Interpreting of Figures and Times

a Some Practical Difficulties for Chinese Interpreters

For an interpreter, to do a long series of figures in interpretation is always by no means easy. And for an interpreter whose mother tongue is Chinese, the difficulties involved seem to be even greater.

Notably among the difficulties are the following:

1) In Chinese, one tends to say “ 万” and “ 亿” of which there is no equivalent in English. Hence “ 一万” must be rendered into “10 千” (ten thousand); “ 三万” into “30 千” (thirty thousand); “ 二十万” into “200 千” (two hundred thousand), etc.. And “ 一亿” must be rendered into “100百万” (one hundred million); “ 一亿三十万” into “100 百万零 300 千” (one hundred million and three hundred thousand); “ 十亿” into “1,000 百万” (one thousand million, or one billion in American usage); and “ 一百亿” , “10 千百万” (i.e. ten thousand million or 10 billion in American English), etc..

All this may cause complication for a beginner or for those young interpreters who have not undergone sufficient training in this regard.

The ways comparison is expressed in Chinese are, in some respects, different from those in English, especially when the questions of countable and uncountable nouns are involved, e.g.

(1) Though in Chinese we say “ 倍” when we talk about “ 学校为……的三倍” in describing the increase in the number of schools, in English we shall have to say, for instance, “There are three times as many middle schools now in our province as there were in the early post-liberation days.”

(2) Though in Chinese we use the same word “ 倍” when we talk about “ 粮食产量” , in English we shall have to say,

for example, “Our province produces twice as much grain as it did on the eve of liberation in 1949.”

3) Quite a few units of measurement in Chinese —— such as li (1/2 kilometers), mu (0.66 hectare, or 1/6 acre), jin (1/2kilogram), etc. —— usually have to be converted into the metric systems by the interpreter on formal occasions, so as to facilitate understanding. And this extra bit of work (concerning conversion in units of measurement) could be quite a strain on an interpreter unless he has already acquired some experience in the course of training and practice.

1) Two significant points: as indicated earlier, it is risky trying to do a long series of figure in interpreting without jotting them down in a feasible way. To ensure accuracy it is always helpful and reassuring to speedily jot them down as they are being uttered (or read) by the original speakers.

b Some Practical Hints to Remember

2) In the case of C-E and E-C interpretation, figures do require a sufficient amount of training. By figures we mean, in a larger sense, not only a long series of figures combined with various units of measurements but also a long string of document symbols and long series of proper names (of persons/places).

(1) To lay emphasis on the speedy and accurate rendering of figures involving “ 万” and “ 亿” as a first step.

(2) To practice the rapid reading of 5-digit numbers, 8-digit numbers and, then, 10-digit numbers, etc. in both Chinese and English, and then combine them with various “units of measurement” until accuracy and fluency are achieved.

3) Some possible signs used: Here two possible sets of signs or

symbols are introduced.(1) Using comma (,) each representing one group of 3 naught, e.g.“forty thousand”, represented by “40,” means “ 四万” ;“six hundred thousand”, represented by “600,” means “ 六十万”“ seven million”, represented by “7,,” means “ 七百万”“ thirty million”, represented by “30,,” means “ 三千万”(2) Imitating the system used in Roman numerals with each horizontal line drawn above the numerals representing one group of three naught. e.g. 59,000 → noted as ; 435,000,000 →

(3) i. An easy table could be useful when you hear the numbers. You just fill in the form.

万亿( 兆)

Trilli

千亿

百亿

十亿Billi

亿 千万

百万Milli

十万

万 千 Thou

百 十 个

ii. If a number is bigger than a million, the easiest way is to use a point after the number of million.

