时间：2022-09-14 05:18:52
Abstract：As we all know， the difference of culture comes partly from the difference of territory， and translating is based on cultures， so we can work out that translating is partly influenced by territories， and holds different features according to their locations. The United State of America is located in the Western hemisphere， while Japan is located in the Eastern hemisphere. The two countries are quite different in geographical location， natural environment， climatic characteristics， local customs， and cultural features and so on. The present paper is talking about some translating features and strategies from the perspective of English and Japanese language customs， taking the episodes of a hot film named frozen as examples.
Key words： Location； Difference； Grammar； Feature； Strategy； Influence
1.Difference between America and Japan in natural aspects
As America and Japan are respectively belonging to the Western hemisphere and the East hemisphere， they differ from each other quite a lot in natural aspects， such as geographical location， natural environment， and climatic characteristics and so on.
1.1 Difference in geographical location
The United States of America， being located in the East hemisphere， Southern North America. It faces the Atlantic Ocean on the east， the Pacific on the west， Canada to the north， and Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico by south. The total area of the country is 9，372，614 square kilometers and its total population is about 283，000，000（2001）. The whole country includes 50 states and a federal district， the District of Columbia， which is the seat of the Federal Government. The United States is the world’s third or fourth largest nation by total area， before or after the People’s Republic of China， depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted. Including only land area， the United States is third in size behind Russia and China， just ahead of Canada. The commonwealth of Puerto Rico， the largest and most populous U.S. territories， is in the northeastern Caribbean. With a few exceptions， such as the territory of Guam and the westernmost position of Alaska， nearly all of the country lies in the western hemisphere.
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi-Missouri River， the world’s fourth longest river system， runs mainly north-south through the heart of the country. The flat， fertile prairie land of the Great Plains stretches to the west. The Rocky Mountains， at the western edge of the Great Plains， extend north to south across the continental United States， reaching altitudes higher than 14，000 feet （4，300 m） in Colorado. The area to the west of the Rockies is dominated by deserts such as the Mojave and the rocky Great Basin. The Sierra Nevada range runs parallel to the Rockies， relatively close to the Pacific coast. At 20，320 ft （6，194 m）， Alaska’s Mount McKinley is the country’s tallest peak. Active volcanoes are common throughout the Alexander and Aleutian Islands and the entire state of Hawaii is built upon tropical volcanic islands. The super volcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent’s largest volcanic feature.
Japan is located in Eastern Asia， but Japan is an island so it is in the North Pacific Ocean. Japan has more than 1000 islands， but the there are 4 main islands. Honshu is the largest island in Japan. It holds 80 percent of the population. The island also has the capital of Japan， Tokyo. Tokyo is also the largest city in Japan. Honshu also has the very famous peak， Mount Fuji， and it is an inactive volcano.
1.2 Difference in climate
In America， because of the United States’ large size and wide range of geographic features， nearly every type of climate is represented. The climate is temperate in most areas， tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida， polar in Alaska， semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian， desert in the Southwest， Mediterranean in coastal California， and arid in the Great Basin. Extreme weather is not uncommon――the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes and most of the world’s tornadoes occur within the continental United States.
While in Japan， due to the large North South extension of the country， the climate varies strongly in different regions. The climate in most of the major cities， including Tokyo， is temperate to subtropics and consists of four seasons. The winter is mild and the summer is hot and humid. There is a rainy season in early summer， and typhoons hit parts of the country every year during late summer. The climate of the northern island of Hokkaido and the Sea of Japan coast is colder， and snow falls in large amounts. In Okinawa， on the other hand， the mean temperature of January is a warm 17 degree Celsius. There are a lot of earthquakes that occur in Japan. Japan has lots of earthquakes because it lies on an unstable part of the crust. When the crust moves， it usually causes an earthquake. About 1000 earthquakes occur each year， and earthquakes also cause tsunamis. A tsunami is a huge wave， kind of a tidal wave. Typhoons are also a big factor in Japan. Since Japan is an island， a lot of typhoons and hurricanes occur. Both of them occur in summer. The heavy rains and winds usually destroy the crops. Massive rains occur in Japan frequently and the rain usually causes huge year totals.
2.Regional culture influence translation
As we all know， the United State of America and Japan are quite different in geographical location， natural environment， and climatic characteristics， and so do their local customs， and cultural features. The difference of culture comes partly from the difference of territory， and translating is based on cultures， so we can work out that translating is partly influenced by territories， and holds different features according to their locations.
pare English Syntax with Japanese Syntax
English and Japanese are two kinds of quite different languages. They differ from each other in many aspects， among which syntax is the most obvious difference.
3.1 Brief introduction of English syntax
There are five kinds of basic sentence patterns in English simple sentences， i.e. S + Vi， S + Vt + O， S + LV + Predicative， S + Vt + O. indir + O.dir， S + Vt. + O + pl. Subjects， verbs （intransitive verbs， transitive verbs， double-object verbs， link verbs， and factitive verbs）， objects and complements can be called the fundamental constituents of a sentence. A complete sentence often include two basal components at least and four at most.
The modifiers of the basal components include attributes or adverbials. Attributes can be a world， a phrase， or a clause， being used to modify a noun； while adverbials can be a world， a phrase， or a clause， being used to modify terms beside the noun or pronoun. For example：
Attributes： poor John tottered toward a hospital nearby.
She likes oranges imported from the USA.
Have you seen the book on the desk？
The boy playing over there is my brother.
People there like sports.
Adverbials： John often came to chat with me.
Hearing the news， he jumped with joy.
As he was ill， he didn’t come to class yesterday.
She is sitting at the desk， doing her homework.
Whenever he gets drunk， John makes Mary very angry.
