?國內(nèi)企業(yè)大多都有自己的網(wǎng)站,還有很多企業(yè)有英文網(wǎng)站??鐕净虍a(chǎn)品出口的企業(yè)肯定得有自己的英文網(wǎng)站,甚至像萬科這個國內(nèi)最大的住宅開發(fā)企業(yè),也有英文網(wǎng)站。大多數(shù)企業(yè)的英文網(wǎng)站,或者是網(wǎng)站的英文版,都是從網(wǎng)站的中文版翻譯過來的,很多翻譯錯誤百出,嚴重影響公司形象。試想一下,如果有外國公司網(wǎng)站的中文版語句不通、辭不達意、錯別字連篇,我們會怎樣看待這家公司?買這家公司的產(chǎn)品時,會不會遲疑?本文以某大公司的英文網(wǎng)站為例,探討英文網(wǎng)站的常見錯誤以及一些翻譯技巧和網(wǎng)站的內(nèi)容和形式。文中所引用的網(wǎng)站英文全部從某公司的英文網(wǎng)站復(fù)制粘貼,不存在筆者輸入時出錯的問題。字體、標點符號、空格保持和網(wǎng)站一樣,只是將筆者認為有問題的詞、短語改為加粗斜體。
第一部分 ? ? ?錯誤類型
一、文本規(guī)范類錯誤
㈠數(shù)字錯誤
例一:石油工業(yè)部所屬單位在渤海和南海的北部灣、海南島附近海域鉆探井111口,有30口井獲得工業(yè)油氣流;在渤海開發(fā)了3個小型油氣田,累計生產(chǎn)原油100萬噸。
The units affiliated with the Ministry of Petroleum Industry drilled?110?wells in Bohai Bay, Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea and the sea areas near Hainan Island, and industrial hydrocarbon flows were obtained in 30 wells; 3 small oil and gas fields were developed.
例二:中國海洋石油有限公司成功發(fā)行40億美元全球債券。自此,中海油已累計從國際債券市場融資100億美元,成為利用國際債券市場募集資金最多的中國企業(yè)。
CNOOC Ltd. issued $4 billion aggregate principle amount of guaranteed notes,achieving a cumulative financing of?410 billion?from the international market.
例三:實現(xiàn)世界上單套能力最大的年產(chǎn)27萬噸生物柴油加工裝置(FAME)試車一次成功;
We succeeded in the trial production of biodieselat a FAME processing facility, which has the world's highest production capacity for a single facility and a design capacity of?270,000 million?tonnes per annum.
這類錯誤是最不該犯的,也是最嚴重的。如果公司的中期報告、年度報告等,數(shù)字錯了,可能會影響投資者信心,股價大跌。令人不解的是數(shù)字都是阿拉伯字,不存在翻譯的問題,怎么可以在中文里面和在英文里面非要弄得不一樣?例三中,270,000就是27萬,為什么后面還要加個million?
㈡空格錯誤
例一:CNOOC Limited was named 2012 Best Oil and Gas Company in Asia by?theEuromoney.
例二:With our existing business?foundations,we?fully developed our brand values of the three famous national brands-Fudao, Tianye, Sakefu, to?conductsoil?testing, formula-designing and promotion of the scientific?applicationof?fertilisers in Hainan, Guangxi,Jilinand?other locations, which achieved remarkable results and gained?ageneral?acceptance from farmers.
這種錯誤主要是單詞之間沒空格以及標點符號后面沒空格,這種錯誤也是不該犯的,因為文檔編輯軟件能檢測出來。
㈢拼寫錯誤
例一:中國海洋石油總公司馬六甲油田生產(chǎn)的原油3萬噸運抵南京,這是中國產(chǎn)自國外運回國內(nèi)的第一船油。
The shipment of 30,000 tons of crude oil produced from?Maccala?Strait for CNOOC shares arrived Nanjing. This is the first shipment of crude oil produced from overseas for China.
例二:Taizhou petrochemical?integraton?project started construction.
例三:Liu Tienan, Vice Director of National Development and Reform?Commisssion?and Director of National Energy Bureau, paid an inspection visit to CNOOC.
例四:Inthe ranking list CNOOC Limited took 532nd place concerning the integrated factors, and 1279th, 171st,1161 stand 340th places respectively in terms of sales revenue, net profit, total?asets?and marketable capitalization.
例五:CNOOC Limited was awarded four prizes: the Best Governed Company, Best Company, Best Company Lssuing Bonds and Best?Accquisition?in the survey and evaluation held by Assets, the famous financial Journal.
例六:CNOOC 111, the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility invested and built by CNOOC was delivered in Waigaoqiao?Shipyeard, Shanghai.
這種錯誤類似漢字的錯字,寫字時多了一撇或少了一點,而英文則是在拼寫單詞時多了個字母或少了個字母,英文叫typo,或是incorrect spelling,據(jù)說,這兩者是有區(qū)別的,typo是不小心輸錯了,而incorrect spelling是學(xué)藝不精,記單詞時就記錯了。不管怎樣,用電腦輸入、編輯,這種錯誤完全可以避免。
㈣別字
例一:CNOOC singed a PSC with Devon Energy Corporation (Devon, NYSE:DVN) for deepwater block 42/05 in the?Pear?River Mouth Basin of South China Sea.
例二:In 2012, we received the honour of an Outstanding State-Owned Key Enterprise in Poverty Reduction and Development, won the Lifeline Express 15th Anniversary Special Award, and were among the first batch of companies, to be honoured with an appreciation?plague?from China Women’s Development Foundation (CWDF) for being a strategic partner of the Mother Water Cellar Project.
