TABLE OF CONTENTS T0 the Reader. Part One:Unnecessary Words. I.Unnecessary Nouns and Verbs.3 II.Unnecessary Modifiers.26 IIL.Redundant Twins.63 【V,Saying the Same Thing Twice.90 V. Repeated References to the Same Thing 114 VI.Summing it All Up.l43 Part Two:Sentence Structure .169 VII.The Noun Plague.170 VIII.Pronouns and Antecedents. 202 IX.The Placement of Phrases and Clauses.243 X. Dangling Modifiers.283 XI.Parallel Structure.328 XII.Logical Connectives.376 XIII.Summing it All Up. . 428 Part Three:Supplementary Examples.454 Key to Exercises.526 Selected Bibliography.560
To the Reader This book can be used either in the classroom or for independent study.It is addressed primarily to Chinese translators and to ad- vanced students of English who are practicing translation.I hope, however,that it will prove equally useful to other Chinese who are called upon to write English and who wish to improve their mastery of it people working in journalism,foreign affairs,business, tourism,advertising,and many other fields Naturally,readers who open this book will have reached varying levels of skill in their second language.But to one degree or another, the work of all but the most highly trained and experienced among them will inevitably contain elements of Chinglish.Chinglish,of course,is that misshapen,hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but that might be described as "English with Chinese characteristics." In writing this Guide,I have assumed that my Chinese readers have a basic knowledge of English grammar and that if they want a review of the subject,they can find it in other books.My purpose is rather to show translators -and,by extension,others who are writing directly in English-how to recognize elements of Chinglish in a first draft and how to revise it so as to eliminate those elements. in other words,this book is intended to help them turn their work into real English such as might have been written by an educated na- tive speaker of the language. At institutions like Xinhua News Agency,China Daily,Foreign Languages Press,and the Central Translation Bureau,this task is
commonly entrusted to senior translators or editors or to foreign "pol- ishers"(who may be more or less competent to perform it).But in principle,much of the work could be done by the original translators -or writers-themselves.That is why throughout these pages I have sometimes referred to the "translator,"sometimes to the "pol- isher"or "reviser."The terms are not mutually exclusive:every translator rereading a first draft can and should be his or her own pol- isher. The examples of Chinglish presented here the "A-version"in each case)are authentic.That is,although some of them have been simplified for instructional purposes,none are invented.Most were found in draft translations that were corrected before the text ap- peared in print.Some were found in published materials-official documents,China Daily,the several English-language magazines, and so on.The source of an example is indicated only when it ap- peared in a foreign publication,such as the Far Eastern Economic Review or a U.S.newspaper. When an example of Chinglish is taken from a draft translation, the revision offered here (the "B-version")is,with few exceptions, the one decided upon by the polishers who revised it.If,however, the A-version appeared in print,the revision is one that I think should have been made and that I am suggesting now.In either case, the proposed B-version is not necessarily the only "correct"one. Translation is not a science but a craft,and craftsmen in any field may have different opinions as to the best solution to a given technical problem. It may seem presumptuous for a person who knows little of the Chinese language to proffer a work of this kind.My qualifications are
(from French to English)who has given much thought to problems of translation.In addition,during the 1980s and 1990s I spent eight years working as a polisher in Beijing,first at Foreign Languages Press and later at the Central Translation Bureau Bureau for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx,Engels,Lenin and Stalin).During those years I had the opportunity to work closely with a wide range of Chinese translators,from beginners fresh out of school to the most capable senior professors.I learned much from them all. Even with this background,however,I could not have produced this Guide without the help of two invaluable consultants who have kindly read and reread my manuscript.The first is my good friend Jiang Guihua,the retired chief of the English section at the Central Translation Bureau,who has examined every example with the criti- cal eye of a skilled reviser.The second is my husband Larry,who has given me the benefit of his expertise as a writer and as a professor of journalism who has had long experience both teaching and polishing in China.The criticism and advice of these two knowledgeable edi- tors,one native speaker of each language,have been,quite simply, indispensable. Joan Pinkham Amherst,Massachusetts 1 April 1999
致读者 本书可用于课堂教学，也可用于自学。其主要对象是中国的 翻译工作者以及做翻译练习的高年级英语学生。但是，我希望这 本书对需要用英语写作的其他中国人（包括新闻工作者，外事工作 者、从事商业、旅游业、广告业以及许多其他行业需要使用英语的 工作者)同样有帮助，而他们又都希望解够更好地掌握英语。 自然，当读者翻阅这本书时，他们使用第二语言的技能所达到 的水平是不同的。但是，除了那些造诣很深的，一般人的翻译中都 会不同程度地含有中式英语的成分。当然，所谓中式英语就是那 种畸形的，混合的、既非英语又非汉语的语文字，也可称其为“具 有汉语特色的英语”。 在写这本书的过程中，我心目中的中国读者已经掌握了基本 的英语语法：如果有人想复习一下他们的语法，可以去求助于有关 这方面的书籍。而我的目的则在于帮助翻译工作者以及其他直接 用英语写作的人懂得如何在初稿中找出中式英语的成分并将其修 改掉。也就是说，这本书是为了帮助他们将自己的写作修改成为 地道的英语，就像一个受过教育的以英语为母语的人写的一样。 在一些像新华社，《中国日报》社、外文出版杜、中央编译局的 单位里，这项丁作一般是由高级翻译、审校或外国专家做的（他们 域或多或少能够胜任这项任务)。但是，原则上，大部分工作可由译 者（或作者）自已来完成。为此，在整部书中，我有时用“译者”，有 4