中譯英時的詞彙搭配問題

解志強

摘要

詞彙的搭配在學習外語的過程當中，是很重要但是又很容易被忽略的一環。以英文為例，一般學生或老師較傾向於以文法的優劣及字彙認識的多寡來評斷一個人的英語程度好壞。殊不知文法和字彙在擴充到某一程度後，雖然可以寫出流暢的英文，但是仍然不像當地人所寫的英語。其原因，就在於詞彙搭配的選擇，並不符合英語人士的習慣所致。這種情形對於學習翻譯的學生來講尤其困擾，特別是在處理中翻英的譯文時，英語詞彙的搭配往往成為頭痛而無法規避的問題。例如，要將 「革除惡習」翻譯成英文時，很容易根據表面的對應而翻譯成remove a bad habit，但是根據英文搭配辭典和語料庫的查詢，得知break a habit才是常用的英語搭配，而不是remove a habit。本文首先探討英文當中有哪些搭配的現象，在國語裡有無對應的搭配形式，再進入主題探討學生進行中英翻譯時所遭遇的困難。搭配可大分為文法搭配(grammatical collocation)與詞彙搭配(lexical collocation)兩種。根據實際的語料分析與推測，學生較不擅長的是詞彙搭配。而在英翻中和中翻英兩項工作當中，又以中翻英較容易遭遇到困難。本文以實際例子來建議學生在進行中翻英時應如何處理詞彙搭配的問題。最後本文探討如何從英語語料庫當中得到搭配的資訊，以及如何利用語料庫搜索軟體得到正確的詞彙搭配用法。 

關鍵詞：搭配、語料庫、中翻英

The Problem of Lexical Collocation in Chinese-to-English Translation

Chi-Chiang Shei

Abstract

In learning a foreign language, the phenomenon of lexical collocation is an important yet easily neglected area.  Take the example of learning English as a foreign language (EFL).  EFL teachers and students generally look upon grammar and vocabulary as the sole indication of one’s proficiency in English.  Yet the truth is, when the learner’s knowledge in English grammar and vocabulary has expanded to reach a certain level, although his writing will be fluent and grammatically flawless, yet it will not be exactly like what native speakers of English would have written.  One of the reasons will be the lack of habitual word combinations – that is, collocations – in the learner’s writing.  The same thing also happens to Chinese-to-English translation and causes considerable trouble for translation learners.  For example, in translating the Chinese phrase ge chu e xi (‘to get rid of a bad habit’), the student is inclined to making a literal translation into English like remove a bad habit, not knowing that remove and habit is not a habitual combination in English at all, and that break and habit is, for example.  This article first explores the types of collocation in English, and then goes on to investigate the problems encountered by students about collocation in translating.  Two types of collocation are usually distinguished: grammatical collocation and lexical collocation.  It is suggested that what causes the students the most trouble is lexical collocation.  Also among the types of translation activities, it is in the area of Chinese-to-English translation where lexical collocation causes the most trouble.  This article suggests a model to tackle this problem.  Finally, the problem of how to find correct English collocations is also discussed, i.e. through the checking of collocation dictionaries and the search in a corpus of English.

Keywords: collocation, translation, corpus

文章摘自: http://www.geocities.ws/ccshei/publication/collocation_translation.htm