher who has never engaged in economic and trade, and the tour guides who have never engaged in tourism are out of date. Not to mention some other specialized English. It seems that some people who have passed the so-called TEM-8 can't be good professional translators. I heard that Beijing Foreign Studies University is going to take the translation certification exam. I think the results are all the same, that is, those who may pass the exam may not be able to be translators, and many qualified translators may not pass the exam. This is the result that theory is divorced from reality, because the questioner himself does not have practical ability and professional technical knowledge. Has the professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University been engaged in engineering translation for a long time? If you can't do it yourself, what master's degree or doctor's degree can you apply for? Are translators certified by the United Nations familiar with the translation of various engineering technologies? However, the translation volume of engineering technology accounts for the absolute number of the current translation market, and the education department should teach for this big market, because we learn English for users and for the market, not for academics and theories, not to study the role of ponytail. Therefore, I solemnly suggest that college students should pay attention to their studies. Under the current education system, they can only rely on themselves. Don't be superstitious about the so-called bourgeois authority, but trust us workers, peasants and soldiers. After entering the society, don't believe in such training courses in the society. In fact, it is just a kind of repetitive theoretical study, just like school. At present, English training in society is nothing more than oral/listening classes, CET-4 and CET-6, postgraduate courses and overseas classes, but engineering English, which is in greatest demand in society, has not been trained. To be a real master, you must find the right direction of learning. You must use your brains, study hard and rely on yourself. Of course, it is best to have expert guidance. What is worrying now is that quite a few people think that they are good at foreign languages, and they can become translators if they win prizes and take some certificates, but they are still far from it. Regardless of translation, interpretation and simultaneous interpretation, those with certificates may not be able to do it, and those without qualification certificates do it well. To be a qualified translator, you should not only have a solid basic language foundation and rich professional knowledge, but also be honed in the battlefield for a long time, not just knowing two languages. Translation is a special job.

Among business, law and engineering English, law is the most difficult and should be said to be the highest realm. A lot of things are difficult to understand, which requires hard work and must be consulted. Business English is relatively easy, but it takes more time to express or write a good document. It is easy to write letters and telegrams, meeting minutes and agreements, but it is more difficult to do monthly reports, feasibility reports and market research. Traditional import and export trade is of course the simplest, while foreign economic cooperation projects are slightly more complicated, especially after many new forms of cooperation have been introduced, involving equipment, technology, financing, installation and commissioning services and other aspects. Speaking of engineering technology translation, it should be said that it is the field with the largest amount of English translation at present, and it involves mechanical, electrical, chemical, civil, instrumentation and thermal engineering, computer and other majors. Therefore, it is difficult for non-technical people who study English to do such translation at first, so most of them use professional and technical people with good English to undertake the translation work. However, I think an excellent translator has strong adaptability. He can apply his language skills to various fields, so that the two sides can communicate without full understanding. Engineering English is mostly connected. In fact, there are only a few specific things in a project, and most of the backgrounds and terms are similar. Once you enter, you will find that it is not as difficult as you think. Liberal arts translation, can not engage in engineering translation, is not limited by liberal arts majors, but their own skills are not enough. In fact, I have witnessed with my own eyes that many foreign language professional translators have also successfully completed various technical translations. The translation of technicians often has depth and no extension, and the translation of general language majors lacks connotation. I think a qualified translator should have some aspects, both depth and breadth. Besides 1 and 2 majors, he should be able to adapt to the translation of various majors. The translation of professional knowledge should still focus on language ability, and professional knowledge is only an auxiliary means. Of course, those half bottles of vinegar with mediocre language and no professional background are not suitable for translation. Personally, I always think that translation is the embodiment of comprehensive ability based on language ability, not technology research and development. It is not enough to rely only on a certain professional knowledge and ignore language ability, because any major is not independent, it is closely related to other knowledge, and experienced translation can completely cover all major majors. On the contrary, some translators with technical background can't do their own technical professional translation well. Some translators from different languages can't translate well. The accumulation of translation is the working process. In fact, the working process of translation is a training process. For example, participating in interpretation activities is a kind of oral and professional training. Translating a document is an improvement of knowledge and language. Over time, there will be less content that is not covered, far exceeding the effect that can be achieved by attending special training courses. When the basic skills are almost the same, it depends on who has accumulated more. I really hate some teachers now, even if I cheat money, as long as I don't mislead others' children; It is hateful to mislead children, but the loss of money without derailment is even smaller; The most terrible thing is to mislead others' children and cheat money.

