張明權 |
“雙租族”指的是本來擁有住房,卻選擇將房子出租給別人,自己再另外租房子居住,身兼房主與租客雙重身份的人群。近年來,隨著購房成本的不斷上升以及租賃市場的持續升溫,這種特殊的租賃方式在北京悄然興起。
參考譯文:
Here come double renters
"Double renters" are those who rent a house and then rent their own out to others. They are tenants and landlords at the same time. With the constant upsurge of house prices and the ever greater demand for rentals, "double renting" has gradually caught on in Beijing.
To me, the rise of "double renters" can be attributed to two factors: the egregious difficulty of school enrollment and the horrid traffic congestion. As the first factor is concerned, in Beijing, for example, primary schools in Xicheng District, Dongcheng District and Haidian District are generally deemed as "noble" ones due to the favors bestowed on them by the government so that they have attracted parents to send their children here at all costs. As a result, these parents need to rent a house nearby to take care of their children. Then due to the high house prices, quite a lot of people buy a house far away from where they work, so they choose to be the "double renters".
“雙租族”是一個漢語新詞。漢語新詞的英譯通常有幾種途徑:一是查看該新詞是否是從英語翻譯過來的,如果是,就可以簡單地采用回譯的翻譯策略;二是查找英語對等詞,關于對等詞的理解不可過于機械,如果能達到部分對等,就可以考慮采用,并附加適當的解釋文字;三是完全沒有可能找到對等詞,或者該詞帶有濃重的中國文化色彩,這樣的話可以考慮音譯或字對字的翻譯,并附加適當的解釋。筆者在查找與“雙租族”有關的英文網頁時一波三折,起初我想到的關鍵詞主要是double, rent(ing), leas(ing), group, tenant, landlord這些,結果找到的一些相關的表達方式,比如tenant-landlord, double leasing等,都與漢語的“雙租族”一詞的含義想去甚遠,但這些搭配的存在又給字對字翻譯造成了困難,因為這樣原有的搭配所形成的意義很容易干涉對漢語譯入詞的正確理解。這樣來看,double rent group, tenant-landlord group等詞就不是很好的選項了。
有些網友另辟蹊徑,翻譯成LOLI (let out let in),可惜英語let in并無“租進來”的意思,因此不夠妥當。網友simmon和webweb關于造新詞的想法是好的,兩個人分別造出了telord和tena-lord兩個英語新詞,simmon還對如何附加解釋進行了詳細的說明,這一造詞法使我們想起了ungelivable這個流行一時的網絡詞匯,但我不禁還是要問,我們有權創造英語單詞嗎?這確實是一個很棘手的問題,盡管語言符號存在著任意性(arbitrariness),但同時語言符號也存在像似性(iconicity)。即便是就任意性而言,這種任意性的本質也非符號與意義之間的任意匹配,它一方面受制于社會語言意義上的約定俗成,另一方面受制于符號及符號組合的可能性與適宜性。我們作為外語使用者,還是慎重一點為好,畢竟在我看來,我們創造英語詞匯的權力要比創造漢語的詞匯要小得多。
最后筆者經過調整搜索關鍵詞,終于找到了double renter這個表達方式,具體的英文解釋和網站地址如下:Double renters are also those who rent close to the best schools to ensure that their children are within the catchment of these very popular schools, and in turn rent out their property (http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/What-Is-A-Double-Renter-/2358737)。在上句上,catchment是個比喻,本來指“集水區”,但這里指“學區”。
文中的另外一些詞匯的翻譯,也很值得討論,比如“驚人”與“駭人”,都有很多同義的對等詞可以選擇,通覽網友的用詞,不少網友的選擇還不夠“驚人”與“駭人”,感覺稍顯溫柔。“貴族”這個詞英譯后可以加上引號,可以避免不必要的誤解。“掏空口袋”不可直譯,它隱含的意思就是“不惜一切代價(at any costs)”;“接送孩子”也不必翻譯的那么機械,因為在這里租房子陪孩子上學的人,其實就是把生活整個搬了過來,因此翻譯成to take care of their children更明確一些。
最后一句話“另一種是家實在太遠,由于房價居高不下,大量消費者購房意愿和購買現實不相符”,漢語表述的不是很清楚,在英譯時要結合上文做一些變通, 網友zebra的翻譯也注意到了這一問題:The other parents choose to be members of the "Double-Renting Tribe" as a result of the really long distance between the school and their homes. As the housing price remains stubbornly high, many purchasers cannot afford to buy houses as they like. 但在理解上和我有所不同,我覺得從寫作的角度來說,上面提到了兩個問題,這句話就應該是與第二因素有關的。這里的翻譯如果不明晰化,可能讓老外看不懂,但明晰化也確實存在不同見解的問題。說實在的,翻譯久了才發現,譯者比作者更認真,作者寫作的時候可以隨心所欲一些,而譯者從來都不能,這也是譯者最痛苦的地方。
參考譯文:
Haidilao: all out of IWOM
Haidilao becomes the best annotator of IWOM. For a time, all over the major forums and Weibo platforms, Haidilao was said to everything but a hotpot chain, it was "hailed" as the cosmic hero Ultraman ready to meet all demands of the customers. In a short period of time, stories about the "heroic" Haidilao spread on the internet like rampant computer virus. It was "prompted" to audaciously take over the Ministry of Railways, the Red Cross, and even the whole planet. Then netizens saw through the game of paid posters and when they realized that their opinions had been manipulated, they were ready to deal a counterblow with the same IWOM.
