《乡愁》英译文本比较研究

《乡愁》英译文本比较研究 广州笔记本回收 摘要:《乡愁》是一首风格典丽的现代诗。余光中先生以朴素、简明、隽永的语言和高超的艺术技巧，达了台湾人民盼望海峡两岸统一的愿望，抒发了作者浓郁的思乡之情。以《乡愁》的5个英文译作为例，分析研究了不同译作在选词、意象、韵律和风格上的不同给读者带来的形音意差异的感受。 关键词:乡愁 选词 意象 韵律 风格 美国诗人Robert Frost有一句名言:Poetry is what is lost in translation(诗者，译之所失也)，不管这句话是多么极端，它还是道出了诗歌翻译的难处。中文诗歌更因其语言凝练、节奏性强、意象丰富而成为翻译的通天塔。尽管艰难，还是有很多热衷于翻译的文学家努力探索，试图将中诗这一璀璨明珠送出国门。众所周知，所有翻译的前奏都是理解，而诗歌的理解更需多揣摩推敲、审词琢句，以期磨刀不负砍柴工，因为理解的深度和广度都会为后面的译作再现产生差异。本文将以台湾余光中先生脍炙人口的作品《乡愁》的5个不同译本为例来分析和品评不同译本的差异。 《乡愁》是一首风格典丽的现代诗。余光中先生以朴素、简明、隽永的语言和高超的艺术技巧，表达了台湾人民盼望海峡两岸统一的愿望，抒发了作者浓郁的思乡之情。诗人通过意象把抽象的乡愁具体化，给读者呈现了四幅鲜明而又具体的生活画面。第一小节:幼年求学，母子分离，借书信以慰别情;第二小节:成年后，告别新婚妻子，离乡背井，天各一方;第三小节:母亲去世，从此阴阳两隔，生死两茫茫;第四小节: 同胞难得相聚，国家不能统一。通过这些不枝不蔓的意象、幽 远深邃的意境、丰富含蓄的，诗人低回掩抑、如怨如述把 对母亲、妻子、祖国的思念、眷念之情展现出来，让人回味无 穷。 译文1:陈文伯译 When I was a child/my homesick was a small stamp/ Linking Mum at the other end /And me this. When I grew up/I remained homesick/but it became a ticket/by which I sailed to and from my bride at the other end. Then/homesickness took the shape of the grave/Mum inside of it/and me outside. Now I'm still homesick/but it is a narrow strait/ Separating me on this side/and the mainland on the other. 译文2:杨种琰译 When I was a child/Nostalgia seemed a small stamp/:“Here am I/ and there my mother.” Then I was a grown-up/Nostalgia became a traveling ticket/:“Here am I/and there my bride.” During the later years/Nostalgia turned to be a graveyard/:“Here am I/and yonder my mother.” And now at present/Nostalgia looms large to be a channel/:“Here am I/and yonder my Continent～” 译文3:赵俊华译 As a boy /I was homesick for a tiny stamp/ I was here/Mom lived alone over there. When grown up/I was homesick for a small ship ticket/ I was here/ My bride remained over there. Later on/ I was homesick for a little tomb/ I was there/ Mother rested over there. And to-day/ I am homesick for a shallow strait/ I am here/ The Mainland lies over there. 译文4:张智中译 When I was a child/ Nostalgia is a tiny stamp/I am hither/And Mother is thither When I become an adult/Nostalgia is a slip of boat ticket/I am hither/And bride is thither Later on/Nostalgia is a short tomb/I am without/And Mother is within But now/Nostalgia is a shallow strait/I am hither/And the mainland is thither 译文5:余光中译 When I was young/Nostalgia was a tiny stamp/Me on this side/Mother was on the other side. When I grew up/Nostalgia was a narrow boat ticket/Me on this side/Bride on the other side. But later on/Nostalgia was a low，lowgrave/Me on the outside/Mother on the inside. And at present/Nostalgia becomes a shallow strait/Me on this side/Mainland on the other side. 