文学翻译鉴赏翻译的标准--文本类型--翻译方法aa

Translation criteria, text typology, and translation methods I believe most of the present are English teachers, and translation, either as a way of English teaching or as an independent subject to teach in its own right, constitutes a part of daily work. And it is necessary to distinguish between teaching through translation and translation teaching. The first is that you are a teacher of intensive reading or extensive reading, and you translate from time to time in class when you want to make the students better understand some words, phrases or sentences, and you assign the students some translation tasks frequently to get themselves familiarized with the language points that they are supposed to grasp. In this way, you are using translation as an assisting method of English teaching. Translation teaching is different, which means you are a translation teacher, and you are supposed to teach the students how to translate. In either of the two cases, you come across the issue of translation criteria, but I would limit my discussion to translation teaching. What are the criteria of translation? Or in other words, what kind of translation is accepted as translation? Which is good? And which is bad? What are the judging standards? Talking of the criterion or criteria of translation, I would like to go back to the ancient times of China, because as early as the East Han Dynasty, people began to translate the Buddhist sutra and in due time people began to address the problem of translation criteria. 1. The ancients argued that one should “translate according to the basic meaning of the original” (案本而传) and that while there is a need “to make the plain beautiful” (依实出华), “no attempt should be made to beautify the translation at the expense of the basic meaning” (趣不乖本). “Translating according to the basic meaning of the original” thus becomes confirmed as a principle, though “the beauty of the translated text” is not completely ignored when the “basic meaning” is rendered. 2. While pointing out “the three difficulties of translation” (译事三难), Yan Fu says that “it is most difficult to be faithful.” “Being faithful” constitutes an improvement on the ancients’ idea of “translating the basic meaning of the original.” Research over the past few decades has allowed us to say: “Faithfulness in translation surely covers fluency and elegance as well. The aim of fluency is to achieve faithfulness, while the aim of elegance is certainly not to embellish fluency. A translation that conveys not only the meaning but also the style of the original is considered a faithful translation.” Therefore, “faithfulness” suggests also “fluency” and “elegance”. 3. It is extremely difficult to achieve “faithfulness” in the absolute sense---we only strive for closeness to the original. Fu Lei therefore stresses “getting at the spirit of the original” and advocates “spiritual assonance”. “This undoubtedly constitutes an improvement on Yan’s “faithfulness”, and takes the study of translation into the field of aesthetics. 4. According to Qian Zhongshu, the idea of “the realm of transformation” implies that “the translation is so faithful to the original that it does not read like a translation” and that “the essence and guise of the original should remain.” Here Qian’s statement that “the translation does not read like a translation” is just as well expressed as Fu Lei’s remark that the translation should read “as if it had been written by the author in Chinese,” whereas Qian’s idea that “the essence and guise of the original should remain” is an improvement on Fu’s “spiritual assonance.” Therefore, Qian’s realm of transformation” can be regarded as a step forward from Fu’s spiritual resonance,” as well as a removal of translation from the field of aesthetics to the perfect state of art. If we trace things back to their source, we will find that Qian’s insistence on the faithful rendition of the “essence and guise” of the original is but a re-interpretation of the ancients’ idea of “translating according to the basic meaning’ of Yan’s faithfulness which incorporates both “fluency” and “elegance” and of Fu’s spiritual assonance.” In ancient Britain, people came to almost the say translation criteria. Tytler has three general laws or rules. 