Although doing translation is more difficult than making tools, translation still has its randomness and flexibility. Although we usually require serious, accurate and earnest translation, it is flexible and interesting in practical work. For example, in the use of idioms, generally speaking, don't pretend to be profound and abuse idioms. Simplicity is beauty. Foreigners, whether national leaders or businessmen, are relatively simple and casual, not as profound as we all think. However, China leaders like to use idioms. If they can't express the speaker's meaning, unless they use them, they can use them boldly. For example, in a negotiation many years ago, in order to argue about the jurisdiction of the contract, the Chinese side said, "Don't throw away watermelons, pick sesame seeds." I thought this idiom was wonderful, but I suddenly forgot the English of Sesame, so I had a brainwave and called it Sesame Peanut. I didn't expect the effect to be as good. The foreign devil thought the metaphor of peanuts was better. Another example is that the boss of a multinational company seized a loophole in the negotiation and said a lot of regrets, mistakes, resentments, prayers and rogues. I summed it up and translated it into "Don't go easy on our army." It should be said that this idiom expresses the complicated mood of the parties at that time. When foreigners ask for help, they often repeat the word "please", which can be translated as "kindness". Translation needs to be witty, flexible and fast. Let's just say that the quality of the speaker affects the quality of translation. Some people's speeches are illogical, unclear and ambiguous, which is very troublesome to translate. Therefore, there should be a difference between foreign speeches and domestic speeches, especially some leaders and speakers in China should pay attention to this. Of course, 100% error is hard to occur in translation (including translation and interpretation). Especially for large-scale on-site translation, translation is highly concentrated, and it is necessary to listen, remember and speak. At the same time, there are several formalities to go through. Sometimes a slip of the tongue may occur, or the following people understand, and the translation may not be able to respond. This is normal, just like a reviewer in translation. At this time, translators should maintain good psychological quality and be confident, because people who know foreign languages are relaxed and have no pressure. If they make many mistakes, an old-timer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said more than ten years ago that the translation pressure of Icelandic in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the least. I have met many translators who think they are competent, and they are all embarrassed after taking office. From this perspective, my personal experience is that simultaneous translation is relatively easy, because it is relatively hidden, but the rapid response and flexibility of simultaneous translation are not easy for ordinary people to achieve. A translator should make continuous progress, pay attention to learning new things and keep self-renewal. Like Chinese, some scientific and technological neologisms in English are widely used with the progress of the times. For example, the word turbo, which symbolizes the industrial revolution, is pronounced differently in Britain and America than in our dictionary. The evolved turbo prefix is used in various occasions, such as computers, game machines, weapons and so on. If understood correctly, it will be very helpful for translation. If you use the toy turbo man in the American movie Santa Claus,

