不可譯性及其補償方法 英語學(xué)專業(yè)

不可譯性及其補償方法【Abstract】ThispaperdiscussestheproblemofuntranslatabilitybetweenChineseandEnglish,includinglinguisticandculturaluntranslatability.EnglishbelongstotheIndo-Europeanlanguagefamily,andChinesebelongstotheSino-Tibetanlanguagefamily.Thephonemicsystem,characterstructureandfigureofspeechareallcompletelydifferent,andmostoftheseinonelanguagedonothaveequivalentintheotherlanguage.Thiscauseslinguisticuntranslatability.Differentcountryandregionhavedifferentculturalbackground,suchashistory,religionandsociety,andsoon,thesearenotexistinothercountryandregion.Soitisdifficulttotranslate.Butuntranslatabilityisnotabsolutely,weshouldunderstandtheco-existenceoftranslatabilityanduntranslatability.Baseontheunderstanding,wecanusesomemethodtocompensateinordertolessthebarrierintranslationandpromoteslanguageandculturecommunication.

【Keywords】untranslatability;linguisticuntranslatability;culturaluntranslatability;methodofcompensation

【摘要】本文討論漢英翻譯中的不可譯性問題，包括語言不可譯性和文化不可譯性。英語屬于印歐語系，而漢語屬于漢藏語系，其語音系統(tǒng)，文字結(jié)構(gòu)和修辭方法都完全不同，這些絕大多數(shù)都無法在另一語言中找到對等語，這便造成了語言的不可譯性。不同的國家和地區(qū)有著不同的歷史、宗教、社會等文化背景，這些在別的國家和地區(qū)都是不存在的，所以給翻譯造成了困難。但不可乙性并非絕對的，我們必須在理解可譯性與不可譯性是共同存在的，在此理解的基礎(chǔ)上，我們可以采用補償方法，目的在于對不可譯性進行一定程度的補償，盡量減少翻譯障礙，促進語言與文化交流。

【關(guān)鍵詞】不可譯性；語言不可譯性；文化不可譯性；補償方法1.Introduction

Untranslatabilityisapropertyofatext,orofanyutteranceinonelanguage,forwhichnoequivalenttextorutterancecanbefoundinanotherlanguage.

“J.C.Catford,acelebratedtranslationscholaroflinguisticsschool,raisedtheissueofuntranslatabilityin1965.Hearguesthatthelinguisticuntranslatabilityisduetothedifferencesinthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage,whereascultureuntranslatabilityisduetotheabsenceinthetargetlanguageofrelevantsituationalfeatures.”[1]

“Nidapresentsarichsourceofinformationabouttheproblemofloseintranslation,inparticularaboutthedifficultiesencounteredbythetranslatorwhenfacingwithtermsorconceptsinthesourcelanguagethatdonotexitinthetargetlanguage.”[2]

“PeterNewmarkhasoncebrieflytalkedaboutthedeviationintranslation.”[3]

InChinatoday,manytranslationexpertsandscholarshavealsodiscussedtheproblemtosomeextentintheirpapers.

Theproblemofuntranslatabilityisalwaysadisputedissue.Nowadays,itiswellacceptedthattranslationisapossibleandfeasibletask.However,therearestillsomelanguagepointsthataredifficulttotranslate,whichiscalledthephenomenonofuntranslatability.

Linguisticandculturaldifferences,thetwocategoriesofuntranslatabilityphenomenonarecausedbydifferentfactors.Theseresultingfromthelinguisticdifferenceswillhardlychangewhilethoseresultingfromculturaldifferencesmaybecometranslatableinthefuturebyusingthemethodsofcompensationandtheskilloftranslators.2.Linguisticuntranslatability

ProfessorLiuMiqingwroteinhisModernTranslationTheoriesthat“Thestructureoflanguagecommonlyshowsthecharacteristicsofthelanguage,thesecharacteristicsonlycanbefoundinrelativelanguage,thesimilartransferisdifficulttofindinnon-relativelanguage,foritneedtochangethecodecompletely.”[4]P107Viewfromtheetymology,EnglishbelongstotheIndo-Europeanlanguage,butChinesebelongstotheSino-Tibetanlanguage,sothereexitthelinguisticuntranslatability,whichincludesthefollowingaspects:phonology,character,figureofspeech,andsoon.

