Q&A: Name and description in relation to the criteria of equivalence at word level

Q & A

A student asking about the distinction between name and description  in relation to the criteria of equivalence at word level

Youxuan Wang

SLAS, Portsmouth University

May 13, 2013

The following discussion between a student and me relates to one of my earlier lectures on equivalence at word level. In the lecture, two types of nominative words were distinquished, which highlights two types of meaning. The criteria of equivalence are formulated in terms of two rules.

Q：	I am slightly confused as to whether "green bamboo" should be classed as a name or a description, as I would usually say it depends on the context, but obviously there is none. I'm similarly confused about "a maid" and "肉丝炒竹笋" as well as the translation "shredded pork stir-fired with bamboo shoots".
A：	Before I answer your questions, let me give you two definitions: (i) Name: The essence of a name is its reference, and the structure of a name is normally one word (which is to be distinguished from one morpheme). (ii) Description: The essence of a description is its sense, and the structure of a description is normally a noun phrase which is made up of more than one word. These are simplified definitions. I can anticipate problems. Let's use them as our provisional definitions here. Now let me start to address your queries. The noun phrase "a green bamboo" is a description which does have a reference. It is made up of two names: one is the name of a plant, and the other is a colour term. This is definitely a description - a description of a certain type of bamboo which is green. By implication, "肉丝炒竹笋" and "shredded pork stir-fired with bamboo" are both descriptions.
Q：	I am also slightly unsure about the multiple choice question: When translating a description, it is essential to capture its _________.     a. Reference;     b. Sense. Again I would say it depends on the context, as the reference should always be kept as the translation might not make sense otherwise, however, sometimes there is no reference in the target language, in which case the sense needs to be conveyed.
A：	As you know, some descriptions have references, but some do not have references. For instance, the description 'the present Queen of contemporary Germany" does not have any reference, because there is no such a person in the real world. However, this description makes sense, because it can evoke some associations in our minds. In translating 'the present Queen of contemporary Germany' into Chinese, you only need to come up with a Chinese expression that expresses the sense of the ST, e.g.:: '当代德国的现任女王'. Let's now consider this question now: Can we ever produce a working TT translation which articulates the sense of  a ST description without capturing its reference? In the above, I have given you an example of description which does not have a reference. How about a description that has a reference, e.g., 'the present female chancellor of Germany'? Can we ever produce a good Chinese translation which expresses the sense of this description without capturing its reference? I cannot imagine such a case. For example, the English description of 'the present female chancellor of Germany' can be translated by different Chinese descriptions, e.g.: "德国女总理"，“德国女首相”， “德国女宰相”. Although only one of the three translations is widely accepted, they all refer to the same woman who is the referent of these Chinese descriptions. These three descriptions are all adequate translations, because they have articulated the sense of the corresponding English description.
A：	If a TT descriptive designation is altered so much that it expresses a different sense, can it capture the original reference of the ST descriptive designation?
Q：	No. A description normally combines more than one name. By changing one of its names, we can alter its sense. Thus, the descriptive designation "德国女总理" which contains three names, can be altered in three ways, i.e.: '德国男总理', '法国女总理' and '德国女总统'. Evidently, these three resultant terms become three different descriptions, and they either do not have references or have different references than that of '德国女总理'. To sum up, we can formulate two criteria of equivalence: (i) When translating a name, it is essential for the TT to capture the reference of the ST name. (ii) When translating a description (descriptive designation), it is essential for the TT to capture the sense of the ST.

鸣谢：谢谢学号为450415的同学的提问。这种提问很有质量！



Cite this page: 
Wang, Youxuan. (2013). Q & A with undergraduate students. Translation between Chinese and English. May 13, 2013. <http://goo.gl/cVFdXc>.