1. The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work. 2. The style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original. 3. The translation should have all the ease of the original composition. What is lacking in both the ancient Chinese and British translation criteria is that both of them are too general, can not give people some practical guidance, because terms such as faithfulness, fluency and elegance are very vague expressions. And it is necessary to introduce some idea put forward by a German translation theorist Katharina Reise. Reise is most famous for one of her books entitled Translation criticism: the potentials and limitations. In this book, Reise came up with the idea that text type is what we should take into consideration when we translate or when we what to judge the quality of a translation. A translator must first realize what kind of text he is translating before he begins working with it. For example, it would be a mistake to translate in the same method pulp fiction and serious literature or opera librettos and patent specifications. Yet, this obvious principle has hardly been observed with any notable consistency. Texts fall into different types. Since texts require the medium of language for their expression, each text must be examined to determine precisely what function of language it represents. According to Karl Buhler, language serves simultaneously to represent objectively, express subjectively and appeal persuasively. Now these three functions are not equally represented in every linguistic expression. In a single text the depictive element may be dominant, in another the expressive element, and in yet another attempt to persuade hearers or readers. Of course the whole of a text will not always be dedicated exclusively to a single function, in actual practice there are constant combinations and overlapping. And yet as one or another of these functions becomes dominant in any given text, it becomes evident that distinguishing the three basic functions is justified: the depictive function is emphasized in content-focused texts, thessive function emphasizing form-focused texts, and the expressive function emphasizing form-focused texts. By emphasis on content is meant a dominant interest in conveying certain matters, data or information. Texts emphasizing form will certainly have content, but it is the form employed for the content which is of dominant concern. Commercial advertising is a rather pointed example of the persuasive function of language, characteristically, such texts much preserve a clear appeal for action on the part of the hearer or reader. The content-focused texts include press releases, and comments, new reports, commercial correspondence, inventories of merchandise, operating instructions, directions for use, patent specifications, treaties, official documents, educational works, non-fiction books of all sorts, essays, treaties, reports, theses, and specialized literature in the humanities, the natural sciences, and other technical fields. Content-focused texts are more or less anonymous, and generally designed to provide information rapidly, accurately, and comprehensively, or describe a situation. The various kinds of text grouped together here as content-focused texts may be characterized as concerned primarily if not exclusively with communicating information. To put it in a simple way, the translator of a content-focused text is concerned with what has been conveyed in the source text. Once a given text is identified as belonging to the content-focused type, an important component of its translation method has been determined. Content-focused texts require invariance in transfer of their content. The translator must above all make sure that their content and information is fully represented in the target language. 