识途｜翻译的艺术

编者按

本文是我刊老顾问萧乾先生1992年应邀而作，刊于当年第6期《英语世界》上，收录在今年出版的《如何学好英语——专家、教授谈英语学习方法》一书中。

1992年5月，中国现代文学馆等七大单位在中国历史博物馆为萧老举行了规模盛大的“文学生涯六十年展览”，以表彰他在新闻、文学和翻译等方面所取得的辉煌成就，我刊特邀萧老作为名翻译家为广大读者谈谈翻译的艺术，诚表祝贺之意。

The Art of Translation

翻译的艺术

Xiao Qian（萧乾）

In his book Meaning of Meaning, Prof. I. A. Richards, who lectured in Beijing in the 1930’s, divides meaning into four kinds: sense, emotion, tone and intention. I think that it can be appropriately applied to the art of translation. When translating some technical work or document, sense is of prime importance. Hence verbatim translation, or word-for-word translation, is preferred. But while translating some literary work, whether a poem or an essay, conveyance of the emotional contents of the original should be of prime consideration. If the original is meant to be sad, sarcastic, or funny, it is the first duty of the translator to grasp it and render it as closely as possible to the original. If the original meant to make the reader laugh, but in reading the translation he does not see the joke at all, I call that a total failure no matter how faithful the translation may be. Good translation never misleads the reader nor distorts the original work. Therein lies the quality of translation.

三十年代曾有一位李嘉慈教授（英国人）在北京讲过学。他在他所著的《意义学》一书中，把“意义”分为四种，即含义、情感、口吻及意向。我看这种分法很可适用于翻译工作。当你译科技或文件时，“含义”应占第一位。因此，宜用一字不动的直译法。然而，当你译文学作品（不论是一首诗还是一篇散文）时，首先应考虑如何传达原作的情感内容。原作如果是忧伤的，或讽刺的，或幽默的，译者应首先把握住并尽力传达给译文的读者。倘若原作的意图是使读者笑，而译文读者在读了之后一点不觉得其可笑，那么，不论译得多么忠实，我也认为是失败了。好的译文永远不会把读者引入歧途，也永不歪曲原作。这就是译文质量之所在。

 

With regard to the art of translation, there are two schools of thought. Some believe that since you are translating a foreign work inevitably some foreignness must be preserved, including the syntax. However, it is my belief that since you are rendering the text into Chinese, the translation has to be in appropriate Chinese. It must not only be faithful in word, but also in its emotional contents. In other words, to put the reader where and how the original work intends.

对于翻译技巧，历来有两种看法。一派认为，既然你译的是外国作品，就应保持些“洋”味——包括句法。另一派认为，你既然在把一篇外国文字译成中文，就必须用通顺且恰当的中文。不仅在文字上忠实，也要忠实于原作的感情内容。换言之，使中文读者能进入原作的意境。

 

Take a very simple case. When I retranslated the Czech novel The Good Soldier Schweik (By Jaroslav Hasěk) from the English version, I came across the word “Sir” several times on each page. The hero of the novel is a common soldier who has to salute and say “Sir” whenever he talks to his superior. That’s the funny part of the novel. Now, if I render “Sir” into “先生” (Xian Sheng), then both the military atmosphere and the sarcastic tone of the novel would be totally lost. That would seriously distort the image of Schweik and ruin the whole thing. So, instead, I translated all “Sir”s into “报告长官” (Report to the superior) for that’s how a Chinese soldier would address his superior in the old days. The need for adaptation of this nature happens very often in translation of literary works and this is an essential part of the art of translation.

举个很简单的例子。当我把《好兵帅克》这部捷克小说的英译本译成中文时，全书不断出现Sir这个字，几乎每页都出现几次。原作的这位主人公是军队中的一名普通士兵，他每次同长官讲话，敬礼之后必先说一声Sir。而且这也是全书引人发笑的一部分。倘若我把Sir直译成“先生”，那就既破坏了全书的军营气氛，也失掉了原作的讽刺语调，从而也就歪曲了帅克这个形象。我没那样做，而把它改译为“报告长官”。那是旧时中国士兵同上级谈话时的习惯用语。这只是个极简单的例子。在文学翻译中，这种“变通译法”经常需要使用。这里也包含翻译技巧的一个主要方面。

 

A competent translator should combine his translation with researches into the background of the author; his life and thought, and especially his views on art. Here, I am inclined to divide translators of literary works into two categories, namely occasional ones and those “in trenches” who devote themselves to one or two particular foreign authors. The former, the guerrilla kind, translates whatever appeals to him. The latter translates systematically, concentrating on the works of one or two authors, as completely as possible such as Pan Jia Xun’s translation of the plays of Ibsen, Fu Lei’s translation of the works of Balzac and Ru Lung’s translation of Chekov. I have great admiration for such translators who devote their whole life to the translation of one particular writer. Such translators often combine their translation with research.

一个胜任的翻译家应该同时从事些研究工作，对所译作者的生平及思想应有一定的了解。我倾向于把翻译家分作二类。一类是即兴的（或打游击式的）翻译家，另一类是阵地翻译家，他们往往以毕生精力系统地翻译一两位外国作家的著作，如潘家洵之于易卜生，傅雷之于巴尔扎克以及汝龙之于契诃夫。这类翻译家往往在翻译之余，也从事研究工作。

 

I admire the latter kind, but unfortunately belong to the former. I did some translation spasmodically in the 1930’s and then some in 1956. When I could pick up my pen again in 1979, my first assignment happened to be the translation of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt which was latter published in Foreign Drama in full and twice produced in Beijing. Last year, it was again produced in Hongkong.

我仰慕这后一类翻译家。不幸，我自己属于前一类。三十年代，我偶尔搞过一些翻译。1956年，我又译过一些。1979年，当我又重新拿起笔时，我的第一个任务刚好是翻译易卜生的《培尔·金特》。此剧后来在北京上演两次。去年又在香港演出。

 

I am strongly against the discrimination between translation and creative work, which treats the former as inferior. This can be witnessed in the rate of remuneration. In the 1930’s, many leading writers like Lu Xun, Mao Dun, and Ba Jin did translating work side by side with their writing. Creative works are the mainstay of a country’s literature, but translation is no less in importance. It is like the window of a house through which we can breathe fresh air and see what is happening outside.

我反对对翻译的歧视，不认为翻译比创作低。然而这反映在稿酬的高低上。三十年代，鲁迅、茅盾和巴金都既创作又搞翻译。创作是一个国家的主力。然而，翻译也同样重要。它是一间屋子的窗口。它可以放进新鲜空气，并可以让我们看到外面的一切。

 

My wife and I are at present translating Ulysses by James Joyce. We think this stream-of-consciousness novel written in the 1920’s should be introduced into China. But I would sooner do ten pieces of creative work than to undertake this translation. However, if we don’t do it the novel would remain a mystery, a gap, to our literary world.

目前，我正与我爱人文洁若在合译乔伊思的《尤来西斯》。我们认为这部写于二十年代的意识流小说，应当介绍到中国来。然而我宁愿写十本书，也不愿从事这项翻译工作。可是如果我们不译，这本书在我国文艺界就依然是个迷津，是个空白。