漢語(yǔ)由于自身的特點(diǎn)，可以構(gòu)成許多歇后語(yǔ)與雙關(guān)語(yǔ)，這是英語(yǔ)所望塵莫及的。漢語(yǔ)的不少歇后語(yǔ)本身就包含雙關(guān)語(yǔ)，均屬于熟語(yǔ)。由于它們?cè)谟⒄Z(yǔ)中難于找到對(duì)應(yīng)成分，故而翻譯成英文就相當(dāng)困難。

盡管漢語(yǔ)歇后語(yǔ)和雙關(guān)語(yǔ)的英譯如此困難，盡管英、漢兩種語(yǔ)言千差萬(wàn)別，但是人們可以用完全不同的語(yǔ)言來(lái)表達(dá)完全相同的內(nèi)容。我國(guó)譯界早有人對(duì)此進(jìn)行了研究，提出了有關(guān)歇后語(yǔ)英譯的種種方法，歸納起來(lái)，主要有如下五條：

一、解釋法  

雖說(shuō)翻譯也是一種解釋，但畢競(jìng)與我們所說(shuō)的解釋不同：解釋比翻譯的含義廣，更自由，敘述較多，不那么講究對(duì)應(yīng)。譬如對(duì)“和尚打傘——無(wú)法無(wú)天”這ー歇后語(yǔ)與雙關(guān)語(yǔ)的翻譯只有通過(guò)解釋法才能完成：

"...It is a double pun. A monk has a shaven head, hence no hair. A monk under an umbrella is cut off from the sky, hence no heaven. But fa also means "law"，and tian also means “heaven”in the sense of supreme ruling power. Thus a monk under an umbrella is a man without law or limit — a rebel like Monkey (who accompanied the monk Tripitaka on his legendary journey to India), unbound by established rules, institutions or conventions，whether earthly or divine. ”

二、借助上下文直譯法 

這種譯法主要是將一種語(yǔ)言的雙關(guān)語(yǔ)譯成另ー種語(yǔ)言的雙關(guān)語(yǔ)，有作適當(dāng)轉(zhuǎn)換和不作轉(zhuǎn)換兩種譯法，這兩種譯法都得借助上下 文，才能基本做到譯文和原文“形似”與“神似”的統(tǒng)一。例如，錢歌川英譯茅盾的小說(shuō)《動(dòng)搖》吋，遇到這樣一段話：

胡太太嘆了口氣，看見(jiàn)胡國(guó)光還是ー肚子心事似的踱方步。

“張鐵嘴怎么說(shuō)的?”胡太太惴惴地問(wèn)。

“很好，不用瞎擔(dān)心了。我還有委員的福分呢！”

“么事的桂圓！”

“是委員！從前興的是大人老爺，現(xiàn)在興委員了！你還不明白？”

這里出現(xiàn)了 “委員”與“桂圓”的諧音。錢歌川也感到棘手，苦思良久，オ巧妙地譯出下文：

Madame Hu gave a sigh and watched her husband anxiously pacing about as before.

“What did Chang Tieh-tsui say?” she asked timidly.

“He gave me very good news. We need not look for trouble, I have the possibility of being a member of a Commmee!"

"What's a common tea?" asked the wife, who only vaguely caught the sound.

“A committee! Lords and esquires are out of date, and the prevailing nomination is to a Committee. Don't you still understand?”

這里，錢先生把漢語(yǔ)中“委員”與“桂圓”的諧音變成了英語(yǔ)中Committee 與 Common tea 的諧音， 自然貼切，又無(wú)斧鑿之痕，達(dá)到了 “情與貌，略相似”。