冯根生先生，生于1934年。14岁进入著名国药号杭州胡庆余堂当学徒。1972年开始任杭州第二中药厂厂长。1988年任高级经济师。1992年任中国（杭州）青春宝集团董事长，正大青春宝药业有限公司副董事长，总裁。1996年兼任杭州胡庆余堂制药厂法人代表等职务。 Mr. Feng Gensheng was born in 1934. When he was 14 years old, he began to serve as an apprenticeship in the famous Hangzhou Huqingyutang Chinese Pharmacy. He began to be the director of Hangzhou No. 2 traditional Chinese Medicine Factory in 1972. In 1988 he assumed office as the senior economist. In 1992, Mr. Feng was appointed chairman of the Board of Chiatai Qingchunbao Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. And in 1996, he began to hold concurrent post as legal representative of Hangzhou Huqingyutang Pharmaceutical Factory.（正大青春宝药业有限公司宣传册） The primary requirement demands that the linguistic form of the translation be adapted without reservation to the idiom of the target language; in other words, the form of the translation should be essentially oriented to the usage of the target language. The second requirement for translating a content-focused text is the thoroughness of its orientation to the target language. The target language must dominate, because in this type of text the informational content is most important, and the reader of the translation needs to have it presented in a familiar linguistic form. The form-focused text Form is concerned with how an author expressed himself, as distinct from content, which deals with what the author says. In content-focused texts, where formal aspects are of secondary significance, they can simply be ignored, but not in literary texts where they constitute an essential factor. There the chief requirement is to achieve a similar esthetic effect. This can be done by creating equivalents through new forms. Thus in a form-focused text the translator will not mimic slavishly the forms of the source language, but rather appreciate the form of the source language and be inspired by it to discover an analogous form in the target language, one which will elicit a similar response in the reader. For this reason we characterize form-focused texts as source language oriented texts. What kinds of text does this text type include? Generally speaking, all texts based on formal literary principles, and therefore all texts which express more than they state, where figures of speech and style serve to achieve an esthetic purpose—in a word: texts which may be called artistic literary works. Form-focus texts include literary prose (essays, biographies, belles-lettres), imaginative prose (anecdotes, short stories, novellas, romances), and poetry in all its forms. While these forms all serve to convey some content, they lose their individual character if the original author’s external or inner forms are not preserved in translation, whether in their poetic norms, their style, or their artistic structure. Look at the following example: I love my love with an E, because she’s enticing; I hate her with an E, because she’s engaged. I took her to the sign of the exquisite, and treated her with an elopement, her name’s Emily, and she lives in the east. (David Copperfield, XXII) ……我爱我的爱人为了一个E，因为她是Enticing(迷人的)；我恨我的爱人为了一个E，因为她是Engaged (订了婚的)。我用我的爱人象征Exquisite (美妙)，我劝我的爱人从事Elopement(私奔)，她的名字是Emily(爱弥丽) ，她的住处在East (东方)。 （董秋斯译） ……我爱我的所爱，因为她长得实在招人爱。我恨我的所爱，因为她不回报我的爱。我带着她到挂着浮荡子招牌的一家，和她谈情说爱。我请她看一出潜逃私奔，为的是我和她能长久你亲我爱。她的名儿叫做爱弥丽，她的家住在爱仁里。（张谷若，《大卫·考坡菲》，上海译文出版社，495页。） ……我爱我的爱人，因为她很迷人；我恨我的爱人，因已许配他人；他在我心中是美人，我带她私奔，以避开外人；她名叫虞美人，是东方丽人。 吾爱吾爱，因伊可爱；我恨吾爱，因伊另有所爱。我视吾爱，神圣之爱，吾携吾爱，私逃为爱；我爱名爱米丽，吾东方之爱。 我爱我的那个“丽”，可爱迷人有魅力；我恨我的那个“丽”，要和他人结伉俪；她文雅大方有魅力，和我出逃去游历；她芳名就叫艾米丽，家住东方人俏丽。 