譯趣無窮

譯趣無窮
楊葳 (i-bbw.net)

　　1995年世界婦女代表大會在北京召開，京城外的主會場設在北郊懷柔縣城。 美國一家大報有意無意地將懷柔譯成 "soft bosom" （酥胸）。妙。

　　並非人人可以駕馭翻譯的，更多的是被捉弄。有些貌似對應的辭彙實質上相差甚遠，對號入座的結果是似是而非。 「辦公室主任」 是 "office director",那麼，「國家計委主任」就是 "Director of the State Planning Commission" 了？ 非也。 儘管也叫「主任」，後者卻是部長級的，故應是 "Minister". 此主任非彼主任也。 八十年代初在上大學時，黑色幽默小說大為盛行。 曾見有人將 《Catch 22》 （二十二條軍規），譯成《抓住二十二》，還有人把「妙趣橫生」，譯成「humor flows horizontally"，真是妙趣橫生。 發生在更早一些的故事是，老人家當初號召農村「狠抓積肥」，被譯成 "grasp manure firmly" （牢牢地抓住大糞），外國人看了忍不住要噴飯。

　　翻譯的困難在於文化背景和語言習慣不同，越是有中國特色的，越難表達，必須做解釋。如，文革中幹部下基層「蹲點」，西方沒有這種事，沒有對應的辭彙，就叫人回天乏術了。 解釋當然可以，但算不上翻譯。「」也沒法翻，只好用漢語拼音。中醫說的「上火」（internal heat），外國人懂不懂呢？

　　文革時期，一位對外宣傳領域裡的資深翻譯，受命把「毛主席是最紅最紅的紅太陽」這句話翻譯成英文。 譯者認為，「red」，這一形容詞在此不宜用最高級，因為天上只有一個太陽，並無多個加以比較，故建議譯為「Chairman Mao is like the red sun."。 有人說話了，怎能把毛主席比喻為紅太陽？ 他本身就是紅太陽。 故而，這句話改為「Chairman Mao is the red sun". 又有人說了，譯文必須體現最紅的意思，故而又改為 Chairman Mao is the reddest sun. 譯者又式用 "the very red sun" （此處的作形容詞，意為「真正的」）和 "the redmost sun", 但均未被接受，而被改為 "Chairman Mao is the reddest, the reddest, the reddest sun". 外國讀者看了覺得象幼兒孩子的語言。

　　要奮鬥就會有犧牲，要翻譯難免鬧笑話。南方某省的翻譯市場尤為生猛，把「國家二級企業」譯為「國家次等企業」，把生產爆竹的「煙花工廠」果斷地譯成「妓女工廠」。 在譯者眼裡「煙花＝妓女」。

　　只有用對方的語言去表達自己的意思，對方才能明白。「愚公移山」是中國人家喻戶曉的典故，對外國人怎麼說呢？按《漢英詞典》的譯法，是「the Foolish Old Man removed the mountains"。 沒錯。 但差一口氣。 看看一位通中文的美國人如何表達的： "remove the mountain with a spoon". 好，真好。

　　詞之外，對某些特殊的現象和句型也要特別小心。 如，單複數。 常見人把「設備」譯成"equipments", 把工作「經歷」(experiences)，寫成「經驗」(experience)。"You can never be too rich"是「越富越好」，而非「你不會太富」。

　　譯對不易，譯好尤難。譯好是譯得有文采。比如，英語里表達「多」，「滿」的詞俯拾即是。 選好了能使文章增色。 「湖裡有好多魚」，不說，「The lake is full of fish." 而說，"The lake is alive with fish"; 「他很自豪」，不說，"He is very proud of himself", 而說 "He is burst with pride"; 「花園裡有很多蜜蜂」，可說，"The garden is swarm with bees." 這裡的秘訣是中文裡的動詞是靜態的，而英文中改成了動詞。 動詞能創造形象。

　　瀏覽英語文章，常見許多精彩的標題。如，講英國酒吧重塑形象，是 "British pubs try to brew up new image"； 報道廣東珠海航空展的成敗參半，是 "Zhuhai air show had ups and downs"； 反映玻璃幕牆建築物的污染，標題是 "Glass buildings reflect problems". 好標題。

　　文字遊戲也是一種修辭手法，玩得好，令人賞心悅目。 "Nike" 的口號是 "Just Do It". 一篇寫NIKE公司問題的文章題目是 "Can Nike Just Do It?" 有個記者報道Proctor & Gamble（寶潔）公司，標題是 "rocter's Gamble". 蘇聯（Soviet Union）解體，一雜誌的大標題是Soviet Disunion,真是妙到毫顛。 《亞洲華爾街報》登過一篇寫美國高離婚率高結婚率的文章有個長得出奇，也精彩得出奇的標題。請看 DD "More Americans Are Saying 'I do', 'I do', 'I do' Until They Do It Right." 美妙得不可翻譯。

