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The two dictionaries nearly show the same view that deleting redundant words could not change the meanings and minds compared with the original text.
Redundancy was introduced into the scope of translation in the 1960s, Eugene A. Nida was the first person who use the concept of redundancy in the scope of both inner of linguistic system and in the process of conversations.
One the one hand, to assure to deliver the most information with the limit time and space, it is necessary to decrease the volume of redundancy. On the other hand, information may be distortion for the noise distraction to solve this problem, adding the volume of redundancy is indispensible. From these two aspects, we can know that redundancy is ubiquitous.
Almost English translators agree on the fact that an article should be concise and all words without pragmatic meanings should be changed or deleted. In 1979, The Elements of Style written by William Strunk, Jr and E. B. White held the idea that an excellent article should be compact, with no redundant words or sentences. In 2011, Translation Course of Scientific and Technical Literature pressed by China Metrology Publishing House claimed that deleting redundant words could make the target language more concise and leave its meaning and mind unchanged compared with the original text.
II. An Analysis of the Phenomena of Redundant words
Because of the differences between the English and the Chinese, translators have every reason to deal with redundancy correctly, that is, deleting or adding redundancy when they are excessive or absent.
2.1 Adding Redundant Words
Adding some redundant words is necessary in some cases. These words effectively show the meaning the original text hints, and express writer’s idea more obviously. In this paper, there are four aspects to discuss adding redundant words.
Firstly, it is adding redundant verbs. In the process of English-Chinese translation, there is no verb in the original sentence. However when English sentences are translated into Chinese, it is necessary to add verbs to make correct and expressive sentences. For example,
There were no speeches, no foreign diplomats, no “ordinary Chinese” with paper flags and flowers.
没有发表演说，没有外交官出席，没有普通老百姓手拿旗帜和摇动鲜花的热闹景象。
Obviously, there are three verb-object phrases formed by adding these words “publish”, “attend”, “wave” respectively to words “speeches”, “diplomats” and “paper flags and flowers”. These three phrases make the meanings of target sentences more concise, native and fluent. Because English speakers are accustomed to using concise words while Chinese speakers, to make themselves understood, always use several synonymous or repeated words, translators should add redundant words to deliver the original writers’ information in English-Chinese translation. In this example, adding verbs meets the code of Chinese language and makes Chinese readers understand the original English text clearly.
Secondly, it is adding redundant nouns. In English the objects after intransitive verbs are often omitted, such as, translating the phrase “to wash after getting up” into the phrase “在起床后洗脸刷牙”. In this sentence, two intransitive verbs have no object. However, when English sentence is translated into Chinese sentence, it is necessary to add objects. The translated phrase “在起床后洗脸刷牙” is in line with the Chinese habits of expression. In this way, the meaning writer wants to express will be more obvious, because translator tells readers what to need to wash and where to get up. Sometimes, translators need to add nouns to adjectives. For example,
She is a complicated girl—moody, sensitive and skeptical.
这个女孩儿性格复杂—喜怒无常，忧郁温婉，敏感多疑。