The necessity for precise identity of content, characteristic of the content-focused type of text, becomes relatively secondary to the demands for similarity of form and for an equivalence of esthetic effect. 1、（Yossarian reported at the dispensar with what he said was a pain in his right side.) “Beat it,” said the doctor on duty there, who was doing a cross word puzzle. “We can’t tell him to beat it,” said a corporal…. “…We have to keep them under observation five days because so many of them have been dying after we make them beat it.”（p181） a. “疼就拍拍它，”正在玩纵横填字游戏的值班医生这么说。 “咱们不好叫他拍拍，”一名下士说。……“……咱们得留下病员观察上五天，因为有好多人都是在咱们叫他们拍拍腹部之后病得快送命了。” (上海译文出版社，p273) b. “拍拍它，” 正在玩纵横填字游戏的值班医生对他说。 “我们不能叫他拍，” 一名下士说。……“……咱们得把病人留下来观察五天，因为他们其中有许多人在我们叫他们拍打过腹部之后正慢慢地死去。”(译林出版社，p214) 在上面的例子中，“beat it”就是一语双关。值班医生和下士都说到“beat it”，但两个人的意思是不同的。前者的意思是“滚开”，而下士按照字面意思将其理解为一种治病的方法：“拍打它”，正是这种理解上的南辕北辙产生了幽默的效果。不难看出，上面的两个中译本都没有传达出这种幽默的效果，而下面的译法则很好地传达了原文中的双关与幽默。 “快滚，” 正在玩纵横填字游戏的值班医生对他说。 “我们不能叫他滚，” 一名下士说。……“……咱们得把病人留下来观察五天，因为他们其中有许多人在我们叫他们打滚之后都奄奄一息啦。” 下面是另一个双关语的例子： 2、The middle-aged big shots would not let Nately’s whore leave until they made her say uncle. “Say Uncle,” they said to her. “Uncle,” she said. “No, No. Say Uncle.” “Uncle,” she said. “She still doesn’t understand.” “You still don’t understand, do you? We can’t really make you say uncle unless you don’t want to say uncle. Don’t you see? Don’t say uncle when I tell you to say uncle. Okay? Say uncle.” a. 那些中年的高级军官一定要奈特雷的妓女向他们讨饶，才肯放她走。 “大叔”，她说。 “不，不，叫你讨饶。” “大叔，”她说。 “她仍旧不懂。” “你仍旧不懂，是吗？你不想讨饶，我们实在也不能勉强你。你明白吗？我叫你讨饶，你就别说大叔，好吗？说讨饶。”（上海译文出版社，538-539） b. 那帮中年大人物一定要让内利特的妓女说出“认输”两个字，才能让她走。 “说‘认输’，”他们对她说。 “叔叔，”她说。 “不，不，说‘认输’。” “叔叔，”她说。 “她还是不明白。” “你还是不明白，是吗？你不想说‘认输’，我们是不能逼你说的。你明白吗？当我们叫你说‘认输’时，别叫我叔叔，好吗？说“认输”。（译林出版社，P423） 原文中的“Say uncle” 也是一语双关。字面意思是“叫叔叔”，隐含的意思是“讨饶”、“服软”。笔者认为第二种译法非常巧妙，笔者在这种译法的基础上作了如下改动，希望能够达到与原文异曲同工的幽默效果： c. 那帮中年大人物一定要让内利特的妓女认输，才肯放她走。 “认输吧，”他们对她说。 “叔叔，”她说。 “不，不，认输。” “叔叔，”她说。 “她还是不明白。” “你还是不明白，是吗？你不想认输，我们不能逼你认输。你明白吗？我们叫你认输，别冲着我叫叔叔好吗？说‘认输’”。 3．3 文字游戏 1、“No more of that ‘Pass the salt, Walt.’ ” “or ‘Pass the bread, Fred.’ ” “or ‘Shoot me a beet, Pete.’ ” (p133) a. “今后再也不会听到‘把盐递过来，沃尔特’这样的话了。” “还有‘把面包递过来，弗雷德’。” “还有‘递一个甜菜根给我，皮特’。”（上海译文出版社，p200） b. “再听不到‘把盐递过来，沃特’这样的话了。” “还有‘快把甜菜递给我，彼特’。” “还有‘把面包递过来，弗雷德’。”(译林出版社，p155) 细心的读者可以发现，原文中的salt与Walt押韵，bread 与Fred押韵，beet 与Pete押韵，读起来朗朗上口。在这里，原文作者主要是通过这段文字游戏来刻画人物的性格，说话的这个人物平时说话喜欢说一些毫无实际意义的顺口溜，这里面涉及到的几个人名Walt, Fred, 和Pete并非对应于小说中的人物，因此在翻译这段话的时候，内容的重要性让位于形式的重要性，传达出原文的押韵效果成为翻译的关键。下面的翻译虽然也不尽如人意，但比起上面两个译文其可取之处还是显而易见的： c. “今后再也不会听到‘把盐递过来，老颜’这样的话了。” “还有‘把面包递过来，老包’。” “还有‘递一棵甜菜给我，老蔡’。” The appeal-focused text Appeal-focused texts constitute the third text type in our typology. Appeal-focused texts do not simply convey certain information in a linguistic form; they are distinctive in always presenting information with a particular perspective, an explicit purpose, involving a non-linguistic result. Triggering a clear appeal to the hearer or reader of the text is essential in a translation. The linguistic form of any given informational content in an appeal-focused text is distinctly secondary to achieving the non-linguistic purpose of its message. It should provoke a particular reaction on the part of the hearers or readers, inciting them to engage in specific actions. What kinds of text should be assigned to this type? The above definition suggests they would include all texts in which the element of appeal is dominant, with advertising, publicity, preaching, propaganda, polemic, demagogy or satire providing either the purpose or linguistic means of expression. What translation methods are appropriate for texts of this type? With appeal-focused texts it is essential that in the target language the same effect be achieved as the original in the source language. This means that the translator has to depart more from the content and the form of the original than in other types of text. It goes without saying that any such changes from the original should not be regarded as violating the principle of fidelity. Content-focused texts require fidelity in reproducing every detail in the content of the original. Fidelity in form-focused texts requires a similarity in formal principles and the preservation of the esthetic effect of the original. Correspondingly in appeal-focused texts it is fidelity to the original means achieving the result intended by the author, preserving the appeal inherent in the text. There’s never a better time (Raymond Weil Watch) --此时不戴待何时？ The choice is yours, the honor is mine. --您的选择，我的荣耀。 A Mars a day keeps you work, rest and play. (chocolate) --玛斯，一日一块巧克力，工作玩乐不知疲！ If people keep telling you to quit smoking cigarettes, don’t listen … They’re probably trying to trick you into living. --如果有人苦口婆心地劝你戒烟，不要理他 —他们大概是想骗你活得长久些。 出手不凡钻石表(watch) --Buy a Diamond brand watch if every second counts for you. 不求今日拥有，但求天长地久(television) --Choose once and choose for good. 红玫相机新奉献(camera) --My love is like a Red Rose.(Imitating “My love is like a red, red rose”) 今日的风采，昨夜的绿世界(cosmetics) --Give me Green World, Or give me yesterday.(Imitating “Give me liberty, or give me death”) 我们是不做声的仆人，却有着一百双手!(kitchen utensils) --Many hands and few words make light work. Methods of translation 1.Transliteration, word for word translation, literal translation, free translation 2.Domestication/ foreignization 3. Vinay and Darbelnet’s model The two general translation strategies identified by Vinay and Darbelnet are direct translation and oblique translation. Direct translation: borrowing, calque, literal translation Borrowing: The source word is transferred directly to the target language. It is transliteration.咖啡、沙发、士多卑梨、shopping –血拼 Calque: This is very special kind of borrowing where the source language expression or structure is transferred in a literal translation. eg. supermarket 超级市场，see a doctor看医生，armed to the teeth武装到牙齿 Literal translation “江山易改，本性难移”——“You can change the face of a mountain, but you cannot change a person’s nature.” (Moment in Peking, P.388) “树倒猢狲散”——“ when the big tree falls, the monkeys disperse.” (Moment in Peking, P.286) “男大当婚，女大当嫁”——“ A boy grown big should marry and a girl grown big should wed. ” (Moment in Peking, P.188) Literal translation is the prescription for good translation: literalness should only be sacrificed because of structural or metalinguistic requirements and only after checking that the meaning is fully preserved. Oblique translation: transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation Transposition: This is a change of one part of speech for another without changing the sense. The international food shortage had a direct impact on Kuwait and other barren desert countries. 全世界粮食匮乏，这就直接影响到科威特和其他土地贫瘠的沙漠国家。 It is my conviction that though men may be no more wicked than they always have been, they seem less likely to be ashamed. 我相信，人们虽然未必比以前还要不讲道理，但似乎要比以前更加不知羞耻。 Modulation: This changes the semantics and point of view of the source language. Only three customers remained in the bar. 酒吧里只有三个顾客还没有走。/酒吧间只有三个顾客还留在那里。 I’ll be here for good this time. 这一次我再也不走了。/这一次我要永远在这里呆下去了。 Please keep the fire burning when I am out. 我不在家的时候，别让炉子灭了。/我外出时，让路子继续烧着。 For the want of conversation, she said all the expected things over and over again. 因为无话可说，月香把叮嘱的话说了一遍又一遍。 But she insisted that it was a man’s job.但是她坚持这不是女人做的事。 Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.” “洛丽塔，我生命之光，我欲念之火。我的罪恶，我的灵魂。”（于晓丹） Equivalence: this refers to cases where languages describe the same situation by different stylistic or structural means. 跑堂的waiter 大海捞针----look for a needle in the haystack. 他把大牙都笑掉了。He laughed his head off. Why, even an eggshell has cracks! (纸包不住火) The best way to prevent people from knowing a thing is not to do it. ” (P.296) Adaptation: This involves changing the cultural reference when a situation in the source culture does not exist in the target culture. 《新潮》Renaissance