For instance, 396 万 , can be put in this way, 3.96 million. Apply the same

way to the following numbers:3,956 万→ 39.65million3 亿 9,650 万→ 396.5million;If the number is bigger than a billi

on, adopt the same way to do it. e.g. 129 亿→ 12.9billion

iii. Note the following ways of uncertain numbers几个几个 some; a few; several十几个十几个 more than/ over a dozen;

less/no more than twenty几十个几十个 dozens of几十年几十年 Decades七十好几了七十好几了 well over seventy二十刚出头二十刚出头 in her/his early twenties三十大几了（快四十了）三十大几了（快四十了） in her/his late thirties千千万万千千万万 thousands and thousands of好几百个好几百个 hundreds of成千上万成千上万 thousands upon thousand of几十万几十万 hundreds of thousands of数以百万计的数以百万计的 millions of亿万亿万 (( 人人 )) hundreds of millions of十年十年 a decade二十年二十年 a score/four score and seven years ago三十年三十年 (25-30)(25-30) a generation五十年五十年 half a century一百年的一百年的 centennial 一百年一百年 // 世纪世纪 Century

iv. In Chinese we often hear or talk about ordinal numbers. If we interpret in English, we have to change the ways of asking/inquiry.

这是你第几次来中国？Is this your first visit to China? This isn’t your first visit to China, is it?How many times have you been in China?

你们队得了第几名？Did your team win the championship?Did you get/win the first place in the competition?

这孩子是（你的）老几呀？Is this your oldest/youngest child/son/daughter?

Supplementary materials (Source from LDCE)

If the number is large, it should not be too exact: 90-odd people but not *97-odd people.

Age:He’s nineish, nine or so/or thereabouts (=about 8-10 years old).He’s ninetyish, nitety or so/ or thereabouts (=ab

out 88-95). Dates:

On the ninth of May of thereabouts / (esp. BrE) or so (=between about the 8th and the 11th)in 1890 or thereabouts / (esp. Br.E) or so (= between about 1888 and 1895)

Time: at nineish, nine or thereabouts / (esp. Br.E) or so (=at 9 o’clock or slightly later)

Money: ￡ 9 or so / or thereabouts, some ￡ 9, a good ￡ 9, ￡ 9 odd (=nine p

ounds odd=between ￡ 9 and ￡ 10)￡ 90 odd (=90-odd pounds =between abo

ut ￡ 90 and ￡ 98) Gross: a group of 144, 12 dozen sold in grosse

s (How many grosses (of envelope) do you want? (group of 144))

Ream: a measure for sheets of paper (in Britain) 480 sheets, in US, 500 sheets.

Teenagers: ages between 12-17 years old. Medium term: five years; Short term: less than

five years; Long term: over five years

数字口译补充材料先练习“大整数”换算对译，再练各个数级换

算，最后练习（ million, billion 对译汉语的一百万、十亿）繁杂零琐的数字；

尽量利用笔记，提倡在听辨源语数字同时立即译成译语（边听、边记、边译）用 B 或 b 记录“十亿”，用 M 或 m 记录“百万”，如：two billion thirty-four million

→ 2 B 34 M十二亿四千万 → 1 B 240 M

v. 点线法中译外时，应在听到“亿”时即斜向划一长

线 / ，听到“万”时再划同样的斜长线 / ，剩下的数字则仍用“符号结合阿拉伯数字”的通用方式完成，即三个零为—，两个零为～，或者一律记阿拉伯数字，但不一定立即译成相应的译语数字。

例 1 ：一亿三千零二万零八百五十八 → 1/3002/0858例 2 ：一百零一亿七千四百八十九万○五百四十 → 101/7489/0540

口译时，从右向左，逆着原记录顺序每三位打一个逗号（分节号），便可将这些数字切分成印欧语系诸语言的进位单位了。用此方法，需要牢记分节号左位数的单位。从右向左：第一个分节号左位是“千”位，第二个分节号左位是“百万”位，第三个分节号左位是“十亿”位。例 1 ： 1/30,02/0,858 →130M 20Th 8Hu &58例 2 ： 10,1/74,89/0,540 →10B 174M 890Th 5Hu &40

