现在幼儿园的孩子就得会英文自我介绍,日后择校、升学、高考及工作面试也会派上用场。直到成长为VIP那一天,才会有下属来撰写中英双语的BIO。在那一天到来之前,作为孩子的家长都得为如何用英文介绍自己的孩子操心。
以下是某位家长给幼儿园大班的儿子准备的中文版自我介绍,我试着帮她翻译成了英文。
中文版
大家好!
我是东北育才幼儿园大三班的Thomas,小朋友们都叫我大眼睛。
我是一个活泼开朗的男孩,我有很多爱好,我很喜欢画画,看,这是我画的恐龙,这是霸王龙,还有各种恐龙,你们知道我画的这个是谁吗,这是蜘蛛侠,你们知道蜘蛛侠的招牌动作吗?
我喜欢画各种动画片的人物,也喜欢画故事中的人物。
我也很喜欢看书,喜欢每本书中的故事,喜欢每本书中有趣的传说,书能让我知道更多有乐趣的事情,我还喜欢唱英文歌,现在我为大家唱一首Dry Bones。希望大家喜欢。
英文版
Hello, everyone!
My name is Thomas. I am from Yucai kindergarten.
As you will find out, I am an outgoing boy. My favorite hobby is drawing. Here is my picture of dinosaur. Actually, it is a T-rex. It is only one of many kinds of dinosaurs that I have drawn. Here is another picture. Can you tell who he is? Yes, he is Spiderman. Do you know his signature pose?
Well, as you can see, I really enjoy drawing characters from animated movies and story books.
Besides drawing, I also like to read. There are good stories and interesting legends in books. Books also tell me about many funny things.
Another hobby of mine is singing English songs. Now I'd like to sing you a song. It's called "Dry Bones". I hope you like it.
翻译过程中有几点心得,现逐个分享。
句式争取多样,衔接到位。如果按照中文版本对应翻译,句式就略显单调。在用英文表述时应争取句式多样化。如爱好是什么,就分别用My hobby is和I enjoy doing/like to do表述。句子衔接用了as、besides等手段。
用细节flesh out介绍内容。这篇自我介绍有一些细节,比如霸王龙、蜘蛛侠。但涉及书的部分,细节不足,略显冗长。要记住Brevity is the soul of wit,如果没有更多细节支撑,那么该精炼的地方就要精炼。
避免翻译陷阱。比如这篇自我介绍中,孩子说小朋友们都叫他“大眼睛”,这里如果翻译成bigeye,其英文其实指大眼鲷,还有一种热带和亚热带海域生长的金枪鱼也叫bigeye tuna。所以建议自我介绍中就略去。
语速要慢。上台都会紧张,语速会加快。所以平时训练语速要慢,要结合eye contact,确保grab audience’s attention。