例三:In August 2009, the severe typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan. CNOOC?contracted?the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and contributed RMB 10 million to the disaster relief.
漢字的別字通常是張冠李戴,主要原因有三種:一是由于形似,如:松弛——誤做“松馳”;二是由于同音,如:提綱——誤做“題綱”;三是由于義近,如:擅長——誤做“善長”。而英文的別字似乎都是由于形似導(dǎo)致的,例一中將pearl寫成了pear;例二將plaque寫成plague,前者在文中是牌匾的意思,后者是瘟疫、災(zāi)禍的意思;例三中我認為是將contacted寫成的contracted。
㈤標點符號
例一:國務(wù)院發(fā)布《中華人民共和國對外合作開采海洋石油資源條例》,確定了海上對外合作第一輪國際招標的《標準合同》。
The《Regulations of People's Republic of China Concerning the Exploitation of The Offshore Petroleum Resources in Cooperation with Foreign Enterprises》was promulgated by the State Council. The《model Contract》for the first round of international bidding for the offshore cooperation with foreign enterprises was finalized.
不管英文有沒有這種標點符號,就直接將中文的標點符號照搬到英文當中。上面例子中的書名號就屬于這種錯誤。還有的甚至直接照搬中文里的頓號。簡單地判斷英文里面是不是有某種標點符號,就是在純英文狀態(tài)下,直接用鍵盤可以輸入的,才是英文的標點符號。
例二:The public biding of the first phase of the Guangdong LNG importterminal was unveiled, Australia, Indonesia and Qatar had been shortlisted as potential suppliers.
例三:The company always put "production safety"at the first place in operational management activities, it further enhanced the QHSE management system, also improved the effectiveness of "hazard safety check" and "implementation performance".
逗號錯誤是英語寫作中常犯的錯誤,特別是母語是中文的,原因是中文的標點符號使用本來就不像英文那么嚴謹,不少人寫文章甚至一逗到底。而英文是嚴謹?shù)?,文章可以千變?nèi)f化,但句型結(jié)構(gòu)只有4種:Simple Sentences(簡單句),Compound Sentence(并列句),complex sentence(復(fù)合句)和Compound-Complex Sentence(并列復(fù)合句)。如果是簡單句,句子再短,完成了就是句號。上面兩個例子要不就寫成兩個簡單句;要寫成并列句,中間就要有coordinating conjunction(并列連詞)。Mt. San Jacinto College的在線公開課Crafting an EffectiveWriter教材指出了這類錯誤以及糾正方法,特摘錄如下:
Acomma spliceis anerror that occurs when you join two independent clauses with a comma. Instead,use a coordinating conjunction, period, semicolon, or a semicolon and adverbial conjunction.
·Comma Splice:The last time we saw him was in December, you won’t believe how much he has changed since then.
·Correct:The last time we saw him was in December, but you won’t believe how much he has changed since then.(加并列連詞)
·Correct:The last time we saw him was in December. You won’t believe how much he has changed since then.(變成兩個簡單句)
·Correct:The last timewe saw him was in December; you won’t believe how much he has changed since then. (將逗號改成分號。這是分號的用途之一,用于連接兩個關(guān)系緊密的簡單句。)
·Correct:The last time we saw him was in December; however, you won’t believe how much he has changedsince then. (將逗號改成分號,再加上副詞連接詞。)
例三:為了完成產(chǎn)量目標,公司將精心組織資源,推動新項目按時投產(chǎn);加強管理,保持在產(chǎn)油氣田的基礎(chǔ)產(chǎn)量;加強調(diào)整井等增產(chǎn)措施的部署;精心施工,安排好重大計劃內(nèi)關(guān)停檢修項目。
In order to accomplish this target, the company will carefully coordinate its resources to facilitate the timely commencement of production of new projects; strengthen its management and maintain the basic production at existing oil and gasfields; enhance the deployment of measures such as infill drilling wells to increase production; plan its construction in a meticulous manner and arrange planned shutdown and maintenance at its major projects.
文中中文用分號,英文也跟著用分號,是否合適?University of Ottawa的人文網(wǎng)站,有個欄目叫hypergrammar,在講到semicolon的用途時,除了上面說到的semicolon用在并列句里面,還提到:
It may be useful to remember that, for the most part, you should use a semicolon only where you could also use a period.
There is one exception to this guideline. When punctuating a list or series of elements in which one or more of the elements contains an internal comma, you should use semicolons instead of commas to separate the elements from one another:
Henry's mother believes three things: that every situation, no matter how grim, will be happily resolved; that no one knows more about human nature than she; and that Henry, who is thirty-five years old, will never be able to do his own laundry.[1]
維基百科在描述semicolon的用途時,也有類似說法,以下是維基百科的例子:
·The people present were Jamie, a man fromNew Zealand;John, the milkman's son; and George, a gaunt kind of man.
·Several fast food restaurants can be found within the following cities: London,England; Paris,France; Dublin,Ireland; Madrid,Spain.
·Here are three examples of familiar sequences: one, two, and three; a, b, and c; first, second, and third.[2]
在描述一系列事項或內(nèi)容時,里面已包含了逗號,就應(yīng)該用分號以便區(qū)分各事項。例三中盡管有一系列的事項,但是中間沒有逗號,因此,不必用到分號。盡管例三的句子比較長長,仍是個簡單句,中間用逗號隔開就行了,例如:
The sleek black seals in the pool leaped eagerly out of the shimmering water, slid quickly upon the wooden deck around the pool, and barked noisily at the stunned spectators in the half-empty bleachers.
[1]http://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar/punctuation
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon
[3]《柯林斯英漢雙解大詞典》