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1. Each of the following sentences contains the word language. Read the sentence and identify whether the word, as used in the context, refers to language as activity or language as system. If it refers to language as system, does it refer to a system used by an individual, a group of people, a nation, or all human beings?
1) Compared with English, German is a difficult language.
2) The professor keeps using obscure language.
3) Aphasia means the loss of ability to use or to understand language.
4) Do you know what that word really means? You should be more careful with your language.
5) Psychologists use lots of big terms. Their language is difficult to understand.
6) The article is full of archaic language.
7) Young children are good at picking up a language.
8) The boy was scolded by his mother for using bad language.
2. Sit back and relax. Read a piece of Chinese original and its English translation carefully, and try to answer the following questions:
■ Do you like the translation? Why or why not?
■ What linguistic and/or extralinguistic knowledge is needed to translate this specific passage?
■ Can you identify any differences between the Chinese and English languages from your comparative reading(s) of the two texts (respectively called the “source text” and the “target text”)? How do these differences affect the way the translators communicate the meaning and style of the original in English?
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尹雪艳着实迷人。但谁也没能道出她真正迷人的地方。尹雪艳从来不爱擦脂抹粉，有时最多在嘴唇上点着些似有似无的蜜丝佛陀；尹雪艳也不爱穿红戴绿，天气炎热，一个夏天，她都浑身银白，净扮得了不得。不错，尹雪艳是有一身雪白的肌肤，细挑的身材，容长的脸蛋儿配着一副俏丽甜净的眉眼子，但是这些都不是尹雪艳出奇的地方。见过尹雪艳的人都这么说，也不知是何道理，无论尹雪艳一举手、一投足，总有一份世人不及的风情。别人伸个腰、蹙一下眉，难看，但是尹雪艳做起来，却又别有一番妩媚了。尹雪艳也不多言、不多语，紧要的地方插上几句苏州腔的上海话，又中听、又熨贴。有些荷包不足的舞客，攀不上叫尹雪艳的台子，但是他们却去百乐门坐坐，观观尹雪艳的风采，听她讲几句吴侬软语，心里也是舒服的。尹雪艳在池子里，微仰着头，轻摆着腰，一迳是那么不慌不忙地起舞着；即使跳着快狐步，尹雪艳也从来没有失过分寸，仍旧显得那么从容，那么轻盈，像一毬随风飘荡的柳絮，脚下没有扎根似的。尹雪艳有她自己的旋律。尹雪艳有她自己的拍子。绝不因外界的迁异，影响到她的均衡。（白先勇.《永远的尹雪艳》） |
Yin
Hsueh-yen was genuinely bewitching, though no one could say precisely where
her charm lay. She rarely bothered to put on makeup; at most she might touch
her lips with a little Max factor now and then; so faint as to be barely
noticeable. Nor did she care to wear vivid colours. All through the summer,
when the weather was burning hot, she dressed entirely in silvery white,
looking cool and fresh beyond words. Indeed, she had lovely snow-white skin
and a slender figure, with sweet, exquisite eyes set in an oval face, but it
was not these features that made her so extraordinary. Everyone who had ever
set eyes on Yin Hsueh-yen said that, for some mysterious reason, every
gesture of her hand and every movement of her foot held an alluring charm
unmatched in all the world. While a yawn or a frown would have been
unbecoming to others, in her it carried another kind of attraction. She spoke
little: at crucial moments she might throw in a few words, ever so pleasant
and soothing to the ear, in her Soochow-accented Shanghainese. Some patrons
who could not afford to have her at their tables came nevertheless to the
Paramount Hall just to enjoy her radiant
presence and listen to her soft Soochow speech, which seemed to make it all
worthwhile. On the dance floor, her head slightly raised, her hips gently
swaying, she always danced unhurriedly; even when it was a quick fox-trot,
she never let go of herself displaying the ease and the suppleness of a
windblown catkin drifting along, free of roots. Yin Hsueh-yen had her own
rhythm; she moved to her own beat. No outside disturbance could affect her
natural poise. (白先勇、叶佩霞 译). |
3. What kind of study is contrastive linguistics?