An Investigation of Degree of Anglicization of 30 English-Chinese Translation Texts: A Case Study of Linguistic Borrowing

過去數十年來，有些英中譯文因爲含有各種英文成分，而飽受有識之士抨擊與詬病。他們憂慮中文會因此而受到污染。有鑑於此，探討中譯文英化程度爲何有其學術之意義及價值。本研究以30個英中譯文段落爲素材，研究者所釐訂之四個英化程度，即非常英化、稍微英化、順暢、非常順暢，並分別給於4，3，2.及1爲判斷指標，來探討中譯文英化程度。研究顯示30個英中譯文段落之平均英化程度程度2.07，表示整體中譯文尚屬順暢。其中5(16.7%)段落非常英化，7(23.3%)段落稍微英化，12段落(40%)爲順暢，6(20%)則爲非常順暢。就整體而言，60%中譯文段落有順暢或非常順暢之水準，此表示大多數譯者之訓練是足夠的。40%中譯文段落有英化現象。研究發現非常英化之5段落，其特點爲過度使用語助詞，或因譯者未能掌握英文語法，或依字面翻譯，而導致譯文語詞意義不清楚。這五段譯文都應加以修正。

關鍵字

英譯中；英化程度；外來成份

並列摘要

Over the past few decades English-Chinese translation texts have been severely discredited for containing various Anglicized features. Anglicization of translation texts has aroused the general public's concern that Chinese may be contaminated by translation texts. It is therefore of social and academic significance to investigate such a phenomenon. Based on 30 texts and 4 degrees of Anglicization namely very Anglicized, moderately Anglicized, generally fluent and very fluent, this study aims to investigate to what extent English-Chinese translation texts contain English features. This study found the average degree of Anglicization of the 30 texts to be 2.07, meaning the average text is fluent. Of the 30 texts, 5(16.7%) were found to be very Anglicized; 7(23.3%), moderately Anglicized; 12(40%), generally fluent; 6(20%), very fluent. Overall, 18, or 60%, of them were found to be generally fluent or very fluent, i.e., to be completely free from any unwanted borrowed feature. This indeed points to the fact that translators have over the past few years endeavored to turn out satisfactory translation works. Only 12(40%) of the texts were found to be either moderately Anglicized or very Anglicized. The five ”very Anglicized” texts were found to be characterized mostly by overuse of particles and qualifiers, the unnecessary use of certain words, unclear or awkward Chinese phrases or sentences resulting from translators' lack of a solid understanding of the English syntax, or adoption of clumsy and inaccurate word-for-word translations. The very Anglicized texts all needed rewriting to make them readable or fluent.