1. Literal translation

1）Literal translation is an important translation method. It has many advantages, such as conveying the meaning of the original text and reflecting the style of the original text. It is estimated that about 70% of sentences need literal translation, so literal translation is widely used by translators.

Literal Translation is the rendering of text from one language to another one conveying the sense of the original whole. It is the way to maintain the contents and the form of the source language in accordance with the culture. It emphasizes the form similarity, and requires the accordance between the original passages and the target one in the choice of word, syntax and styles.

2）Word-for-word translation

This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TL immediately below the SL words. The SL word-order is preserved and the words translated singly by their most common meaning, out of context. Cultural words are translated literally. The main use of a word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language or to construe a difficult text as a pre-translation process.

        Eg. David Hawkes' translation of Du Fu's 《登高》

        Of course, Hawkes' translation method has a special purpose, that is, to let English readers know the meaning of single Chinese characters in Du Fu's poems, so as to understand the structure of ancient Chinese poetry to a certain extent. 

       Word-for-word translation is also used in foreign language teaching to clarify the syntactic features of a foreign language, or to compare the syntax of a foreign language with that of its mother tongue. 

       In general, such extreme situations as the above are rare. However, the phenomenon of using the original expression form and being too rigid in the literal meaning of the original text has always existed in all kinds of translation, and even some famous people can not help but make such mistakes. Look at the following examples.

Summary （literal trans vs. word-for-word trans）

The most important difference is that：

literal translation takes into account the grammatical norms of the target language and makes necessary adjustments to the form of the original text, so that the text is relatively smooth and the readers can understand it. 

However, word for word translation ignores the grammatical norms and expression habits of the target language, regards the original text as "sacred and inviolable", and blindly pursues formal equivalence. As a result, the translated text is obscure and hard, and even does not know what to say.

Looking at the actual translation from foreign language to Chinese, the style of word-for-word translation and dead translation is prevalent nowadays, and the purity of Chinese is facing an unprecedented threat. What's more, the Chinese people who have been accustomed to this "vicious Westernized" Chinese （恶性西化的中文） since childhood have adapted to various unnatural Chinese expressions and have no way to distinguish the original beauty of Chinese. We must pay enough attention to it.

3. The features of literal translation

4. When should we depend on literal translartion?