2.1.Untranslatabilityinphonology

Anylanguagehasitsownspecialphonemicsystem,whichcannotbereplacedbyotherlanguage.TherearelargedifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglish,andmostofthepronunciationsinonelanguagedonothaveequivalentintheotherlanguage.Therefore,theycannotbetranslatedintothetargetlanguage.Forexample:

(1)“石詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅……”

Theauthorwrotethewholepassageinhomophonewords.Thisisatypicalexampleofuntranslatabilitycausedbyphonemicsystem.Seeanotherexample:

(2)“Cat,cat,cat,catchthefatratfast.”

Iftranslateitinto:“貓，貓，貓，快抓住那只肥老鼠”thatwilllosethephonemiceffect,anditonlytranslatesthemeaning.

2.2.Untranslatabilityincharacterstructure

Chinesewordsconsistofcharactersthathavetheirmeaning,butEnglishwordsconsistofalphabetsthataremeaningless.Theyarecompletelydifferentinwriting.Chinesehasawritingskillofdescribingcharacters,forexample:(3)“人曾為僧，人弗可以成佛，女卑為婢，女又何妨成奴”，“鴻是江邊鳥，蠶是天下蟲”，“琴瑟琵琶八大王，王王在上，魑魅魍魎四小鬼，鬼鬼靠邊”。TheyareallusingthespecialfeatureofChinesecharacters,todescribethecharacterstructureinpoetry,alsohavingtheirmeaning.ButEnglishhasnosuchstructuresinalphabeticalsystem,sotheyareabsolutelyuntranslatable.

SomeriddlesthatarerelativetothestructureofcharactersorEnglishwordsarealsountranslatable,forexample:(4)“田頭長草”（苗）,“Whatmakesaroadbroad?”(TheletterB).Ifthelatterriddleistranslatedinto:“什么使道路變寬？”（字母B）Everybodywillfellridiculous,andnoonecanunderstandthat.

2.3.Untranslatabilityinfigureofspeech

Mostofthelanguageshavetheirownfiguresofspeech.Justbecauseoftheexistenceoffigureofspeech,thelanguagesbecomevividandinteresting.Intranslationpractice,ifthetargetlanguagecannotshowthefigureofspeechinsourcelanguagecorrectly,itisnotfaithfultothecontent,thoughtandstyleofthesourcelanguage.Althoughthemeaningsaresimilar,itwilllessthelanguageinfluenceofthesourcetext.ThepeoplewhospeakChineseandthepeoplewhospeakEnglishhavelargedifferencesinthewayofthinkingandaesthetic,sowhentheyexpressthesameconcept,theyoftenusedifferentfigureofspeech.ThesecausedtheuntranslatabilityinChinese-Englishtranslation.Ithasthefollowingmainaspects:

2.3.1.Puns

Punmeanshumoroususeofawordthathastwomeaningsorofdifferentwordsthatsoundthesame.Punspackseveralmeaningsintooneword,anditisextremelyunlikelythatanyotherlanguagewillpackintothesamesetofmeanings,soitisdifficulttotranslateintothetargetlanguage.Exampleone:

(5)“楊柳青青江水平，聞郎江上唱歌聲，東邊日出西邊雨，道是無晴卻有晴”

Here“晴”isapun,anditalsomeans“情”，ZhangQichuntranslateitinto“Thewillowsaregreen,green,theriverisserene.Thenceishissongraftedtome.Intheeastthesunisrising,inthewesttherainisfalling.Canyouseeifit’sfairorfoul?”Inthistranslation,thetranslatordidverywell,especiallyin“green,serene,fairorfoul”,buthecannottranslatethepuncompletely.

Exampletwo:

(6)“Sheistoolowforahighpraise,toobrowntoafairpraise,andtoolittleforagreatpraise.”

