張明權(quán)? |
本期點評專家:張明權(quán)
花數(shù)百上千元學(xué)幾首歌和幾個小魔術(shù),在社交聚會中秀出來,給自己的職場形象加分。時下,一些白領(lǐng)花重金提升“軟實力”,增加職場競爭的砝碼。
參考譯文:
White Collars jostle to increase soft power at any cost
Vying at social gatherings for a show to add luster to their professional image, white collars now jostle to learn songs and juggles that might cost up to RMB1,000. It costs some an arm and a leg to increase their "soft power" and sharpen their competitive edge at work.
Faced with fierce competition, employees rely on interesting "soft skills" to help relieve pressure, to be more communicative and confident, and to live a better life, analysts say. Though priority is given to such hard power as higher learning certificates and working experiences at an interview, employees with soft power stands out unexpectedly later at work among others, by virtue of their personal charm embodied in singing, lecturing and conjuring.
譯題一中包含不少漢語的習(xí)慣用語,包括“下血本”、“硬指標(biāo)”等,特別是標(biāo)題中的“下血本”一詞如何翻譯,網(wǎng)友的譯文殊難統(tǒng)一,一個重要的問題就是要不要保留原文的形象。對于“下血本”一詞,詞典中并沒有提供現(xiàn)成的翻譯,但根據(jù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)上找到的翻譯,比較形象的是cost sb. an arm and a leg,Jasmine-I在標(biāo)題翻譯中就用了這個成語。筆者在參考譯文中也用了這個成語,但在標(biāo)題中沒有用,主要是覺得這個英語成語太“血腥”了一點。
至于“軟實力”這樣的說法,大體上中英語是統(tǒng)一的,因為這些新鮮的詞匯大多是舶來品,20 世紀(jì) 90 年代初,哈佛大學(xué)教授約瑟夫?奈首創(chuàng)“軟實力”(Soft Power)概念,于此相對的就是“硬實力”(約等于下文的“硬指標(biāo)”)。根據(jù)詞匯應(yīng)用的原則,詞匯的用法經(jīng)常是可以類推的,所以下文的“軟技能”就是soft skills,當(dāng)然類推也要遵循目的語語言習(xí)慣,最好是多查資料,以免造成不必要的錯誤。關(guān)于soft skills的解釋,網(wǎng)上可以查到:Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterize relationships with other people.
英語名詞的復(fù)數(shù)本身具有揭示數(shù)量意義的功能,所以像“幾首歌幾個小魔術(shù)”中的“幾個”可以略去不譯,直接翻譯成songs and juggles。
在和網(wǎng)友的email交流中,有網(wǎng)友希望能對其譯文給與個別的點評,限于個人的時間和精力,未能做到,敬請諒解。就本譯題而言,guanyu,emily, clumsy,karen等網(wǎng)友的翻譯都很不錯,行文比較順暢,能夠貼近英語的風(fēng)格進(jìn)行翻譯表達(dá)。
譯題二:80后婚姻新現(xiàn)象:女愛熱暴力 男用冷暴力
相對比于70后、60后,80后的婚姻中確實存在著“女愛熱暴力,男愛冷暴力”的現(xiàn)象,這主要與獨生子女受教育背景有關(guān)。
參考譯文:
Post-80s paint a new picture of marriage: wives heat up, husbands cool down
In contrast to post-70s and post-60s, post-80s actually paint a new picture of marriage: both males and females fall prey to violence, as is often attributed to the educational environment of a single-child family.
"We're opposed to violence of any kind. We're opposed to both physical violence (hot violence as termed by some) and mental violence (cold violence as termed by some), no matter who would like to resort to which. To husband and wife, communication is of uttermost importance." Qiu Shaobo went on to suggest: In daily life husband and wife should agree on spending 10 minutes each day chatting heart to heart with each other. At this "special moment," husband and wife may let out their sorrows and pressure on condition that they endear themselves to each other by using honeyed words to "season" love and control the flooding of negative emotions. When they are in contradiction, husband and wife should refrain from complaints, violence and apathy, sit calmly to voice their own opinions and try their best to settle problems by means of negotiation.
