Một trong những khó khăn trong dịch thuật bắt nguồn từ thực tế là hầu hết từ có nhiều ý nghĩa. Vì thực tế này, một bản dịch dựa trên một thay thế một trong-một của từ là hiếm khi được chấp nhận. Chúng tôi đã nhìn thấy điều này trong các ví dụ áp phích và chiếc kính viễn vọng. Cho dù một bản dịch được thực hiện bởi một người hoặc một máy tính, có nghĩa là không thể bỏ qua. Tôi sẽ cung cấp cho một số ví dụ khác là bằng chứng về sự cần thiết để phân biệt giữa các ý nghĩa có thể của một từ khi dịch.A colleague from Holland recounted the following true experience. He was traveling in France and decided to get a haircut. He was a native speaker of Dutch and knew some French; however, he was stuck when it came to telling the female hairdresser that he wanted a part in his hair. He knew the Dutch word for a part in your hair and he knew one way that Dutch word could be translated into French. He wasn't sure whether that translation would work in this situation, but he tried it anyway. He concluded that the French word did not convey both meanings of the Dutch word when the hairdresser replied, "But, Monsieur, we are not even married!" It seems that the Dutch expression for a separation of your hair (a part) and a permanent separation of a couple (a divorce) are the same word. When you think about it, there is a logical connection, but we are not conscious of it in English even though you can speak of a parting of your hair or a parting of ways between two people. In French, there is a strong separation of the two concepts. To translate the Dutch word for 'part' or 'divorce' a distinction must be made between these two meanings. We will refer to this incident as the haircut example. Some questions it raises are these: How does a human know when another use of the same word will be translated as a different word? And how would a computer deal with the same problem?We expect a word with sharply differing meanings to have several different translations, depending on how the word is being used. (Figure 1: Two meanings of "bank"). The word 'bank' is often given as an example of a homograph, that is, a word entirely distinct from another that happens to be spelled the same. But further investigation shows that historically the financial and river meanings of 'bank' are related. They both come from the notion of a "raised shelf or ridge of ground" (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, pp. 930-931). The financial sense evolved from the money changer's table or shelf, which was originally placed on a mound of dirt. Later the same word came to represent the institution that takes care of money for people. The river meaning has remained more closely tied to the original meaning of the word. Even though there is an historical connection between the two meanings of 'bank,' we do not expect their translation into another language to be the same, and it usually will not be the same. This example further demonstrates the need to take account of meaning in translation. A human will easily distinguish between the two uses of 'bank' and simply needs to learn how each meaning is translated. How would a computer make the distinction?Another word which has evolved considerably over the years is the British word 'treacle,' which now means 'molasses.' It is derived from a word in Ancient Greek that referred to a wild animal. One might ask how in the world it has come to mean molasses. A colleague, Ian Kelly, supplied me with the following history of 'treacle' (Figure 2: Etymology of "treacle"). The original word for a wild animal came to refer to the bite of a wild animal. Then the meaning broadened out to refer to any injury. It later shifted to refer to the medicine used to treat an injury. Still later, it shifted to refer to a sweet substance mixed with a medicine to make it more palatable. And finally, it narrowed down to one such substance, molasses. At each step along the way, the next shift in meaning was unpredictable, yet in hindsight each shift was motivated by the previous meaning. This illustrates a general principle of language. At any point in time, the next shift in meaning for a word is not entirely unlimited. We can be sure it will not shift in a way that is totally unconnected with its current meaning. But we cannot predict exactly which connection there will be between the current meaning and the next meaning. We cannot even make a list of all the possible connections. We only know there will be a logical connection, at least as analyzed in hindsight.What are some implications of the haircut, bank, and treacle examples? To see their importance to translation, we must note that words do not develop along the same paths in all languages. Simply because there is a word in Dutch that means both 'part' and 'divorce' does not mean that there will be one word in French with both meanings. We do not expect the two meanings of 'bank' to have the same translation in another language. We do not assume that there is a word in Modern Greek that means 'molasses' and is derived from the Ancient Greek word for 'wild animal' just because there is such a word in British English. Each language follows its own path in the development of meanings of words. As a result, we end up with a mismatch between languages, and a word in one language can be translated several different ways, depending on the situation. With the extreme examples given so far, a human will easily sense that multiple translations are probably involved, even if a computer would have difficulty. What causes trouble in translation for humans is that even subtle differences in meaning may result in different translations. I will give a few examples.The English word 'fish' can be used to refer to either a live fish swimming in a river (the one that got away), or a dead fish that has been cleaned and is ready for the frying pan. In a sense, English makes a similar distinction between fish and seafood, but 'fish' can be used in both cases. Spanish makes the distinction obligatory. For the swimming fish, one would use pez and for the fish ready for the frying pan one would use pescado. It is not clear how a speaker of English is supposed to know to look for two translations of 'fish' into Spanish. The result is that an unknowledgeable human may use the wrong translation until corrected.The English expression 'thank you' is problematical going into Japanese. There are several translations that are not interchangeable and depend on factors such as whether the person being thanked was obligated to perform the service and how much effort was involved. In English, we make various distinctions, such as 'thanks a million' and 'what a friend,' but these distinctions are not stylized as in Japanese nor do they necessarily have the same boundaries. A human can learn these distinctions through substantial effort. It is not clear how to tell a computer how to make them.Languages are certainly influenced by the culture they are part of. The variety of thanking words in Japanese is a reflection of the stylized intricacy of the politeness in their culture as observed by Westerners. The French make an unexpected distinction in the translation of the English word 'nudist.' Some time ago, I had a discussion with a colleague over its translation into French. We were reviewing a bilingual French and English dictionary for its coverage of American English versus British English, and this word was one of many that spawned discussion. My colleague, who had lived in France a number of years ago, thought the French word nudiste would be the best translation. I had also lived in France on several occasions, somewhat more recently than him, and had only heard the French word naturiste used to refer to nude beaches and such. Recently, I saw an article in a French news magazine that resolved the issue. The article described the conflict between the nudistes and the naturistes in France. There was even a section in the article that explained how to tell them apart. A nudiste places a high value on a good suntan, good wine, and high-fashion clothes when away from the nudist camp. A naturiste neither smokes nor drinks and often does yoga or transcendental meditation, prefers homeopathic medicine, supports environmental groups, wears simple rather than name-brand clothing when in public, and tends to look down on a nudiste. There is currently a fight in France over which nude beaches are designated naturiste and which are designated nudiste. Leave it to the French, bless their souls, to elevate immodesty to a nearly religious status. I trust my French colleagues will not take offense.
The verb 'to run' is a another example of a word that causes a lot of trouble for translation. In a given language, the translation of 'run' as the next step up in speed from jogging will not necessarily be the same word as that used to translate the expression 'run a company' or 'run long' (when referring to a play or meeting) or 'run dry' (when referring to a river). A computer or an inexperienced human translator will often be insensitive to subtle differences in meaning that affect translation and will use a word inappropriately. Significantly, there is no set list of possible ways to use 'run' or other words of general vocabulary. Once you think you have a complete list, a new use will come up. In order to translate well, you must first be able to recognize a new use (a pretty tricky task for a computer) and then be able to come up with an acceptable translation that is not on the list.
The point of this discussion of various ways to translate 'fish,' 'thank you,' 'nudist,' and 'run' is that it is not enough to have a passing acquaintance with another language in order to produce good translations. You must have a thorough knowledge of both languages and an ability to deal with differences in meaning that appear insignificant until you cross over to the other language.[ 1 ] Indeed, you must be a native or near-native speaker of the language yo
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