Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

After all, how habit-forming can a single translation be?

Chinese translation:

说到底,仅凭一次翻译怎能形成习惯呢?

Added to glossary by Mark Xiang
Sep 12, 2004 12:56
19 yrs ago
English term

After all, how habit-forming can a single translation be?

English to Chinese Other Poetry & Literature Narration
It might have ended there; after all, how habit-forming can a single translation be? I soon found out, as other colleagues, researchers in other groups with whom I rarely exchanged a word, heard of the wizard that could transmute one language into another and beat a path to my office asking me to disclose the mysteries of French scientific research. Although pleased to be so popular among my peers, it eventually dawned on me that the service I was providing might be marketable; a simple search of the yellow pages confirmed it. I made a few phone calls, sent out a few—very short—résumés, introduced myself, and waited. The response was not overwhelming, but encouraging nevertheless, insofar as I was working as an engineer at a semiconductor company, and transistors were on the verge of becoming the microcircuits that eventually paved Silicon Valley. The lesson was not lost: language may be the prerequisite, but what they want is specialization.

How habit-forming can a single translation be? 中国话怎说比较恰当?

Proposed translations

+1
3 hrs
Selected

说到底,仅凭一次翻译怎能形成习惯呢?

After all, how habit-forming can a single translation be?=after all, how can a single translation be habit-forming?

a single translation=the French translation of the semiconductor research paper(in the previous text)
Peer comment(s):

agree Chinoise
22 mins
agree iiiox : 純猜測:考慮到最末句"language may be the prerequisite, but what they want is specialization",那麼最前面的"habit-forming"以"專業"來代替"習慣養成"好像(只是好像)更貼近中文的表現方式^^註:個人覺得其"專業"強調的是"市場價值",這點從"what they want"可以看得出來
4 hrs
disagree chica nueva : After all, how habit-forming can a single translation be? 不等于 after all, how can a single translation be habit-forming? 'how much多少' not 'how can' 怎么//to what degree 程度
6 hrs
What does it mean by "how much habit-forming"?
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "谢谢大家! Lesley 说的并没有错,只是中文表达的方式几乎无法做那样的安排,所以我把第一句话译为:当时我可能仅只翻译了那么一篇法文的半导体研究报告,毕竟单单一篇研究报告算是什么翻译习惯呢?"
10 hrs

after all, 说起形成习惯呢,单独做一次翻译能有多大用处?

after all, 说起/对于形成习惯(的作用)呢,单独做一篇翻译文章/一次翻译能有多大用处?



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Note added at 10 hrs 22 mins (2004-09-12 23:18:06 GMT)
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rhetorical question 反问局

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Note added at 10 hrs 22 mins (2004-09-12 23:18:37 GMT)
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别字:反问句
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