徐州翻译公司谈如何翻译“素质教育”
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发布时间:2010-4-28 14:59:07
开展素质教育是我国教育改革的重要举措。对外宣传中，“素质教育”无疑也是个非常重要的短语，国内一些媒体通常将其翻译为 quality education，例如：
The Ministry of Education has worked out new policies to furtherpromote quality education that highlights the cultivation ofindependent thinking, creative spirit and practical ability, said asenior official. (chinadaily.com.cn 11/13/2000)
再看另外一个翻译例子：
为了消除当前教育体制的弊端，我们要在全国范围内全面实施以德育为核心，以创新精神和实践能力为重点的素质教育。（原文）
To overcome disadvantages in current educational system, we mustcarry on the quality education centering on moral education andemphasizing creativity and practice all over the country.（译文）
对于将“素质教育”翻译成 quality education 的情况早已有人提出异议，并给出了一些不同的译法。如：educationfor all-round development，quality-orientededucation和competence-oriented education等。但上述各种译法均有不足，education forall-round development 改变了切入点，指的是让学生得到全面发展的教育；quality-oriented education与 quality education 并无本质上的区别；而 competence-oriented education中的competence 一词仅仅表示“能力”，这在一般的字典里都能查到，“素质教育”的内涵要远远超出 competence 所能覆盖的意义。
那么“素质教育”应如何翻译呢？这就需要通过大量查证来进行反复研究。我们学习研究的结果表明，quality education的意思是实际上是“高质量的教育”，香港的一些网站将quality education翻译为“优质教育”。英语中有大量“形容词+quality+名词”的用法，例如 high quality service，highquality education，good quality equipment，good quality office space，topquality cotton 等等 ；同时用“quality+名词”表示“高质量的某种东西”的情况也很多，最常见的例子是 qualityproducts，而 quality products 实际上就等于 products of high quality。类似的情况还有quality printed output，quality display 等。再看下面的例句，注意句子中的 qualityassurance systems 表示“高质量的（人寿）保险体系”。
The aim of the guidelines is to establish quality assurancesystems for the industry and to create a sound basis for furtherimprovement in the areas of health, safety and the environment.
再看下面的几个例句, 其中的 quality education 均表示“高质量的教育”：
1. St Mary's is a good school providing quality education.
2. All young people have the right to quality education.
3. The demise of quality education, once the jewel in Britain'scrown, has been a feature of the three Conservative administrationssince 1979.
4. Making parents aware of the virtues of the school, thebuildings, the playing fields, the swimming pool etc. isn't necessarilyrelated to providing quality education.
值得注意的是，quality 一词如果用作复数名词, 或者放在 personal quality 这个词组中，也可指人的具体的素质表现，例如：
1．A young senior manager still committed and working to highstandards would be "successful" as would an older manager with the samequalities progressing more slowly to senior levels.
2. The officials, the MPs and the industrialists get togetherover sandwiches to mark each candidate for their intellectual capacity,the ability to speak, write and organize, and personal qualities liketheir influence on others, their sense of responsibility ordetermination.
3. Personal qualities and work characteristics, such asself-confidence, co-operation, enthusiasm, leadership, attitudes,initiative and so on.
4. Hodgson et al (1984) also found that some schools requiredqualifications whereas others looked for personal qualities such asflexibility and good interpersonal skills. （在这里，学历qualifications和素质personal qualities正好形成了对照）
5. The third element covers personal and social skills,communication and relationships, the ability to work in groups andpersonal qualities such as initiative, responsibility, self-relianceand leadership.
既然 quality education 不等同于“素质教育”，那么“素质教育”应该怎样译成英语呢？ 有一篇专门论述“素质教育”的文章，其“素质教育”的英译是 EQO (Essential-qualities-oriented) Education：
"Trans-century EQO (essential-qualities-oriented, called su yhi jiao zu in Chinese) Education Project".
United Nations in China 网站报道中的“素质教育”也是essential-qualities-oriented schooling：
The (Chinese) government's recent promotion of a shift fromexamination-oriented to essential-qualities-oriented schooling (suzhieducation), is being followed up with guidelines on curriculumrestructuring and textbook compilation (after the National Conferenceon Education, 1999).
前面提到的两个翻译例子中还有一些其他问题，特别是“创新精神”和“实践能力”的英译与原文精神有距离。此处重点讨论的是“素质教育”的英译问题，因此对其他问题不再赘述， 现提供一个重译供参考：
To overcome the drawbacks of the prevailing education system wemust promote throughout the country the essential-qualities-orientededucation that stresses the cultivation of moral integrity andemphasizes the development of creativity of the mind and hands-onabilities.
Caliber 一词也可以用来指人的素质。根据 Chambers 21st Century Dictionary的定义，caliber一词的意思是“quality；standard；ability”；Webster's New WorldDictionary将其解释为“degree of worth or value of a person or thing; qualityorability”。由此可见，caliber大致相当于我们所说的“素质”。我们在一英语国家的网站见到过这样一则招聘广告，标题是：LookingFor High Caliber Talent（招聘高素质人才）。类似的例子还有：persons of caliber andsubstance（有素质、有内涵的人），management staff of the highestcaliber（高素质的管理人员）以及This man was a person of high caliber.（此人素质很高。）
下面再看几个关于caliber 用法的例子:
1. He wanted someone of high caliber, with business and administrative skills.
2. The Department of the Environment admits it is almost impossibleto recruit the caliber of inspectors it wants on salaries starting atabout ?15,000.
