《中式英语之鉴》读书笔记 Chapter 3-5

我母静恒

Reading Time: Three days
Reading Task: Chapters 3 to 5
Summary of the Content:
These three chapters focus on different forms of repetitions in Chinglish and strategies for revising at the lexical, sentence, and discourse levels.

Chapter 3 examines redundant twins, which are pairs of words with similar meanings that are common in Chinese but unnecessary in English. The redundancy arises because Chinese often uses paired words for emphasis, while English favors conciseness. The author categorizes these twins into three types: (1) pairs that are nearly synonymous, where one word should be removed (e.g., “methods and ways” → “methods”); (2) pairs where one word has a broader meaning than the other, allowing the more specific term to be omitted; and (3) cases where both words carry distinct meanings, requiring careful compression or rewording.

Chapter 4 discusses saying the same thing twice, a common issue in Chinglish sentences. The author identifies three types: (1) simple repetition, where synonyms or near-synonyms appear unnecessarily; (2) self-evident expressions, where a word or phrase is already implied by another (3) mirror-image statements, where a meaning is expressed first in a positive sense and then in a negative sense.
There are four ways to deal with them: (1) Find deeper meaning in the original text and express it; (2) delete one of the duplicate expressions directly, or replace the them with another expression; (3) reword when we may not have the authority to delete them; (4) Remain them when necessary.

Chapter 5 focuses on repeated references to the same thing. This occurs when the same concept is restated unnecessarily within a passage, making the writing wordy and repetitive. However, in some cases, repeating a term improves clarity, especially when a pronoun might cause ambiguity. The author provides guidelines on when repetition is beneficial and when it should be avoided. In English, once a concept is introduced, most of the subsequent repeated references can be simplified. The part of speech of the words that introduce the concept varies, as does the method of simplification. The author suggests using pronouns, summary terms, or restructuring the sentence to improve readability.

Evaluation
        1.        Practical: The author provides a systematic framework for identifying and correcting redundancy, which makes these chapters highly practical. The clear categorization of redundant twins and repeated references is particularly useful, as it helps readers recognize repetitions in their writing and avoid repetition when translating.
        2.        Critical: The book does not simply list rules but teaches critical thinking. Instead of rigidly condemning all forms of repetition, the author emphasizes the importance of assessing whether a repeated word or phrase adds clarity or is merely filler.
        3.        Clear: The author uses well-chosen examples, many of which are drawn from real-life documents and translations. This makes the discussion relatable and immediately applicable to academic and professional writing. The step-by-step revisions provided in the examples are particularly helpful in demonstrating how to eliminate redundancy effectively.

Reflection:
These chapters made me more aware of how redundancy weakens writing. I used to think repetition made my writing clearer, but now I realize that excessive redundancy can actually make it harder for readers to grasp the main point.

Additionally, this reading reinforced the importance of adapting to English conventions rather than directly translating from Chinese. The preference for conciseness in English requires a mindset shift, as it challenges the instinct to use repetition for emphasis in Chinese. Moving forward, I will pay closer attention to redundant structures in my writing and train myself to think more critically about word choice.