|
1. Redundancy in Sentence Construction
The author identifies four common types of redundant expressions in Chinglish
Meaningless Repetition: Duplicating information already implied (e.g., "accelerate the pace of reform" → "pace" is redundant; "accelerate reform" suffices).
Synonym Stacking: Combining near-synonyms unnecessarily (e.g., "active and dynamic measures" → "active" or "dynamic" alone is clearer).
Hidden Repetition: Logically overlapping phrases disguised as new information (e.g., "strengthen and improve party leadership" → "improve" inherently includes "strengthen").
Over-qualification: Adding obvious modifiers (e.g., "terrible tragedy" → "tragedy" alone conveys severity).
2. Structural Bloat
Three key causes of convoluted sentences:
Nominalization Abuse: Weak verb + abstract noun constructions (e.g., "conduct an examination of" → "examine").
Preposition Overload: Excessive prepositional phrases (e.g., "in the context of globalization" → "globally").
Passive Voice Misuse: Unnecessarily indirect phrasing (e.g., "It is widely recognized that..." → "Experts recognize...").
3. Information Hierarchy Errors
Misplaced Subordination: Burying key ideas in subordinate clauses (e.g., "Although he succeeded, he felt empty" → "He felt empty despite his success").
Fuzzy Parallelism: Illogical grouping of unequal elements (e.g., "The policy improved economy, reduced pollution, and the public’s satisfaction" → non-parallel verbs/nouns).
4. Revision Strategies
Solutions proposed:
Trim Redundancies: Delete filler words (e.g., "make an improvement in" → "improve").
Prioritize Verbs: Use strong verbs instead of noun clusters (e.g., "carry out reforms" → "reform").
Active Perspective: Replace passive structures with direct statements (e.g., "It is necessary to..." → "We must...").
Key Takeaway
This section systematically deconstructs how Chinese-to-English structural transfer creates wordiness and ambiguity. The most impactful insight is recognizing that "grammatically correct" English isn’t necessarily idiomatic English. For instance, literal translations of Chinese four-character phrases (e.g., "comprehensive and thorough investigation") often violate English concision norms. Moving forward, I’ll practice "sentence auditing" by asking: Can this idea be expressed with fewer, more precise words?
|
|