3. The caliber of the new staff is impressive and the pay-bill alone will reduce by more than ?0.25m a year.
4. Quite frankly the salaries you offer these C P Os are much toolow; if they weren't retired police officers, you wouldn't get thecaliber of person.
The Ministry of Education has worked out new policies to furtherpromote quality education that highlights the cultivation ofindependent thinking, creative spirit and practical ability, said asenior official. (chinadaily.com.cn 11/13/2000)
再看另外一个翻译例子：
为了消除当前教育体制的弊端，我们要在全国范围内全面实施以德育为核心，以创新精神和实践能力为重点的素质教育。（原文）
To overcome disadvantages in current educational system, we mustcarry on the quality education centering on moral education andemphasizing creativity and practice all over the country.（译文）
对于将“素质教育”翻译成 quality education 的情况早已有人提出异议，并给出了一些不同的译法。如：educationfor all-round development，quality-orientededucation和competence-oriented education等。但上述各种译法均有不足，education forall-round development 改变了切入点，指的是让学生得到全面发展的教育；quality-oriented education与 quality education 并无本质上的区别；而 competence-oriented education中的competence 一词仅仅表示“能力”，这在一般的字典里都能查到，“素质教育”的内涵要远远超出 competence 所能覆盖的意义。
那么“素质教育”应如何翻译呢？这就需要通过大量查证来进行反复研究。我们学习研究的结果表明，quality education的意思是实际上是“高质量的教育”，香港的一些网站将quality education翻译为“优质教育”。英语中有大量“形容词+quality+名词”的用法，例如 high quality service，highquality education，good quality equipment，good quality office space，topquality cotton 等等 ；同时用“quality+名词”表示“高质量的某种东西”的情况也很多，最常见的例子是 qualityproducts，而 quality products 实际上就等于 products of high quality。类似的情况还有quality printed output，quality display 等。再看下面的例句，注意句子中的 qualityassurance systems 表示“高质量的（人寿）保险体系”。
The aim of the guidelines is to establish quality assurancesystems for the industry and to create a sound basis for furtherimprovement in the areas of health, safety and the environment.
再看下面的几个例句, 其中的 quality education 均表示“高质量的教育”：
1. St Mary's is a good school providing quality education.
2. All young people have the right to quality education.
3. The demise of quality education, once the jewel in Britain'scrown, has been a feature of the three Conservative administrationssince 1979.
4. Making parents aware of the virtues of the school, thebuildings, the playing fields, the swimming pool etc. isn't necessarilyrelated to providing quality education.
值得注意的是，quality 一词如果用作复数名词, 或者放在 personal quality 这个词组中，也可指人的具体的素质表现，例如：
1．A young senior manager still committed and working to highstandards would be "successful" as would an older manager with the samequalities progressing more slowly to senior levels.
2. The officials, the MPs and the industrialists get togetherover sandwiches to mark each candidate for their intellectual capacity,the ability to speak, write and organize, and personal qualities liketheir influence on others, their sense of responsibility ordetermination.
3. Personal qualities and work characteristics, such asself-confidence, co-operation, enthusiasm, leadership, attitudes,initiative and so on.
4. Hodgson et al (1984) also found that some schools requiredqualifications whereas others looked for personal qualities such asflexibility and good interpersonal skills. （在这里，学历qualifications和素质personal qualities正好形成了对照）
5. The third element covers personal and social skills,communication and relationships, the ability to work in groups andpersonal qualities such as initiative, responsibility, self-relianceand leadership.
既然 quality education 不等同于“素质教育”，那么“素质教育”应该怎样译成英语呢？ 有一篇专门论述“素质教育”的文章，其“素质教育”的英译是 EQO (Essential-qualities-oriented) Education：
"Trans-century EQO (essential-qualities-oriented, called su yhi jiao zu in Chinese) Education Project".
United Nations in China 网站报道中的“素质教育”也是essential-qualities-oriented schooling：
The (Chinese) government's recent promotion of a shift fromexamination-oriented to essential-qualities-oriented schooling (suzhieducation), is being followed up with guidelines on curriculumrestructuring and textbook compilation (after the National Conferenceon Education, 1999).
前面提到的两个翻译例子中还有一些其他问题，特别是“创新精神”和“实践能力”的英译与原文精神有距离。此处重点讨论的是“素质教育”的英译问题，因此对其他问题不再赘述， 现提供一个重译供参考：
To overcome the drawbacks of the prevailing education system wemust promote throughout the country the essential-qualities-orientededucation that stresses the cultivation of moral integrity andemphasizes the development of creativity of the mind and hands-onabilities.
Caliber 一词也可以用来指人的素质。根据 Chambers 21st Century Dictionary的定义，caliber一词的意思是“quality；standard；ability”；Webster's New WorldDictionary将其解释为“degree of worth or value of a person or thing; qualityorability”。由此可见，caliber大致相当于我们所说的“素质”。我们在一英语国家的网站见到过这样一则招聘广告，标题是：LookingFor High Caliber Talent（招聘高素质人才）。类似的例子还有：persons of caliber andsubstance（有素质、有内涵的人），management staff of the highestcaliber（高素质的管理人员）以及This man was a person of high caliber.（此人素质很高。）
下面再看几个关于caliber 用法的例子:
1. He wanted someone of high caliber, with business and administrative skills.
2. The Department of the Environment admits it is almost impossibleto recruit the caliber of inspectors it wants on salaries starting atabout ?15,000.
3. The caliber of the new staff is impressive and the pay-bill alone will reduce by more than ?0.25m a year.
4. Quite frankly the salaries you offer these C P Os are much toolow; if they weren't retired police officers, you wouldn't get thecaliber of person.