Practical Translation Project Design

　Practical Translation Project Design - Translation > Stage 7 > Step 2 > Task 1

　 Make a Manual/Automatic Count

When you want to know the total number of the words in an English text or that of the characters in a Chinese text, you do not have to count them manually. Microsoft Word provides an automatic word count function in its Tools menu. When you want to know the total number of a given orthographic form in a stretch of text, likewise, you may make use of the Find and Replace function in the Edit menu of Word to have an automatic count.

But remember to undo the replacement to restore the document to its original form. When you want to know the total number of any other things, connectives for instance, you will have to make a manual count.

Try the ways we introduce here and find out about the token number of and (i.e. how many times the word and actually appears) in the source text (ST hereinafter) below, the total number of words/characters and interclausal connectives in both the ST and the target text (TT hereinafter).

ST:
Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. They were coming toward where the flag was and I went along the fence. Luster was hunting in the grass by the flower tree. They took the flag out, and they were hitting. Then they put the flag back and they went to the table, and he hit and the other hit. Then they went on, and I went along the fence. Luster came away from the flower tree and we went along the fence and they stopped and we stopped and I looked through the fence while Luster was hunting in the grass.

(The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner)

TT:
透过栅栏，穿过攀绕的花枝的空档，我看见他们在打球。他们朝插着小旗的地方走过来，我顺着栅栏朝前走。勒斯特在那棵开花的树旁草地里找东西。他们把小旗拔出来，打球类。接着他们又把小旗插回去，来到高地上，这人打了一下，另外那人也打了一下。他们接着朝前走，我也顺着栅栏朝前走。勒斯特离开了那棵开花的树，我们沿着栅栏一起走，这时候他们站住了，我们也站住了。我透过栅栏张望，勒斯特在草丛里找东西。

(《喧哗与骚动》，李文俊译)

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