The“l(fā)ow”and“fair”areallpunsinthissentence.“Low”meansshortinheightandlowsocialstatus.“Fair”meanspaleskin,lightincolorandjustice.ThereisnowordorphraseinChinesehavingthetwomeaningstogether,sothetranslatorcannottranslatethetwomeaningsintoChinese,onlyadaptedonemeaning,andwilllosetheothermeaning.

2.3.2.Palindrome

“Thefigureofspeechofpalindromemeansaword,verseorsentencethatreadthesamewhenthecharactersorletterscomposingitaretakenthereverseorder.”[5]P174TherearemanypalindromewordsinEnglish,suchas“Anna,dad,bob.”Englishpalindromeisbasedonletters,thelettershavenomeaning,anditreadsthesamewhentheorderisreversed.Forexample:

(7)“WasitacatIsaw?”

(8)“AblewasIereIsawElba!”

(9)“Madam,I’mAdam”

Iftheyaretranslatedinto“我看到的是貓嗎？”，“在我看到俄爾巴島之前還沒有倒！”，“夫人，我是亞當?！?theeffectarealllostwithoutanypalindrome,soitisalmostuntranslatable.

ThepalindromeinChineseisuntranslatableaswell,forexample:

(10)“客上天然居，居然天上客?！?/p>

(11)“霧鎖江心江鎖霧，天連海角海連天。”

2.3.3.Alliteration

Alliterationisusingthesameletterorsoundatthebeginningofthetwoormorewordsinsuccession.ItisacommonfigureofspeechinEnglish,especiallyinproverb,advertisement,novelandsoon.,andmostofthealliterationareuntranslatable.[6]P33

Forexample:

(12)Tomanyparents,thethreeGs,gays,guys,andgangshavereplacedthethreeRsasbenchmarkofschoollife.

對于許多父母來說，同性戀，槍支，幫派這三個詞已經(jīng)代替了讀，寫，算作為學(xué)校的基本尺度。

Inthistranslation,thethreeGs,gays,guys,gangsarealliteration,whichemphasizetheseriousproblemsofthegays,guysandgangs,butaftertranslatingthemintoChinese,wecannotseethiseffect.

2.3.4.Malapropism

“MalapropismcomesfromRichardSheridam’scomedyTheRivals,ahonoredladynameMalaprop,whooftenspeakswrongwordsorpronunciation.Malapropismisafigureofspeechusingwrongwordswithsimilarpronunciationtensionorintensiontoreachthehumorseffect.”[7]P75Malapropismbringsdifficultiesintranslation.Forexample:

(13)“我推開澳門，看到地上鋪的是巴基斯坦，桌上擺的是剛果……”

Thisisasentencefromcrosstalk,Chinesepeopleknowthehumorsnaturally,butifitistranslateditinto:“Pushingopenthe‘Macau’,Isaw‘Pakistan’pavedonthefloorand‘Congo’onthetable.Englishreaderscannotacceptthat,for‘Macau’isnotadoor,‘Pakistan’isnotablanket,and‘Congo’isnotfruiteither.MostoftheyoungergenerationinChinahaveheardthishumoroussentence:“我手持鄭伊健，腳踏溫兆輪，翻過趙本山，穿過關(guān)芝林，跨過潘長江，來到周星池……”Itisuntranslatabletoo.3.Culturaluntranslatability

“AccordingtoJ.C.Catford,instanceofuntranslatabilitycanarisefromtwosources:oneislinguistic,andtheotherisculture.”[8]P25

Nidaalsomentionsthatwordshavemeaningonlyintermsofthetotalculturalsetting.

