Abstract:English and Chinese belong to two different language families, and great differences exist in various aspects. As nowadays translation attracts considerable attention in China, English language researchers are paying more attention to language transfer, which can be classified into positive transfer and negative transfer. Positive transfer is facilitation by the mother tongue through similarities between the mother tongue and the target language; and negative transfer is interference by the mother tongue, resulting from dissimilarities between the mother tongue and the target language. Because of negative transfer, translators may come under the influence of their native language in translating. And it is very salient in Chinese-English translation due to different origins. The present study is to explore the negative transfer problem at three levels in translation from Chinese to English.

Key words: negative transfer; Chinese-English translation; interference

Table of Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

2.1 Language transfer studies abroad-2

2.2 Language transfer studies in China-2

3. Negative Transfer in Lexicon-3

3.1 Difference in word structure between Chinese and English-3

3.1.1 Constitution of Chinese at the lexical level-3

3.1.2 Integrity of English at the lexical level-3

4. Negative Transfer in Syntax-5

4.1 Sentence Structure-5

4.1.1 Integrality of the structure of a simple sentence-5

4.1.2 Connection and cohesion in the structure of a complex sentence-6

4.2 The tenses of finite verbs-7

4.3 The forms of non-finite verbs-7

4.4 The plural of nouns-8

5. Negative Transfer in Discourse-9

5.1 The restructuring of syntax-9

5.2 Restructuring of syntactic order-9

6. Strategies-11

6.1 Suggestions for teachers-11

6.2 Suggestions for learners-11

7. Conclusion-12

References-13

Acknowledgements-14