There is another part namely independent element， which has no grammatical relationship with other terms in a sentence. It can be taken out without affecting the integrity of a sentence. For example：
Oh！ What is that！ （Exclamation）
He has， alas， failed again.
Come here， John. （Direct address）
3.2 Brief introduction of Japanese language
Japanese is a kind of agglutinative language， belonging to the natural language. Japanese words can be divided into autonomous word and adjunct word in the light of function. The autonomous word is the concept of a complete word， which can be alone or with adjunct word followed up， so as to form a segment. Japanese is a compact-structured language， in which dependency lies between two adjacent segments， and Japanese dependency analysis is to determine an optimal combination of dependencies based on dependency constrains. The autonomous word includes noun， pronoun， and numeral； also includes verb， adjective， and adjectival noun； and adverb， connection word， continuatives， and interjection. The adjunct word is a kind of word that means the relationship between autonomous words， meaning add and the attitude and thought of speakers. It can not constitute a segment alone， but can just lay behind the autonomous word and form a segment together with it. The adjunct word mainly includes auxiliary words and auxiliary verbs.
In addition， Japanese has several important features as one kind of agglutinative language. First， it reflects every word’s status and syntax function by relying on the adhesion of auxiliary words and auxiliary verbs instead of the inflections， so these adhesive compositions play an extremely important role in Japanese grammar. Second， some parts of speech in Japanese language have inflections as well， but those inflections are not transformed with features， numbers， case， or time directly， but with the adhesive composition behind them. Third， the order of every part in a Japanese sentence is objective + objective + predicate， but not so strict. Sometimes， the objective， complement， and subjective can exchange their locations with each other when necessary， being determined by words. But under normal conditions， the predicate is often at the last of a sentence. Fourth， the modifiers must be situated before those being modified， that is to say， the attributives and adverbials must be in the front of the nouns， verbs， and adjectives that being explained by them. This feature is a key basis of the analysis of dependence relationship and strategies of disambiguation.
3.3 The difference of the location of the negative between English and Japanese
According to their respective grammar and language custom， their locations of the negative are quite different， i.e. in English， the negatives are at most time situated in the middle of a sentence， or sometimes at the front or in the end of the sentence； while in Japanese， the negatives are usually at the ending of a sentence， so we can hardly make sure of the meaning of a sentence unless the whole sentence is finished， thus the translation from Japanese into other kind of languages is much more difficult than translating other kind of languages into Japanese. What is more， translators casually omit the negatives when translating English into Japanese by word shifting. For example：
I won't be alone
もう一人じゃないの
The cold never bothered me anyway
少しも寒くないわ
Don’t let them in， don’t let them see
惑い伤つき 谁にも打ち明けずに
The snow blows white on the mountain tonight， not a footprint to be seen
降り始めた雪は 足迹消して
Let it go， let it go， can’t hold you back anymore
ありのままの 姿见せるのよ
The samples above have confirmed those theories mentioned above. The first and most important thing to do translation is to keep the tune the same with the original text. Though we say no translation works can reflect the original text completely accurate， to be loyalty to the original one is bound to be the key part when doing translation. That is to say， when readers or viewers read the translation works， he should be made sure to get the closest feelings like reading the original one. Then， when doing translation， we must act up to the grammar of the source language and target language. Take the episode of Frozen as an example， though they are lyrics， they are sentence to some extent， so translators should at least make sure the correctness of the sentences and make no grammar fault. Last but not the least， as a kind of subtitle translation， the principle of conciseness can not be omitted. So translators should also keep the sentences as short as possible without going against the two points mentioned above， so as to lessen people’s time in watching those terms and let them understand the content as soon as possible.
3.4 The difference of the ending words between English and Japanese
In English， there is no exact standard of what the ending words should be. According to English syntax， the style of ending words should be in accordance with what the content of the sentence is and what the structure the sentence is， or what the component the sentence has. For example， when the last word of a sentence is a noun， it should transfer to N + tion， N + sion， N + ant， N + ist， N + ness， N + logy， N + or， N + er， N + ment and do on； when the last word of a sentence is an adjective， it should transfer to Adj + ing， Adj +ed， Adj +y， Adj +ous， Adj +able， Adj +ful， Adj +less， Adj +ant and so on； when the last word of a sentence is a verb， it should transfer to V + ize， V + ify and so on.
While in Japanese， the ending words are quite fixed. The frequently-used words are： な、かな、の、ね、なんて、もん、わけ、よ、さ、ぜ、か、のか、わ、ぞ、って、とも、や、でしょう、ない and so on. In most sentences， the ending words are above， thus we can conclude that the ending words in Japanese syntax is much more stable than those in English syntax. For example：
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the Queen
Couldn’t keep it in， heaven knows I tried
Makes everything seem small
The cold never bothered me anyway
I know left a life behind but I’m to relieved to grieve
ありのままの 自分になるの
ありのままの姿见せるのよ
んでたことが 嘘みたいね
これでいいの少しも寒くないわ
だってもう自由（じゆう）よ何（なん）でもできる
4.Conclusion
The United States of America and Japan are quite different two countries， being different from each other in many aspects， such as geography location， natural environment， climatic characteristics， local customs， and cultural features and so on. In addition， they hold a quite different syntax grammar as well， so the translations between these two languages need to abide by some principles and to notice some strategies.
Reference：
[01] A Textbook of Translation [M].shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2011.
[02] 威尔斯.翻译学一问题与方法 [M].北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，1988.
[03] 费道罗夫.翻译理论概要 [M].上海：中华书局，1955.
作者简介：
[1]石佳仪，1989年8月出生于湖北省黄石市，现就读于华中师范大学英语笔译专业。