Please help me with this little translation

[MengJiaSheng]

Hey everyone,

basically I have been given a short piece on the Chinese language for translation but there are a few parts in it that are quite hard to translate:

以典范的现代白话文著作为语法规范。

Shouldn't it be 现代白话文著的典范， so that it says the model of..... as ....

and what does the 著do there?

除普通话外，还有八个汉语方言区，在每个方言区内，还存在一些次方言。

What does the 次here?

此外，中国境内的五十六个民族中，汉族，回族，满族和畲族通用汉语，其他各民族均有自己的语言。

What does the 畲族 here mean? Remaining ethnic groups? And should the 其他 here be translated as "besides that?". Is the 均 translatable as "equally"/"as well"?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[fanglu]

以典范的现代白话文著作为语法规范

白话文 (non-classical chinese) modifies 著作 (literary work)

除普通话外，还有八个汉语方言区，在每个方言区内，还存在一些次方言。

What does the 次here?

It means sub-, so 次方言 is sub-dialect.

此外，中国境内的五十六个民族中，汉族，回族，满族和畲族通用汉语，其他各民族均有自己的语言。

What does the 畲族 here mean? Remaining ethnic groups?

No, its the name of an ethnic group. See wikipedia

And should the 其他 here be translated as "besides that?".

I'd say 'other', so 其他各民族 = the other ethnic groups

Is the 均 translatable as "equally"/"as well"?

No, it should be 'all'. So 其他各民族均有自己的语言 is other ethnic groups all have their own languages.

[imron]

[edit, fanglu beat me too it, but as I've written it all anyway, might as well post it]

Let's start by breaking the first sentence up into it's separate pieces:

以 典范 的 现代 白话文 著作 为 语法 规范.

The first important grammar point to pay attention to is 以……为…… to take/treat/use …… as/for ……

Also note, it's 白话文 著作, not 白话文著 作为, which should make clear your question regarding 著。

Finally, here 典范 is being used as an adjective, hence the reason it is written like this and not 现代汉语白话文著作的典范.

A translation might be something like:

...uses works written in standard, modern vernacular as the basis for its grammar.

For the second sentence, 次 just means 'secondary'. This is another meaning of 次 besides its more common usage as a measure word.

In the third sentence, 畲族 doesn't mean remaining ethnic groups, instead it means the "She Ethnic Group", and with that in mind, it is then clear that 其他 means "other".

Finally, 均 is just a formal way of writing 都.

均有自己的语言 = 都有自己的语言。

[Kenny同志]

以典范的现代白话文著作为语法规范。

Version 1: We must standardize the grammatical rules of today’s Chinese by studying exemplary works of contemporary vernacular Chinese.

Version 2 : the grammatical rules in exemplary works of contemporary vernacular Chinese must be applied as our standards.

除普通话外，还有八个汉语方言区，在每个方言区内，还存在一些次方言。

Besides areas where Mandarin are spoken, there are eight more areas where Chinese are spoken and in each of such areas sub-dialects exist.

此外，中国境内的五十六个民族中，汉族，回族，满族和畲族通用汉语，其他各民族均有自己的语言。

Of the fifty six ethnic groups in China, the Han, Hui, Man, and She Chinese commonly use Chinese, whereas all the other groups have their own language.

Here is my two cents. Hope you can come up with a better translation.

Edited October 16, 2009 at 01:25 PM by kenny2006woo