Darkgaia: English and Chinese Translation Rules (Advanced)

English and Chinese Translation Rules

Sentence Structure

English (Verb oriented sentence structure)

• SV (intransitive)

• SVO (transitive + object)/(Prep + verb + object)

• SVOO (direct + indirect object)

• SVC (linluing V / transitive V / verb to "be" + Complement)

• SVOC

• SVOA (Adverbial [壮语]） 壮中结构

• SVA

Chinese (Subject + Predicate single sentences) （主谓单句）

• 动词谓语句 (SV, similar to English）

• 名词谓语句 (No verb, N + N)

• 形容词谓语句 (主）（谓） (Theme and Rheme)

• 主谓谓语句 [（主）（ 谓 ） ]

Missing Subject Sentences （零主语句）

Chinese sentences need not necessarily have a subject (the subject can be omitted, or defined implicitly according the context). However, English sentences usually do. The translator must remember to replace the appropriate subject (also known as a "dummy subject") into the English sentence after translation.

Connecting Sentences （流水句）

These are Chinese sentences used to connect ideas in a Chinese paragraph. When translating into English, one must remember to observe the appropriate English sentence structure: The first clause followed by additional supplementary information.

"Is" Sentences (“是”字句）

The Chinese equivalent of "Is" is the word “是”. A translator must take note of the words before and after 是 in order to produce the correct equivalent logical translation in English.

Notes

English -> Chinese

SVO[C] -> [(话题），（说明）]

(eng) Subjects are usually noun-based.

• Noun Phrases
• Infinitive Verbs
• "What"
• "That"

They can also be descriptions about time or locations (Proper Nouns)

(eng) English contains the use of Marked Themes/Sentence structures to convey emphasis 英语也有“话题--说明”句子.

(zho) The subjects of Chinese Sentences need not necessarily be a noun/noun phrase

Tree Structures vs Branch Structures

(树式结构 vs 竹式结构）

(eng) Simple sentence structure: Subject + Predicate (基本的主干 → 主语+谓语）

• Any further sentences or supplements branch from this basic sentence structure. （“树枝” 从主干发展出来的）

(zho) Do not conform to to one specific sentence structure (不存在一个主干结构，没有主干与树枝之分）

• Relies on meaning and conjunctions to continually add clauses. （靠意思和虚词等关联词）

Importance of Subjects

English	英	Chinese	中
Subject prominent	注重主语	Marked sentence structure	话题-说明
Subject-Verb based	主谓结构	Two form based	双分结构
Must have a subject, and the main verb is the focus of the sentence, the object will be acted upon by the verb	主语不可少，谓语中的动词是句子中心，谓语中的宾语是目标/承受着	What would be in the subject is the marked theme, which will be understood by the reader through context	处在主语位置的词 → 话题，读者通过语境理解内容
3 main syntax SVO	“三分结构” 主谓（动）宾 (必须有主谓一致）	Ever-changing sentence contruction	灵活的句子结构