translation of 有參考價值

[Kenny同志]

平遥古城……对研究这一时期的社会形态、经济结构、军事防御、宗教信仰、传统思想、伦理道德的[以及]人类居住形式有重要的参考价值。

 

 

原译的处理是：The old city of Pingyao… is of considerable referential importance in researching into the social formation, economic structure, military defense, religious beliefs, traditional ideology, moral concepts and dwelling patterns of that time. 

 

 

笔者在此试将原译改译如下：The old city of Pingyao… sheds light on the social formation, economic structure, military defense, religious beliefs, traditional ideology, moral concepts and dwelling patterns of the day。

 

link: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/columnist/2007-12/25/content_6346818.htm 

 

同志們有何高見？

[Kenny同志]

同志們有何高見？

 

I am not sure whether 'shed light on' is a good translation or not.

[MPhillips]

Another possibility might be: "The old city of Pingyao… affords researchers a window on the social formation, economic structure, (et al.) of the day." Of course yours is as good or better.

[Basil]

Not Chinglish enough. Stick with the rough translation.

 

 

..

 

Depends on the target audience whether you should simplify the sentence as much as you have.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks for sharing your opinions, 两位. Really appreciate it.

 

PS: The translation is not mine.: )

[MPhillips]

Sorry, not very observant today, am I ?! In truth however, "to shed light on" works well & would be an improvement on the translation which comes before it.

[Basil]

It just depends whether you think it acceptable to drop 研究 and 重要.

 

The 研究 tells the reader what kind of person might be interested in 平遥 and 重要 provides a measure of worth.

 

I think you'd fail an exam if you consistently dropped that many words. Whether it's good for the target reader is another question.

 

 

I've been to Pingyao. It's really best to be paid to 研究 the place, as there's loads of extra fees and is unfortunately quite boring... I didn't experience much light shedding...

[MPhillips]

To keep 研究 I said "researchers" ("…Pingyao…affords researchers a window on…"), but since I used "a window on", I decided to drop 重要 in that "an important window" isn't idiomatic in the least.

[daofeishi]

The second translation is considerably better. I don't think I've ever heard the phrase "referential importance", and if I saw it in real life I'm not sure I'd understand it. I think there are better ways of expressing that something is valuable as a reference or object of study to researchers.

Another word I would consider changing is "traditional ideology" for 传统思想. I don't think I'd refer to that kind of thought as an ideology, since an ideology to me is a systematic, cohesive system of thought, which I don't think is meant here. Maybe something like "traditional thought"?

[Basil]

I don't think "thought" works. Easy to mistake it for meaning something deeper than it is.

 

I agree that "ideology" is not perfect either.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks folks.

 

So 'shed light on' is acceptable and the only thing that's less than satisfactory is the translation of '傳統思想 '.

 

Let's see who will come up with an idiomatic translation.

[Basil]

Kenny,

 

Unless there is further clarification later in the text, which I doubt, I really feel that 传统思想 is an empty meaningless phrase, like 科学发展 or 封建思维 or any number of other CCP language mangling phrases. I'd be tempted to delete it, in fact.

[Kenny同志]

I agree with you to some extent, Basil. Some of the things mentioned in the original texts, for example, 倫理道德, are a bit far-fetched in my opinion.