這里首先糾正網(wǎng)友的一個翻譯錯誤,“相對比于70后、60后”不是compared with those married in the 1970s or the 1960s,那樣就是跟70年代或60年代結(jié)婚的人比較了,數(shù)字問題一定要慎重。“熱暴力”、“冷暴力”雖然可以直譯為英語的hot violence, cold violence,有點像hot war, cold war,但這樣的說法有些生硬,所以我把它們放在括號內(nèi)。英語不喜歡重復(fù)(演講似乎例外),所以有關(guān)暴力的多種說法可以變換著使用。
“我們反對女用熱暴力,男用冷暴力,也不支持男用熱暴力,女用冷暴力,婚姻生活中,溝通是最重要的方式。”這句話中包含了不少重復(fù)的內(nèi)容,所以可以合并處理,筆者在處理時打亂了原文的結(jié)構(gòu),重新組織了語言,這也是翻譯時需要注意的問題。有的時候我們說某人的翻譯有翻譯腔,大多是因為照著原文的順序、結(jié)構(gòu)、用詞套下來的,這樣的翻譯往往顯得比較生硬。英漢語言差異很大,套用漢語的語言模式的英語譯文往往很難為英語讀者所接受。前幾天有網(wǎng)友寫信問一個句子,If you enjoy your job, you will never work a day in your life是什么意思,這句話是李開復(fù)提到的某個老外跟他說孔子在《論語》中說過的一句話,原文可能是:知之者不如好之者,好之者不如樂之者。中國的經(jīng)典進(jìn)入英語被改成這個樣子,真是不知其可也。要說真正的翻譯,還是James Legge翻譯的比較忠實:The Master said, "They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it."但是上面那句話流行甚廣,也許在英語世界中已經(jīng)深入人心,專業(yè)翻譯人員辛辛苦苦的、嚴(yán)格按原文譯出來的經(jīng)典文本有時候抵不上一個隨口編譯的文本,這也是翻譯中一個難以解決的悖論。
邱少波的建議包含多個漢語小句,在英譯時需要重新整合。筆者在翻譯時分成了兩個英語句子,后一個使用了on condition that引導(dǎo)的狀語從句。在詞匯翻譯上,要注意一些形象的表達(dá)方式,比如“負(fù)面情緒暴漲”、“為愛存款”等,在翻譯時考慮到了英語隱喻使用的一致性,所以有using honeyed words to "season" love and control the flooding of negative emotions這樣的翻譯。
參考譯文:
Reform of public institutions scheduled
According to the authoritative sources secured from Outlook Weekly, a Chinese news magazine, the Chinese Government has set forth a blueprint and detailed timetable for the reform of public institutions nationwide. The reform to be officially launched will involve more than 40,000,000 "public-sector employees", including those who have already retired with or without honors. As noted by Song Shiming, a professor with Chinese Academy of Governance, the reform based on types is aimed at "removing both ends to keep the middle (or skins to keep the core)". According to their social functions, current institutions shall be classified into three categories: institutions with administrative functions, institutions operating commercial businesses and institutions engaging in social services.
這段譯文中首先有一個難纏的詞匯,那就是“事業(yè)單位”,如果看新華社的英文稿件,很容易發(fā)現(xiàn)它的英語對應(yīng)翻譯就是public institutions或institutions,《漢英詞典》只收了institutions,《新時代漢英大詞典》兩個翻譯都有收入,然而在行文中,這個詞的翻譯并非如此簡單。在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上,有人提出把“事業(yè)單位”翻譯成non-profit organizations或non-governmental organizations,但從體制上說,中國的事業(yè)單位現(xiàn)在類似于機(jī)關(guān)(administrative organs of the government)。另外有人建議把事業(yè)單位翻譯成public-sector organizations,public sector在美國指提供公共基礎(chǔ)服務(wù)的國有企業(yè)或者接受政府外包的私有企業(yè),這些部門的人員當(dāng)然不是公務(wù)員,而我們國家事業(yè)單位人員應(yīng)該屬于準(zhǔn)公務(wù)員,就事業(yè)單位介于政府機(jī)關(guān)和企業(yè)之間的性質(zhì)而言,和美國的public sector也存在一定的對應(yīng)關(guān)系。術(shù)語的完全對等很困難,有時候我們被迫賦予一些詞匯新的含義以使其對應(yīng)源語詞匯包含的語義。考慮到public institutions長期被使用的情況,所以這里翻譯“事業(yè)單位”時還是以institutions為主,在行文中兼及public sector等說法。
“離退休人員”中的“離休”是中國特色,但這個翻譯不難,就是retire with honors。 “甩掉兩頭、留下中間(中堅)”包含雙關(guān),直譯比較困難,有的網(wǎng)友干脆略去不譯,筆者的譯文removing both ends to keep the middle (or skins to keep the core)也沒有能夠譯出原文的語音雙關(guān),這也是翻譯的遺憾。
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專家簡介:
張明權(quán),安徽省固鎮(zhèn)縣人,江蘇大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院副教授,英語語言文學(xué)碩士,上外博士課程班進(jìn)修。主要從事英語語言學(xué)和翻譯學(xué)研究,在國內(nèi)外學(xué)術(shù)期刊發(fā)表論文10余篇,出版譯著兩部,發(fā)表其他文章20余篇,有大量翻譯實踐經(jīng)驗,翻譯總字?jǐn)?shù)接近200萬。Email: mqzhang@ujs.edu.cn。
(作者:張明權(quán) 中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 編輯:Julie)