此形式译成外语很方便，“回译”成汉语也没太大困难。

外译汉（如英文）时，译员应在听到 billion 、million 、 thousand 等位时，便立即打上一处逗号。例： thirty two billion four hundred fifty seven million eight hundred twenty six thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven → 32,457,826,937

在预备译出时依然从左到右，按汉语数字进位规律每四位数打上斜线： 32,4/57,82/6,937 ，译员只需照着斜线所提示的汉语数字表达习惯读出即可。

＊《交替口译中数字压力及对策》—— 外语与翻译 ’ 98/1 pp20-23

a The Metric System & Chinese Equivalent

Length 长度meter/m 米 =3 市尺

kilometer/km 公里 =2 市里Area 面积

sq.m 平方米 =3 平方市尺 hectare/ha 公顷 =15 市亩 (1 亩

=0.66ha) sq.km 平方公里 =4 平方市里

(km2)Weight/mass 重量与质量

kg 公斤 =2 市斤q 公担 =200 市斤

MT 公吨 =2000 市斤Capacity 容量

litre/l =1 市升

ton 作为重量单位时的汉语释义似应为：ton 重量单位：

长 [ 英、重、大、毛 ] 吨 （通用于英国，与 long ton 和 gross ton 同义，量值 2240 磅，约等于 1016.06 公斤）

短 [ 美、轻、小、净 ] 吨 （通用于美国、加拿大和南非，与 short ton 和 net ton 同义，量值 2000 磅，约等于 907.2 公斤）

吨 [ 汉语吨， metric ton 或 tonne] 量值为 1000 公斤 最后使用 tonne 在美式和英式英语中都等于

1000 公斤，量值也与我国法定计量单位吨等同。汉译英时可译为 tonne 。

Attention!Attention!Attention!Attention!

b The British & US SystemLength 长度

mile/mi 哩 =1,609km fathom/fm 寻 =1,829m yard/yd 码 =0.914m foot/ft 尺 =30.48cm inch/in 寸 =2.54cm

Weight 重量pound/lb. 磅 =0.454kg

ounce/oz. 盎司 =28.35g

Capacity 容量gallon/gal. 加仑 4.5461

Temperature 温度Cº (Centigrade) 摄氏 =(Fº-32)×5/9Fº (Fahrenheit) 华氏 =Cº×9/5+32

vi. Interpretation of times ( 倍数的译法 )

In scientific English the use of times is quite common. As for the expression of times, there are many differences between English and Chinese. For example, “to increase 4 times”, in Chinese it can be put into “increase 3 times” (增加 3倍 ), and also be put into增加到 4 倍 . In English we can say “to reduce 4 times” but in Chinese we cannot say in the same way. We can say “to reduce three quarter” (减少四分之三 ), or “to be reduced to one quarter”.

一、“几倍于”的译法英语表示一事物的某种数量为另一事物的几倍时，英语表示一事物的某种数量为另一事物的几倍时，

通常使用一下三种结构来表达：通常使用一下三种结构来表达：

“ 倍数＋ as…as” 的译法英语表示“几倍于”常用倍数加 as…as 即 “ X ti

mes + as 形容词（副词） as” 结构（ X代表任意整数）。因此又译为“是……的 X 倍”、“为……的 X 倍”或“ X 倍于……”，其倍数照译不减。如果要译成双方比较相差的倍数，则将其倍数减一，译成“比……（ X－1 ）倍”。如 “… 10 times as large as…”, 译成“大小是（为）……的 10 倍”，或“比……大 9 倍”。

On the earth everything is six times as heavy as on the moon.地球上每件东西的重量为月球上的 6 倍。

“ 倍数＋比较级＋ than” 的译法

表示“几倍于”的概念，还可以用“ X times +比较级＋ than” 结构。此结构表示的倍数与（一）结构相同，所以汉译时，同样译成“是……的 X 倍”、“为……的 X 倍”、“ X 倍于……”或“比……（ X－ 1 ）倍”。

Kuwait oil wells yield nearly 500 times more than US wells.