“段子”這個詞最初可能源于網絡上流行的一些“黃段子(dirty joke)”,但后來它的詞義發展了,因為人們又創造了“紅段子(red message)”,而關于海底撈的段子既不是“黃段子”,也不是“紅段子”,倒有點“傳聞(hearsay)”或“編造的故事(invented story)”的意思,不過在實際翻譯中,可以婉轉一些,翻譯成story就可以了。
這段文字最難翻譯的不是其中的詞匯,而是它的語言風格。在中間部分,對海底撈的敘事直接套用了網絡上那些帶有濃厚夸張色彩的句子,隱含著作者對海底撈所采取的網絡營銷模式的批評,這一點從后文的“諜影”這個詞的使用可以看出。筆者在翻譯時,給一些詞加上了引號,這樣做的目的是為了讓英語讀者更容易看出那些非事實的成分。
標題的翻譯套用了句式all out of love,正所謂“成也蕭何,敗也蕭何”。網友的翻譯在句式處理和詞匯應用上也都存在不少的問題。比如這句:As good experiences in Haidishao circulated online like internet worms, there were even louder calls to hand over the Ministry of Railways(China) and the Red Cross Society of China to this business. Good experiences對譯“段子”明顯是不對的,譯者忽視了全文的基調,海底撈的網絡口碑營銷最終成了一個失敗的案例,所以不存在什么“好的經驗”;原文反諷的語調更是沒有譯出。
標準普爾公司降低美國評級對中國的負面影響,或許即將顯現。中國的外匯儲備資產高達近3.2萬億美元,一些人估計其中約70%為美元計價資產,大部分是美國國債。
參考譯文:
China urges on US to act on debt
The negative impact on China is perhaps to arise soon of the US ratings downgrade by Standard & Poor's. China's foreign exchange assets amount to approximately a worth of USD3,200 billion, 70% of which are nothing more than capital in US dollars themselves with American treasury securities taking the lion's share.
In an editorial published on August 7 by Xinhua News Agency in China titled America should Clarify Its "Responsibility" in the World Economy, China urges on US to act on its debts to China. The article says, as the biggest economy, the biggest debtor nation, and one of the major issuers of reserve currency in the world, the US "should not indulge in the depreciation of US dollars, or adopt any new monetary means to exacerbate the situation", and "the policy makers of this state should raise their awareness of 'responsibility' and remind themselves of the 'simple' duty and honor embodied in the maxim that 'he who owes money pays the debt'”.
在本題翻譯中,一些網友的語法分析有誤,比如“標準普爾公司降低美國評級對中國的負面影響,或許即將顯現”這一句的翻譯中的錯誤:
1) It may be probable for the Standard & Poor to reduce the side effect upon China by the graded U.S.
2) Standard and Pool's corporation may weaken the American’s debt crisis impact on China.
3) Standard & Poor's may reduce the negative impact of American downgrading on China and perhaps it will happen.
從上述錯誤可以看出,對漢語的語法分析同樣很重要,我們這里用括號的形式分析如下:
[(標準普爾公司降低美國評級)(對中國)的負面影響],或許即將顯現。
這樣我們可以看到,小括號內是兩個定語,“標準普爾公司降低美國評級”不是句子的主干部分,翻譯成英語同樣不能成為主干部分,所以上述三個句子的翻譯就明顯錯了。
文中所提到中國發出聲音,提醒美國“借錢要還”在目前的形勢下,也只是一種提醒,所以在翻譯的時候要正確理解和處理,即要表達出中國人的聲音,也要實事求是地傳達出原文的意思,有些地方也可以借助詞匯的引申意義和意象來潛在傳達向自己的意圖。筆者在第一段中使用了(taking) the lion's share 這個成語,意圖表達其中隱含的風險。最后一句中,筆者更是直譯了中國的一句古話,“欠債還錢(he who owes money pays the debt)”,這句話套用了英語句式,he who plays with fire gets burnt,提醒的意思更清楚了。
一些詞語的翻譯也需靈活處理,比如“決策機制”,翻譯成policy-makers比翻譯成policy-making mechanisms要好,不少網友的處理都是正確的。“放任”這個詞的翻譯也有一些講究,翻譯成indulge in的目的旨在于批評美國放任自流的態度,millennium網友用了indulge這個詞,但沒有注意到及物性問題。
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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)