張明權? |
本期點評專家:張明權
參考譯文:
From Cinderella to Princess: a Story of Promotion in the Job
As the old saying goes in China, "A man is afraid of choosing the wrong trade while a woman the wrong man." The "maxim", however, now sounds rather annoying to many women. Has gender predetermined a woman's life planning? To this question, most women answered "no" when interviewed on March 3, 2011 on the job fair styled as "Spring Wind Project" tailored to help women find a job or start a business of their own. Among those pondering over different jobs were starry-eyed university women itching to find their first jobs, mothers fresh from a maternity leave and coveting new jobs, and "Du Lala's" keen on the promotion in their posts (Du Lala is the woman protagonist of a job success story filmed recently in China).
翻譯和寫作一樣,也需要做到詳略得當。前面我們談到過翻譯的解釋性原則和明晰化傾向,可見翻譯是趨向于多用一些詞匯的,但對冗余信息的使用并非是翻譯的長處,而是翻譯的補償手段。在第一段文字中,對“杜拉拉”給與適當的解釋是必要的,因為英語讀者大多并不了解在中國頗為流行的這樣一部反映職場女性成長的勵志類電影(電視)。不過話說回來,解釋到怎樣的程度,這個也應正確把握,過多的解釋則會增加譯文的負擔。在英譯漢時,很多時候增加China這個詞是必要的,這也是一種信息的補充。
本題翻譯水平參差不齊,有的翻譯相當成熟,比如gentleman118,有的翻譯則沒有達到基本的要求,比如把女同胞翻譯成woman compatriots,回譯成中文就是“女性愛國者”的意思,其實在漢語中,“女同胞”就是指女性(females),“春風送崗位”是不能翻譯成“Breeze Give Position”的,作為一項活動,這大體上類似于“希望工程”,所以筆者譯成“Spring Wind Project”,當然如果附加一些解釋也是可以的,但我想英語讀者從上下文中應該能夠讀懂其中的含義了,因此從略。
“公主”和“灰姑娘”都是比喻,那就保持二者的一致,譯成from Cinderella to Princess,也可以只保留“灰姑娘”這一個比喻,因為關于灰姑娘的故事盡人皆知,而且其中隱含的意思就是“成功(職位升遷)”。開頭的一句俗話,翻譯的各不相同,在這個問題上最能反映翻譯的“詳”與“略”。俗語雖然是流行于老百姓口頭的語言,但經過長久的沉淀,大多是精煉和精辟的概括了生活的哲理,在翻譯的時候最好能保持原文的精警,所以不可過分依賴解釋性翻譯,網友的翻譯有些是相當準確的,但大多不夠精煉,比如what a man should fear is to take a wrong trade, and what a woman should fear is to marry a wrong man,其中完全可以省略一些重復的詞匯,條件是找到可以統轄二者的動詞。
“專場招聘會”是指專門為婦女設立的,我在參考譯文中采用了Panda M網友的詞匯tailored,當然也可以說Women Only Job Fair。“糾結”這個詞反映了部分求職者的心理,既想找新的,又怕失去舊的工作,英語covet一次是“覬覦”的意思,差不多是說“吃著碗里的,看著鍋里的”。要說“糾結”這個詞本身的翻譯,in a dilemma可以聊備一格吧。
繼“吃碘鹽防輻射”后,坊間又傳言“鹽浴可以幫助人體抵抗輻射傷害”。昨天,北京市疾控中心主任鄧瑛表示,這種傳言完全缺乏科學依據,比“吃碘鹽防輻射”的想法更荒謬,因為碘是不能通過皮膚吸收的。
北京市疾控中心重申:目前監測顯示,北京環境空氣中的輻射劑量一直在天然本底水平,即我國環境空氣中未受到日本核泄漏事故的放射性污染。因此,北京居民在當前的生活環境中不需要補碘。
參考譯文:
Salt rush subsides in China
After the rumor that "the iodated salt can repel nuclear radiation" subsidies, there goes the saying that "salt bath can protect people from radiation harm". All are hearsays lacking in scientific evidence, though the latter is more ridiculous that the former, for iodine can not be absorbed by human skin, said Deng Ying, Director of Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday.