一、选词 “乡愁”的翻译，有两个译本译为“homesick”，其余两 个版本为“nostalgia”。根据Longman English Dictionary， homesick――feeling unhappy because you are a long way from your home，而nostalgia――a feeling that a time in the past was good， or the activity of remembering a good time in the past and wishing that things had not changed.对比我们会发现， nostalgia比homesick范围更广，意思更贴近原文，原文中 作者不仅仅是在抒发一种思念家乡的惆怅之前，还有对过去美 好的追忆。因此用nostalgia更为准确。 二、意象 四个意象中邮票都翻译为stamp，船票也都译为ticket，而坟墓的表达，有两个译为grave，两个译为graveyard，一个翻译为tomb，这三个词到底有什么区别呢,《辞海》中grave指一般的“土墓”;tomb可译为“陵墓”，是坟墓的雅称，tomb表示“坟墓”时，比grave更庄重，在说“扫墓”时，多用tomb;而graveyard指墓地，故不合适。海峡一次有用“strait”和“channel”之分，根据《韦氏词典》channel指a strait or narrow sea between two close landmasses;而strait则指a comparatively narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water，可以看出channel强调长而宽，strait强调短而窄，因此此处用strait更贴切，再者原诗中此处指台湾海峡，官方正式说法就是使用strait。 三、韵律 原诗使用“小小的”“窄窄的”“矮矮的”“浅浅的”这些叠词既表现了作者魂牵梦萦的思乡之情，又有抑扬顿挫的韵律之美，读起来琅琅上口。以下是5篇译文的对映英译本，不难看出译文1、2是只翻译其中个别的重叠形容词，大部分却漏译了，而力求保留与原诗具有同样音韵之美的是译文3、4和5，这些形容词使用得恰到好处，与所修饰的中心词构成头韵(tiny stamp， small ticket， narrow boat ticket， little tomb， short tomb， low low grave， shallow strait)，译文5音律美尤为突出，除了头韵，还有尾韵(narrow， low， shallow)，从而具有与原诗一样的动人音调。 此外，原诗每行四节，每节三个音节，语言简明流畅，音韵自然和谐，节奏紧凑明了。译文3译为 As a boy/ When grow up/ Later on /And to-day每行四节，每行三个音节，抑扬顿挫，创造性地取得与原诗同样的效果。 四、风格 原诗的意象是通过隐喻“乡愁是„„”的结构表达出来的，“是”字在原诗中反复出现达四次，作者通过一个简单的“是”字，将本体和喻体连接起来，隐晦朦胧地将自己不同时期的乡愁具体化，除译文3译成“be homesickfor”句式外， 其余文本分别译为was， remained， took， is; seemed， became， turned to be， loomed large to be; is， is， is， is，和was， was， was， becomes，含蓄巧妙地传达了诗人寸断柔肠的思乡情结。但译文3译为 I was homesickfor(a tiny stamp/a small ship ticket/a little tomb/a shallow strait)，回译出来的是“我怀念家乡的小小邮票/窄窄的船票/矮矮的坟墓/浅浅的海峡”，显然与原诗有出入。 “我在这头„„在那头(里头)”在原诗中也是反复出现了四次，这个短语的反复使用突出了虽然时空变化、星移斗转，但是我的思乡之情却始终如一。5篇译作用词略有不同，总体来说有“the other end (side)，this end，inside，outside，here，there，yonder，without，within，hither，thither，这些词简练含蓄地传达了原诗朴实无华的语言特色和深远幽邃的寓意，但从语体角度来看，译文4采用的是古词(hither，thither)，不太符合原诗的语体。 五、 总之，5篇译文的译者都以各自的理解基础、知识经验和学识涵养采用不同的方式来解读和再现了原诗，若从诗歌音、形、意三美方面综合考虑的角度来看，译文5无论是在意义精准，还是形式优美和音律和谐上都是最为契合的;但若从音、形、意单方面来看，译文1最具意美，译文2最具形美，译文3最具音美。