科威特油井产油几乎五百倍于美国油井。

“ 倍数＋名词（代词 that ）”的译法英语还可以用“ X times＋名词（代词 tha

t ）”结构来表示“几倍于”，一般可译成“是……的 X 倍”、“为……的 X 倍”或“比……（ X－ 1 ）倍”等。

In the workshop the output of July was 3.5 times that of January.

这个车间 7月份的产量是元月份的 3.5 倍。

The earth is 49 times the size of the moon.In 1980 the export value of machine tool was 8 times that of 1970.

1980年机床的出口数为 1970年的 8 倍。

二、“增加几倍”的译法

英语表示“增加几倍”，常用具有增加英语表示“增加几倍”，常用具有增加意义的动词加倍数，或只用具有倍数意义的意义的动词加倍数，或只用具有倍数意义的动词。句中的倍数是指所增加的倍数与原有动词。句中的倍数是指所增加的倍数与原有数之和。因此若译出净增加的倍数，就将原数之和。因此若译出净增加的倍数，就将原文减一，译成“增加了（文减一，译成“增加了（ XX －－ 11 ）倍“，）倍“，或”增加（或”增加（ XX －－ 11 ）倍”。若要译出增加部）倍”。若要译出增加部分与原有部分之和，则照译不减，译成“增分与原有部分之和，则照译不减，译成“增加到加到 XX 倍”。倍”。

“ 表示增加意义的动词＋倍数”表增加意义的动词有 increase 、 rise 、 grow 、 r

aise 、 exceed 等。与其连用的倍数有三种形式：

“ 数词＋ times”;数词与 fold组成的合成词 ;“by a factor of + 数词“。

比如 3 倍，又用 3 times 或 three-fold （ threefold ），也可用 by a factor of three 来表示。

With the result of automation productivity has increased 6 times in that factory.

由于自动化的结果，那个工厂的生产率增加了 5倍。（或译成……增加到 6 倍）

“ 表示倍数意义的动词＋宾语”

作动词用的倍数常见的有 double（两倍）、 treble （三倍）、 quadruple（四倍）等。

As the high voltage was abruptly trebled, all the valves burnt.由于高压突然增加了两倍，管子都烧坏了。

综上所述综上所述

翻译“几倍于”和“增加几倍”时，汉语有两种不同的表示法，两者正好相差一倍，所以要多加注意。

以 three times 为例：包括原来底数的译法：“是三倍”、“为三倍”、

“三倍于”或“增加到三倍”等。不包括原来底数的译法：“大两倍”、“长两

倍”、“增加两倍”或“增加了两倍”等。

三、倍数减少的译法英语中还可以用具有减少意义的词加倍数来表示减少

的数量。句中的倍数是指原量为现量的倍数。由于汉语不能说“减少多少倍”，所以汉译时需要将原文倍数化为分数，译成“减少了”（指减去部分），或译成“减少到“（指剩下部分）。

By using this new process the loss of metal was reduced four times.

采用这种新工艺使金属损耗减少了四分之三。（或译为……降到了四分之一）

The principal advantage is a four-fold reduction in volume.

主要优点是体积缩小了四分之三。

注： 如果减少的倍数中有小数点，则要换算成不带小数点的分数。比如 reduce 4.5 times ， 应换算成整数（）后，译成“减少到九分之二”，或“减少了九分之七”。

四．比例与百分比的表达法

四．比例与百分比的表达法

11 比例的表达方式分两种，表示成比例的表达方式分两种，表示成正比常用词组：正比常用词组： vary with, be proportional vary with, be proportional to, the more…the more…to, the more…the more… 。表示成反比常。表示成反比常用词组：用词组： vary inversely with, the more…tvary inversely with, the more…the less…he less… 。例如：。例如： 商品的价格与质量成正比。商品的价格与质量成正比。

The prices of commodities vary with the qualThe prices of commodities vary with the quality.ity.