The said organization reiterated that, according to the authorized monitoring result, the radiation dosage in the ambient air in Beijing remains within the decrease and increase ranges of the natural background levels. That is to say, the ambient air in China is not affected by the radioactive pollution of the nuclear power plants in Japan. Therefore, it is unnecessary for Beijing residents to take in extra iodine living in their original surroundings.
本題的翻譯涉及一些專業知識,隨著日本核危機的擴大,一些鮮為人知的有關核輻射的知識得到普及,然而也有很多謠言伴隨其中,剛剛過去的食鹽搶購風波就是典型的例證。回到翻譯問題上,“搶購風波”是指對食鹽的大量購買,rush是一個對等詞,令我們想到過了Gold Rush,這個詞還可以使標題精煉,相比較于panic buying of salt,salt rush更符合標題的要求。“平息”的對應詞不止一個,subside,quiet down等都可以。“缺乏科學依據”,我翻譯成lacking in scientific evidence,或者如guanyu168那樣,翻譯成scientifically unfounded,從翻譯技巧上來講,并不難處理。“北京環境空氣中的輻射劑量一直在天然本底水平”一句涉及一些專業術語,比如“環境空氣(ambient air)”, “輻射劑量(radiation dosage)”以及“天然本底水平(the natural background levels)”,只要認真查閱工具書,一般也不會翻錯。
參考譯文:
"First impressions" and interpersonal relations
We should not be so romantic about interpersonal relations. It is quite amusing that the first impressions we have of a person usually fall on his or her merits. This is quite similar to our experience of dining at a restaurant. The first dish, most frequently a cold one, tastes extremely good and delights us, followed by two dishes of the main course of which a high praise is usually sung. However, when more are served, we begin to find fault with these dishes. Finally, gladness is replaced by anger, admiration by reproach, and "yes" by "no". Where lie the causes then? First, when we begin to eat something, we are so hungry that even chaff may taste sweeter than honey. Nevertheless, it is the other way around when we eat our fill. Second, it is the freshness that works. Hence we have the "freshness effect".
本題翻譯既有個別術語,也有漢語俗語問題,翻譯時都應給與注意。首先“陌生化效應”很容易使我們想到俄國形式主義文學批評理論中的“陌生化手法(defamiliarization)”,然而仔細思考會發現,這里的“陌生化效應”還是不同的,它強調的是“第一印象”對人際交往的影響,而文學中的“陌生化手法”是文學家人為制造出來的,因此我們不妨就用first impressions或freshness來翻譯這里的“陌生化”。在翻譯的過程中,我們也會發現最初這一判斷是對的,因為下文就在談第一印象和新鮮感。“不要太浪漫”可以直譯為romantic,也可以意譯處理為optimistic或starry-eyed,網友大多采取了直譯的方法。“轉喜為怒,轉贊美為責備挑剔,轉首肯為搖頭”這句話中包含相同句型的重復使用,英譯時應注意省略,我的翻譯Gladness is replaced by anger, admiration by reproach, and “yes” by “no”同樣使用了一個動詞管轄三個分句的方法,這樣就可以避免冗余信息的出現。
下面的問題就是兩個諺語的翻譯。第一是“餓了吃糠甜加蜜,飽了吃蜜也不甜”,上半句我采取了直譯的方法,但下半句則采用省略方法,用了the other way around這個說法,這樣也是為了節省詞語,同時也比較符合英語的表達習慣。第二是“新蓋的茅房三天香”,這句話實在不想直譯了,盡管現在的五星級廁所據說也很香,但傳統的茅房總是臭的,也許這里是說未使用的廁所,但文中把初到餐館和新蓋茅房扯到一塊兒,總給人不雅的感覺,所以我這里斗膽省略了不譯,不知各位意下如何?
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專家簡介:
張明權,安徽省固鎮縣人,江蘇大學外國語學院副教授,英語語言文學碩士,上外博士課程班進修。主要從事英語語言學和翻譯學研究,在國內外學術期刊發表論文10余篇,出版譯著兩部,發表其他文章20余篇,有大量翻譯實踐經驗,翻譯總字數接近200萬。Email: mqzhang@ujs.edu.cn。
(作者:張明權 中國日報網英語點津 編輯:Julie)