老外不懂的“中式英语”如何翻译

[误] Have you ever heard that Mike broke up with his girlfriend?

[正] Have you ever heard that Mike dumped his girlfriend?

注：break up with sb. 虽然表示“与某人分手了”，但并没说明是谁先提出来的。而 dump 的原意指“倾倒垃圾”，用在这里则表示像倒垃圾一样地甩掉。

7.我们要把祖国建设成为社会主义的现代化强国。

[误] We will build our motherland into a socialist modern powerful country.

[正] We will build our motherland into a modern powerful socialist country.

注：形容词作为修饰语在汉语和英语中都很常用，但使用的先后次序却有所不同。在英语中我们一般遵循“靠近原则”，即越能说明本质属性的修饰词越靠近它所修饰的名词，当从这一点看不出区别时，就靠词的长短来决定，短的在前，长的在后。原文中最能说明“国家”本质的定语是“社会主义的”，所以 socialist 要最靠近它所修饰的中心词。

8.人都是这山望着那山高，对自己的现状没有满意的时候。

[误] Almost all people think that the other mountain is higher than the one he's standing on. They never feel satisfied with what they've already got.

[正] Almost all people think that the grass is greener on the other hill. They never feel satisfied with what they've already got.

注：“这山望着那山高”是指人不满足于现状的心理，它在英语中已经有了现成的说法，即 the grass is greener on the other hill（他山的草更绿），因此我们借用即可，这样既方便又更有利于与西方人沟通。

9.转战南北

[误] fight south and north

[正] fight north and south

注：在地理方位的表达习惯上，中英文有一定的区别。中国人习惯于先“东西”后“南北”，而且在涉及“南北”时，习惯于先说“南”，再说“北”，如：“南征北战”、“南来北往”等。而英美人与此正好相反，如“江苏在中国的东南部”英文是 Jiangsu is in the southeast of China, 而“新疆在中国的西北部”应译为 Xinjiang is in the northwest of China。

10.这个教授教得很烂。

[误] The professor teaches badly.

[正] The professor is so terrible.

注：有人认为第二句的意思是“这个教授很可怕”，其实不然。英语中 terrible 意思很灵活，例如：feel terrible 指身体“不舒服”； The food is terrible 则是说食物“难吃极了”。而第一句纯属中文式的表达。