Working languages: Chinese to English
| Malcolm Mayfield
Professional translator since 1999.
Austin, Texas, United States Local time: 00:34 CST (GMT+8)
Native in: English  | |
I only work for clients committed to the highest standards of quality | Freelancer,  Verified site user | | Translation, Editing/proofreading | | Specializes in: | | Accounting | Business/Commerce (general) | | Finance (general) | Investment / Securities | | Management | Law: Taxation & Customs |
| Also works in: | | Advertising / Public Relations | Economics | | IT (Information Technology) | Insurance | | Law: Contract(s) | Telecom(munications) |
More Less | | USD | | PRO-level points: 436, Questions answered: 368, Questions asked: 6 | Sample translations submitted: 2 Chinese to English: Teng Yu Calls at the Shen Residence
General field: Art/Literary | Source text - Chinese
四月的一個午後，滕雨第一次來到沈家。 按了門鈴，早有一個小童過來開門，彎著腰，在前面引路。院子裡寂寂的，陽光照下來，把花木的影子印在青磚地上。過了第一道月亮門，小童躬身退下，一個婦人走過來，朝滕雨道了個萬福，帶著她向內院走。四下里靜悄悄的，抬眼看見廊上掛著鳥籠子，有一隻金絲雀，正用尖嘴梳理著羽毛，問或啼叫兩聲。穿過幾道迴廊，眼前是一個雅緻的院落，一個丫頭迎出來，半低著頭，攙住滕雨，上了台階，緊走兩步，打起簾子，請滕雨進屋。滕雨在門口立住，定了定神，這才看清屋內的陳設，心想，未免有些脂粉氣了。臉上卻是不露聲色，在椅子上端坐下來，看了一眼丫頭遞過來的茶，並不接，問道，老爺在休息?丫頭忙說，回姑娘的話，老爺出去辦事。臨走時吩咐了，姑娘來了，儘管把這裡當做自己的家。等老爺晚上回府，再來看望姑娘。滕雨把手擺一擺，笑道，好吧。我乏了。歇一會兒。你們也辛苦了——先下去吧。 陽光透過簾子照進來，淡淡的，東一點，西一點，在牆上微微顫動。滕雨歪在榻上，半閉著眼，只覺得周身無力。這一路，舟車勞頓，她是真累了。早就聽母親說起過，沈家是這一帶的詩書望族，同滕家素有舊誼，算得上通家之好。可是如今，滕家是早就敗落了。這麼多年，勉力撐著一個空架子，而今父親滕梁效辭世，滕家也就真正走到了盡頭。臨行前，母親再三叮嚀，到了沈家，凡事要懂規矩。不比在家裡，處處要謹言慎行才是。滕雨知道，自己此番進城，絕不是普通的走親訪友。她是滕家的獨女，母親寧可孤身終老，也要把她送往沈家。母親的意思，她如何不懂?
| Translation - English
One afternoon in April, Teng Yu arrived at the Shens’ residence for the first time. She rang the bell and soon a young servant came to open the door with a bow and lead her inside.
The outer courtyard was quiet. Sunlight shown down, casting shadows from the foliage onto grey-green brick. After they had passed through the first moon gate, the servant bowed and withdrew. There then approached a woman who greeted Teng Yu politely and ushered her into the inner courtyard. All was quiet. Glancing upward, Teng Yu saw a birdcage in which a canary was preening its feathers with its sharp beak, stopping only to make an inquiring chirp or two.
After traversing several corridors, they came at last to an elegant building. A girl came out, nodded slightly and, taking Teng Yu by the arm, led her up the steps. A couple more paces brought them to a door screen which the girl pulled aside, inviting Teng Yu to enter. Teng Yu stood on the threshold and had to focus a moment before she could take in the room’s furnishings. She noted distinctly the scent of makeup and powder in the air, but her expression revealed nothing as she sat herself primly on a chair. She glanced at the tea the girl brought over and refused it.
“Is the master resting?” she asked.
“Master went out on some business, Miss,” the girl hastily answered, “but on his way out he said for Miss to make herself at home when she comes, and Master will look in on you this evening once he gets back.”
“That’s fine,” Teng Yu replied with a smile and a wave of her hand. “I’m tired. I’ll just rest a bit. You must be tired yourselves—no need to wait on me.”
Faint shafts of sunlight entering through the screen flickered here and there on the wall. Teng Yu curled up on an ottoman, eyes half closed, feeling only pervasive fatigue. She had been genuinely tired throughout the whole trip.
Years ago she had heard her mother speak of the Shens as one of the prominent literary families in the region, and how they were such old and dear friends with the Tengs it was like they were all one family. Only nowadays the Teng family had fallen on hard times. All those years desperately clinging to a hollow shell, and now that her father, Teng Liang Xiao, had passed away, the Teng family was well and truly at an end.
In the days before the trip, her mother had made it clear time and again that when she got to the Shens’ place she would have to behave herself. Unlike at home, she would have to watch what she said and did always. This trip into town, Teng Yu knew, was no ordinary visit to see friends and family. She was the Teng family’s only daughter, but her mother would rather live out her years alone and send her to the Shens. There was no mistaking her mother’s meaning.
