Classical Chinese Lecture Notes: Parsing and Translation

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Sentence Punctuation

Common Cues

Words That Usually Take a Break Before Them

1. Sentence-opening particles such as 夫, 盖, 至若, 若夫 usually allow a break before them
2. Interrogative pronouns such as 何, 孰, 曷, 安, 奚 usually allow a break before them
3. Connective words such as 虽, 故, 况, 苟, 岂, 然则, 于是 usually allow a break before them
4. Time words such as 俄而, 顷之, 未几, 既而 usually allow a break before them

Words That Usually Take a Break After Them

Sentence-final modal particles such as 也, 矣, 耳, 哉, 耶, 与 (欤), 焉 usually take a break after them

Places Where a Break Is Never Allowed on Either Side

When 之 means “of” (i.e. functions as an attributive-head marker), then a break is never allowed on either side of it.

▲ Prepositional phrases formed with 于 / 以 generally must stay tight against the preceding element, functioning as a postposed adverbial.
In the case of postposed adverbials, 于 / 以 generally cannot take a break on either side; this also applies when 于 is omitted.

A postposed adverbial generally does not connect to any further elements, so a break generally does occur after the adverbial.

Words with Different Meanings Then and Now

When a punctuation question involves different possible breaks tied to a word that has changed meaning over time, discard the modern usage and follow the ancient usage.

晚而改节 / 敦儒学 / 习《尚书》/ 读律令 / 略举大义

The Parallel/Symmetric Structure Method

• Parallel or similar sentence patterns
• May appear within the clause to be punctuated, or in the surrounding context

而口不讼直 / 志不苟免 / 宣帝嘉之 / 赦而不诛
先菽秫 / 次黍麦 / 次稻 / 俟秋成偿官

The Subject Method

When a contradiction appears / the meaning becomes unclear, consider ruling that reading out.

Making the Call

When, within a single clause, some readings support a break and others don’t, follow these principles:

1. Must not create an obvious grammatical error, ambiguity, or confusion about which object goes with which relation
2. Try to keep the sentence coherent and fluent
3. Must not violate any other principle

Classical Cultural Knowledge

1. Basic common knowledge
2. Hardcore knowledge
3. Knowledge that can be checked by substituting it back into the original text

Among real exam questions, category 1 / 3 accounts for the majority, category 2 for very few

During regular practice, pay attention to the cultural knowledge you encounter in exercises; there’s no need to deliberately memorize a checklist

Checking Against the Original Text

Substitute the content of the relevant answer choice back into the original text, and check the subject(s) and relationship(s) against the original, or compare similar structures / related content in the surrounding text.
If you can find a contradiction or an obvious mismatch, then the answer choice must have a problem.

Original meaning / extended meaning, general sense / specific sense: you don’t need to cover every angle

Many words have both an original meaning and an extended meaning, both a general sense and a sense specific to the text; it isn’t necessary for every possible meaning to match the text perfectly for an answer to be correct. It’s enough that the actual meaning expressed by the answer choice matches the original text.

Comprehension/Judgment Multiple Choice Questions

No need to fully understand the passage; focus on how to verify the information
The easiest version of the expository-text reading question type

Quick Localization

1. The original text and the answer choices generally follow a strict chronological order
2. Changes in people’s names, place names, and official titles are often important clues
3. Attitudes tied to characters tend to be clear-cut (stereotyped): historical texts tend to express a clear emotional stance toward the protagonist, and the protagonist’s emotional stance toward related events also tends to be clear
4. The punctuation of classical Chinese passages on the college entrance exam is very carefully done and won’t be broken arbitrarily, so it can also serve as a reference

Obvious Contradictions

Basically only the most obvious and central contradiction is tested
Usually you only need to check the main subject and relationship
It rarely even requires inference or logical transformation
It rarely involves cross-referencing text from different locations

Catch the Contradiction, See It Clearly, Don’t Overthink

• Direct → indirect
• Whole → part
• Certain → second-guessing

The Seven-Step Method for Translating Classical Chinese: Break apart → Find → Split → Order → List → Choose → Connect

The core three steps: Split → List → Choose

Step One: Break Apart

Break the sentence down into each individual word

Step Two: Find

Find the known conditions

1. Content that doesn't need translating
2. Content that is already certain
3. Related information from the surrounding text

Step Three: Split

Separate out the known and unknown content

Step Four: Order

1. Rank the unknown content by difficulty
2. Prioritize the easier parts first

Step Five: List

For the unknown words, list out as many known meanings as possible
Consider the following methods

1. List dictionary senses
2. Try forming compound words
3. Try substituting in a familiar phrase

Step Six: Choose

Using the known conditions, choose the most fitting meaning for the unknown word

1. Draw on the known conditions from two main angles: grammar (part of speech) / semantics
2. If unsure, check for flexible part-of-speech usage (sentence-pattern shifts) / the possibility of conveying the sense loosely

List / Choose may need to be repeated several times

Step Seven: Connect

Make sure it is rendered word by word, and reads smoothly

Translate literally wherever possible; where a literal translation isn’t possible, convey the sense, making sure every word is accounted for, though function words don’t necessarily need to be forced into the translation
The standard for conveying the sense: correct meaning + correct grammar, no embellishment added

1. No embellishment: during translation, do not arbitrarily add content words or function words expressing strict relationships
2. No selective blindness: during translation, do not selectively ignore any words in the sentence