　　"Killing me softly with his song" 是首英文歌的歌名，委婉動聽。 有人譯為「他的歌溫柔地把我殺死」，好煞風景。 另一種譯法是「溫柔一刀」，不錯。 更妙的翻譯有「輕歌銷魂」。 因為這裡的"Kill"並非「殺死」，而是「使人傾倒」的意思。 如，"Her performance killed the audience". 神來之筆也是有的，只是不多。 影片"The Fugitive" 就有個精彩的漢譯DD「亡命天涯」。 如果你在外企工作，十之八九做過"presentation"吧？請教"presentation"的漢語怎講？ "leverage"的一些比喻用法又怎講？ 還有，別小看了"powerful",這個平凡的小詞，在不同的場合會帶給你無盡的煩惱，不信，今後注意領教它的"power"吧。

　　外國公司大都有自己的一套理念。 愛立信的理念是"rofessionalism, Respect, Persistency". 中文譯為「專業進取、尊愛至誠、鍥而不捨」，不但緊扣原意，而且使原來意思更豐滿，尤為難得的是極符合漢語的節奏和韻律，如果換成兩個字一組，語氣上就不好落實，語意也會顯得單薄。 大多數情況下需要譯者另闢蹊徑。 朗訊科技（Lucent Technologies）的口號是"We make things that make communications work", 譯為「朗訊的創造力，通訊的原動力」。 諾基亞的口號是"Connecting People",譯為「以人為本」。 荷蘭化工集團Akzo Nobel有句漂亮的公司口號，"Creating the right chemistry", "chemistry"在此是最令譯者頭疼的雙關語，漢譯是「創造理想的化學品」，丟了另一半含義，也只好如此了。 譯路有坎坷，譯路常無奈。 儘管他的意思我明白。

翻譯真的真的很有趣！

"presentation"應該怎麼譯呢？「演示」？

Hello Belle,

"Long time not see."  [:460:]

I've checked a dictionary and found "presentation" having many different meanings requiring many different Chinese words to match. [:493:]

Hi Adelyn, thank you for your warm welcome and i will always come back when i am free.

When we have new employees, when we have news release and when we try to show our plan, we always have "presentations". we usually put the information and proposal in a powerpoint file and demonstrate the idea to people. we translate it as "演示" but i wonder if there is some better translation.

To find good translation for words, sentences and terms are very interesting, especial when you have brainstorm to do that.

The best translation for "演示" is not "presentation", instead it's "demonstration".

As for "presentation", it's indeed difficult to find some semantically accurate Chinese nouns (名詞) to match up with if "presentation" here is used to describe a session in which one presents a proposal, a project plan, a solution, a product, a sale's package, etc., etc.. In this case, try "介紹", "討論", "彙報" , "提交" though none of them precisely describes "presentation" as a noun in Chinese. When choosing those words for translating, the best approach is to do it in terms of verb other than noun so that the sentence could be a bit smooth in a Chinese way.

For instance

Peter is going to have a presentation about the new project plan in today's meeting.

1. In terms of noun

今天的會上彼得將有一個關於新項目計劃的介紹。

2. In terms of verb

彼得將在今天的會上介紹新的項目計劃.

The 2nd option is more Chinese than the 1st option.
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thank you for your comments.

I am not sure that if different places have different Certain Understandings about the specific term. maybe it is.

Take "presentation" as example. In our company, if we say we will have a presentation, people will know that we will use projector to let them SEE a proposal, plan, project or a product. So presentation also refer to have demonstration through a powerpoint file.

Anyway, it is interesting to get precise, but language is for communicaiton, if everybody understand, that's ok. But for translation, we always have to think if it is the best way to pass the informaiton.

Your concerns are absolutely justified.

The slides, Powerpoint, projectors are the new meanings of today's presentations as a result of the advancing technologies. However, think about it again if you have to mention explicitly these details in your translations. Let's see what happens ....

Peter is going to have a presentation about the new project plan in today's meeting.

在今天的會上彼得將使用投影設備(或幻燈片，或計算機圖片)來介紹新項目的計劃。

Such a translation of course is alright, but it would be a little bit verbose considering the fact that these things have already become the necessity for our everyday's presentations. Perhaps we don't have to mention them in every occasion, do we ?

Wouldn't you think so ?
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you are absolutely right, we do not have to mention them in every occasion.

The thing is, how could we pass the information to somebody who is not familliar with this kind of expression?

back to your example,

Peter is going to have a presentation about the new project plan in today's meeting.

we translate it as,

彼得將在今天的會上介紹新的項目計劃.

The one who only knows Chinese will never know the way Peter will adopt to have this project publicized.

Anyway, maybe we are too nit-picking, but there is always a way to do it better.

EN