DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L319.409
Authors: Dr. Chu Shiao Ying Sharon
Abstract: —Based upon the idea that differences in cultural mentality between Chinese and English are exhibited by features of the two languages (as has been widely discussed in the literature, e.g. Bao 2001; Liu 2006; Pan and He 2004; Si 1999; Zhang 1999; Zhou 2003), I refer to translation examples from which can be derived rules that present such differences, as well as translations between the two languages which can be seen to defy such rules. Through the juxtapositions of rules and exceptions, I elaborate on the idea that while the significance of rules in translation practices cannot be over-emphasized, it at the same time should not be over-emphasized; for exceptions, while they often constitute descriptions which have no generalizing power, their significance to understanding translation is not to be undermined when it is through the realization of a dialectical relationship between rules and exceptions that the nature of translation can be accounted for reasonably. At the same time, the continuous awareness of both rules and exceptions in the process of translation also keeps moving research on the nature of translation forward.
Keywords: —translation, Chinese, English, cultural mentality, rules, exceptions
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