| Chinese to English: Chinese Chambers of Commerce
General field: Bus/Financial | Source text - Chinese
當代的民間商會是在市場經濟和全球化背景下成立的。作為當代中國新型商會的開拓者，雖然我們並不能從國家法律法規和前人的實踐中找到什麼是「商會」的標準答案，但我們從自己多年的直接經驗中確切地知道： 第一，商會不是家族或者家庭，不能搞任人唯親或者專制獨裁的「家長制」；第二，商會不是企業，不能以贏利為目的，更不能誰出錢多誰就說了算；第三，商會不是政府，會長的權利來自會員的擁護而不是上級的任命，要真正做到全心全意為會員服務。 作為全體會員共同的組織，只有喚起廣大會員關注、發動廣大會員參與、代表廣大會員利益、表達廣大會員要求、維護廣大會員權利、接受廣大會員監督，這個在市場經濟的洶湧大潮中順勢而生的新生事物，才能掙脫幾千年封建主義專制獨裁的精神枷鎖，才能遠離近年來資本主義原始積累急功近利的低級趣味，才能超越「一個中國人是條龍，三個中國人是窩蟲」的性格宿命，成為中國特色的市場經濟的組織者、和諧社會的建設者，以及民主政治的推動者。民營經濟稚嫩、弱小，這使它迫切需要有效地組織起來：因為弱小，它需要保護；因為稚嫩，它需要規範。所以我認為民間商會首先應該是市場經濟的組織者。 其次，民間商會也是和諧社會的建設者。建設和諧社會的主體是什麼？我的理解就應該「小政府、大社會」，政府把一部分管不了、管不好的事，還給社會組織，民間商會剛好可以發揮這個作用，所以和諧社會建設的主體應該是民間社會組織。 第三，我認為民間商會是民主政治的推動者。民主政治建設一定要有一些抓手，商會章程規定它是民主的商會，其組織形式也是民主的組織形式。這就可能使廣大會員在商會活動中得到很好的民主訓練、學習。任何一種民主，一定需要這樣一個訓練的過程，如我們在農村搞村民自治，在城市搞社區選舉，商會也可以成為鍛鍊會員民主能力的舞台。 民間商會作為一種社會組織，是經濟社會逐漸發育成熟的產物，也已成為建設和諧社會的積極力量，更將為「還權於民」提供有效的組織保障。
3. Medical 悄悄襲來的流行病——骨質疏鬆症 骨後疏鬆症是中老年人常見的骨病，是一種以骨量減少。骨組織顯微結構受損，繼而引起骨骼脆性增加和骨折危險性增高的系統性骨骼疾病。臨床以腰背疼痛、身長縮短、駝背，甚至骨折為主要表現。中老年人要防治骨質疏鬆，應採取科學的方法，同時還應結合飲食、運動療法，在日常生活中也要隨時注意，這樣才能收到較好的防治效果。 健康測試：你易患骨質疏鬆症嗎？ 揭開骨質疏鬆症的神秘面紗 1.骨質疏鬆症及其症狀 2.骨質疏鬆症的分類 3.骨質疏鬆症的病因 4.骨質疏鬆症的高發人群
| Translation - English
Today’s non-governmental chambers of commerce are founded against a backdrop of the market economy and globalization. We may be unable to say definitively what a ‘chamber of commerce’ is by looking in the nation’s laws and regulations or our predecessors’ practices, but as the founders of a new type of chamber of commerce in modern China, we know some things with certainty from our own direct experience over many years.
First, a chamber of commerce is not a clan or family: It cannot engage in nepotism or the despotic dictatorship of a ‘patriarchy.’
Second, a chamber of commerce is not a corporation: It cannot operate on the profit motive, much less allow those who put up the most money to simply have their way.
Third, a chamber of commerce is not a government: Chamber presidents derive their power from the support of their members, not as an appointment from above, and they must truly devote themselves heart and soul to serving those members.
A chamber is a collective organization of all its members, so its leader must solicit the broader membership’s attention, mobilize their participation, represent their interests, express their demands, protect their rights and accept their supervision—fulfilling this new role that seeks opportunities within the tempestuous tides of a market economy —for only then can we cast off the mental shackles fastened through millennia of feudal despotism, leave behind the crass capitalist accumulation and thirst for quick profits we’ve witnessed in recent years, transcend the destiny of our nature that says ‘one Chinese is a dragon, three Chinese are a hive,’ and become organizers of a market economy with Chinese characteristics, builders of a harmonious society, and promoters of democratic government.
The private sector is immature, weak and small, and this makes effective organization an urgent imperative: Because it is small and weak, it needs protection; because it is immature, it needs regulation. So, I believe that chambers of commerce must act first and foremost as organizers.
Secondly, non-governmental chambers of commerce are builders of a harmonious society. Who should be the primary agent in building a harmonious society? According to my understanding, one ought to have ‘small government, large society,’ whereby the government takes those things it cannot manage or manage well and leaves them for the society to organize—a task that chambers of commerce are ideally positioned to perform—and so the private sector should be the primary agent for organizing a harmonious society. Third, I believe that non-governmental chambers of commerce are promoters of democratic government. Building democratic government requires some secure footholds, and chambers of commerce have charters stipulating that they are to be democratic, with a democratic form of organization. This allows a chamber’s activities to become good democratic training and learning opportunities for its members. A training process of this sort is necessary for any kind of democracy, like villager self-governance in villages or community elections in the cities, and chambers of commerce can become platforms for honing their members’ democratic capabilities.
Non-governmental chambers of commerce are a kind of social organization, a slowly growing and maturing product of the economy and society. They have already become a positive force for building a harmonious society and, even more so, they will provide effective organizational assurance for ‘giving power to the people.’
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More Less | | Years of translation experience: 10. Registered at ProZ.com: Mar 2006. | | N/A | | N/A | | N/A | | Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Other CAT tool, Powerpoint, SDL TRADOS | | http://www.transpecific.com | | About me Nine years as a professional translator/editor at a Big 4 accounting firm in Taiwan.
Currently lead translator at TranSpecific (please visit TranSpecific.com) | This user has earned KudoZ points by helping other translators with PRO-level terms. Click point total(s) to see term translations provided.
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Keywords: Chinese-English, US Citizen, experienced, business, accounting, marketing, finance, banking, insurance, proofreading
Profile last updated
Jan 23 |
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