如果电压不变，电阻和电流成反比。如果电压不变，电阻和电流成反比。If the voltage remains constant, the more the If the voltage remains constant, the more the

resistance the less the current.resistance the less the current.

2 百分比的表示法通常有以下三种情形： 百分数与 by连用，作状语。

例如：与去年同期相比，国家第一季度的总收购量增长了 6.2% 。The total volume of state purchase in the first quarter rose by 6.2％ , compared with the same period of last year.

百分数单独做状语。例如：去年日本小汽车产量比 1990年下降了 12％。The output of cars in Japan last year was 12% less than in 1990.

百分比作定语、宾语。例如：金属损耗减少到 30％以下。The loss of metal has been reduced to less than 30%.

五、趋势语的表达法

英语中有丰富的描述数字上升、下降或稳定的词汇，即趋势语（ trend language ）。如下列句子中划线的词汇： The area of cultivated land decrease

d by 7.6 million hectares, but the yield per hectare rose by an average of 180 kg.

Average annual grain supply per person grow from 200 to 400kg, and meat from 9 to 15kg.

下面列举一些英语中常用来表达趋势的词汇：

表示上升趋势： an increase增加 , a rise 提高 , a climb爬升 , a jump 上升 , a growth增长 ; to increase增加 , to rise 提高 , to climb爬升 , to jump 上升 , to grow增长 , to reach 升至 , to go up 上升。

表示下降趋势： a fall 下降 , a drop跌落 , a decline 下跌 , a decrease减少 ; to fall 下降 , to drop跌落 , to decline 下跌 , a decrease减少 , to go down 下降 , to bottom out降至最低点 , to slow down减速 , to decelerate减速。

表示稳定： to remain (stable)保持，不变，稳定，维持 ; to stand at 不变，稳定，维持 ; to level out (off) 平衡，稳定。

汉语： “增加 N 元”，“增加 N ％” 英译： a N yuan increase

a N percent increase

英语： a N-fold increase/increase

N-fold/N times

表示含义是增加到 N 倍，不是净增加数，其汉语含义净增数应为 N－ 1 倍。例证： During the critical year of 1917 Party membership rose tenfold from 20,000 to 200,000.

在关键性的 1917年，党员人数从二万增加 到二十万，即增加了九倍。

英语： “倍数＋强比较级”或“倍数＋ over” 的句型汉译： A比 B多 N－ 1 倍或 A 为 B 的 N倍

英语 N times 和 N-fold 用于增减和强弱有多种说法，用于增加和强比较的是基数乘以N ，意为“增加到 N 倍”、“为比较对象的 N倍（如 five times greater ，即基数 ×5 ）；用于减少或弱比较是“减少到”、“为比较对象的”（如 seven times smaller 即基数 ÷7 ，“缩小到七分之一”）。

Cautious!Cautious!Cautious!Cautious!

不用笔记，用脑算 用这个办法要求记住“千”以上的四个汉语单位

和它们的英语对应单词，并能熟练运用。 “ 万”，英语是“ 10 thousand” （十千）； “ 百万”，英语有单位名称“ million” ； “ 亿” , 英语是“ 100 million”( 一百个百万 ) ； “ 十亿”，英语有单位名称“ billion” ； 口译时，听到“万”，将数字乘以“ 10” ，读为“千”（ thousand ）。 比如：“八十三万”即为“八百三十个千”，读为“ 830 thousand” 。 听到“百万”，读数时，注意英语有单位“ million” 。 如“三百五十六万”，是“三个百万，五百六十个千”，读“ 3 million million

560560 thousand” 。 听到“亿”，将数字乘以“ 100” ，读为“百万”（ million ）。 如“八亿六千七百万”是“八百六十七个百万”，读为“ 867 million867 million” 。 听到“十亿”，读数时，注意英语有单位“ billion” 。 听到“十亿”以上，将数字除以“ 10” ，读“十亿”（ billion ）。 如：“ 200 亿”，读为“ 20 billion” 。