Sometimes translation needs word for word, and sometimes sentence patterns need to be reorganized; In English-Chinese translation, pay attention to cutting long sentences into broken sentences, while in Chinese-English translation, broken sentences can be combined into long sentences. If you accidentally miss something in oral translation, you can try to add it in the next paragraph; Sometimes you suddenly say the wrong subject or object, don't change your mouth. You can translate it into active voice or passive voice. If you don't hear clearly, don't turn or be neutral first, and then listen to the next paragraph, maybe the problem will be solved. Generally speaking, English-Chinese translation is relatively easy, but it is much more difficult, so it is best to ask a high-level translator for Chinese-English translation. But at the highest level, it is still difficult to translate English into Chinese. So I think the price gap between English-Chinese translation and Chinese-English translation is too big and unreasonable. Difficult English-Chinese translation should be more expensive than Chinese-English translation. Chinese-English translation is easy to understand but difficult to express. The principles of Chinese-English translation are: first of all, don't make mistakes, be concise, let foreigners understand, and don't have ambiguity; Secondly, we should choose the most suitable English expressions and use English idioms to make our English expressions more authentic. The main difficulty in English-Chinese translation lies in understanding idioms, especially things that cannot be found in books. Another difficulty is parenthesis in long paragraphs. Many translators are dumbfounded when they encounter long paragraphs, so the open-book exam is even more difficult to say. In fact, as long as you find out the brackets, modify the text and clarify the structure, you can solve it. Some things can be translated freely while being faithful to the original. Be sure to read, understand and translate thoroughly, and solve it with internal strength. Some translators can't achieve the overall translation effect when they only see the trees but not the forest. It is much easier to understand the meaning and translate it, because our English-Chinese translation is to translate a foreign language into our mother tongue, which is easy to express. When there is a problem, you can use vague methods, that is, try to translate the Chinese meaning as much as possible, and don't make mistakes. Translation should focus on free translation, supplemented by literal translation. Generally speaking, on the basis of being faithful to the original text, free translation should be done as much as possible. Of course, for some things with China characteristics or foreign characteristics, there is only literal translation. Literal translation that readers can't understand is sometimes not only a language problem, but also a background problem. I once tried to get foreign experts to revise English manuscripts translated from Chinese into English. The corrected English looks much more beautiful, but it can't really express the original intention, especially something with China characteristics. I told him that the meaning of Chinese is awkward for westerners, which is a background problem, so it is impossible and unnecessary to completely break away from "foreign flavor" in Chinese-English translation. I think a translator with profound internal skills is more of an accumulated free translation, because it is easier for him to find the corresponding expression accurately instead of just looking it up in the dictionary. To give a few simple examples, a pregnant woman said that she would give birth to a baby in July this year. Translating this sentence into English will certainly be varied, and the corresponding statement is that her baby is expected to give birth in July this year. Please pay attention to the usage of Due. It is also said that if the business is not profitable or loses money, it will break even. The order of appearance is not important. Another word is discipline, which should refer to the "specialty" in engineering projects, such as the division of power, chemical industry and machinery. So what is due diligence translated into Chinese? Looking up a dictionary in translation is only an auxiliary means, and you must never rely entirely on a dictionary. Also pay attention to the method of looking up the dictionary. A word must be checked repeatedly before it can be used. More importantly, it should be noted that many technical terms are compound words. In the process of learning English, we should pay special attention to the usage of abbreviations. One is memory, and the other is the law of learning abbreviations. In fact, British people don't like to use abbreviations, mainly to avoid bringing difficulties to others. I don't advocate the abuse of abbreviations, but we must master them. There are also some essentials, mainly the use of initials, consonants and partial or compound letters. In a word, I think the best translation should be the combination of Zhong Daolong and Li Yang. We should also pay attention to improving the speed of translation. In fact, the better the translation, the faster it will be, while the lower-level translation is poor and slow. If you look up the dictionary for a while, read the materials for a while, and think for a while, then your income from translation in one day may not be as high as that from shoeshine. Generally speaking, a skilled translator should translate more than 500 words per hour. Skilled translation does not need to look up materials or dictionaries, just like interpreting. However, like interpretation, translation work can't last too long, otherwise the efficiency will drop, and two and a half days' work will be much more efficient than a whole day's work.

I'm sorry I said so much. It may be a bit confusing in logic, but it may not be right. But I'm talking about my own unique insights, years of practical experience and feelings. It has nothing to do with any books, and I have never copied anything from others. I hope it inspires you. Please give me your advice. I admire heroes with actual combat experience most, because the real kung fu lies in the people.

Finally, a digression is that our comrades engaged in translation work should establish patriotism, put the interests of the unit and the country first, always remember Premier Zhou's words, and do red and expert translation. This is very important, because translation represents the national image and has a lot of contact with state secrets. In the past, the image of translation was always poor, and the fat translation in Private Zhang Ga left a bad impression on China people. I have to admit that there were many traitors in the past, and now they are the same. The difference is that there used to be only male traitors, but now there are female traitors. We should learn from the translation predecessors and the revolutionary diplomats of the older generation of volunteers, and use foreign languages as a weapon of struggle to change the world's impression of translation. According to my observation, there are basically two kinds of translation now, either unpatriotic or patriotic, that is, a running dog who worships foreign things and flatters foreign countries; On the other hand, because of too much contact with foreigners, national self-esteem becomes stronger, thus becoming more patriotic. I hope everyone is the latter.