From perspectives of grammar and culture, critically discuss Essay

From perspectives of grammar and culture, critically discuss similarities and differences betwwen English and CHinese with referecne to translation - Essay Example More so, translation may be regarded as the perception of an aspect of a certain language to another. This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between English and Chinese with reference to translation. Translation is essential in understanding different cultures among different races, religious and cultural groups in the world. Translation plays a key role in understanding significant elements of different language groups (Chang 2003. 38). Translation from English to Chinese and vice versa is, however, impaired as the two are of different language families, these are: Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan. We note that word and sentence order, while relaying the same message, varies from one language to another. Both Chinese and English use the Subject Verb Order logic in sentences. Whereas the syntax applied in one language may be smooth and clear, the same a translation of the message in a word-for-word system may result in the message becoming obscure or incomprehensible (Abacus 2006, 27). For instance, in Chinese, adjectives and adverbs are placed before the noun or verb being modified, while, on the other hand, in English, the modifiers are placed after the noun or verb they are modifying. A good example of the illogicalness associated with literal translations: the original English version: We are in the field practicing. The literal translation in Chinese is â€Å"We have football practice field.† The translated version, though acceptable in Chinese, is absurd and wrong in English. Moreover, translation of set statements where the word system is based on traditional use may distort the syntax of the statement when translated into another language. For instance, the traditional Chinese expression â€Å"fan-yan sheng-xi† literary translated to English means â€Å"multiply and live† (Chang 2003, 49). The translated version is incomprehensible in the English language, with a viable option being,† live and multiply†. This, however, dist orts the