Andwhatisculture,EdwardTylorgavethedefinitiontheearliestinhisthePrimitiveCulture:“Cultureorcivilizationtakeninitswideanthro-graphicsenseisthatcompletewholewhichincludeknowledge,beliefs,art,morals,law,customandothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbyamenasamemberofsociety.”[9]P478

PeterNewmarkwroteinhisATextbookofTranslation:“Idefinethecultureasthewayoflifeandhismanifestationthatarepeculiartoacommunitythatusesapeculiarlanguageasitsmeansofexpression.”[10]P94

Translationisaveryimportantmediumforculturalexchangebetweenpeopleusingdifferentlanguages.Itisoneofthemostimportanttasksfromtranslatorsandtranslationresearchersviewingproblemsoftranslationfromtheangleofculturalexchangeinordertoincreasethedegreeofculturalexchangeachievedbytranslationasmuchaspossible.

Itisknowntoallthatlanguageisanimportantaspectofculture.Cultureincludesandaffectslanguage,itisthegroundfromwhichlanguagegrowsanddevelops.Alllanguagesareproductsofthecultureofthecountryandthenation.Theyallhavelonghistoricalbackgroundandvariousculturalconnotations.Thehistory,socialsystem,naturalenvironment,religionandcustomsareallshownvividlyintheirculturally-loadedwords,proverbs,idioms,andsoon.Intraditionalpractice,thereareoftennosuchwordsintargetlanguage,andthetranslatorshavetofindthesimilarcodesormakesomenewcodestoreplace,sowhentheseculturallyloadedwordsaretranslatedintoanotherlanguage,theculturalconnotationsarelost.Nidaoncepointedoutthat:“Forthesuccesstranslation,beingfamiliarwithtwoculturesisevenmoreimportantthanmasteringtwolanguages,becausethelanguagehasitsmeaningonlyintheculturalbackground.”[11]P92

Chineseculturebelongstoeasternculture,andEnglishcultureisEuropeanandAmericanculture,whichbelongstothewesternculture.Thereareessentialdifferencebetweeneasterncultureandwesternculture,sotheuntranslatabilityisunderstandable.

3.1.Untranslatabilityresultedfromculturegap

3.1.1.Materialculture

Differentnationsliveindifferentplaces,andwillhavedifferentimagesforthesamething.WeoftenhearsomeChinesesay:“走，喝酒去！”Theword“酒”isdifficulttotranslate.Itincludesliquor,spirit,alcohol,drink,beer,wine,andsoon.Thesewordsareall“酒”，buttheliquorandspiritmeanslowquality,andthedrinksincludeharddrinksandsoftdrinks,whilethewineisoftenreferredtothegrapeorfruitwine.

InEnglish,thedaffodilisthesymbolofspringandhappiness,butinChinese,itisonlyakindofflowercalled“黃水仙”。InChinesepeople’smind,theplum,orchid,chrysanthemumandbambooareallthesymbolofhighspirit.ButEnglishpeopledonotthinkso.3.1.2.Traditionalculture

Peoplelivetogetherinonecountryorregion,andwillformtheirowntraditions,thesetraditionswillpassfromgenerationtogeneration.Andothercountriesorregionspeoplemaynothavethesetraditions,eventheyhave,butindifferentmeaning,thusmakingthesetraditionsuntranslatable.

Forexample:

(14)AccordingtoEnglishtradition,thefamilywillthrowoldshoestotheunmarriedcoupleswhentheygooutofthehouse,whichmeanswishthemluck,butifthistraditionistranslatedinto“扔舊鞋”，theChinesepeoplewillmisunderstandit.ForinChina,throwingoldshoestoawomanistoabuseher.

Forthetraditionreason,alotofappellationsareuntranslatable.ThemeaningofEnglishuncleincludesuchChinesewordsas叔父(father’syoungerbrother),伯父(father’selderbrother),舅舅(mother’sbrother),姑父(father’ssister’shusband),姨父(mother’ssister’shusband),叔叔(father’syoungerbrotherorafriendoracquaintanceaboutthesameageasayoungperson’sparent).ItwouldbeconsideredaterriblemistakeinChineseculturetorefertothefather’sbrotheras舅舅，soiftherelationisnotclearinEnglish,itcannotbetranslatedintoChinese.

3.1.3ReligiousCulture

Inreligion,translationbecomesthemission.Chinesehavetranslatedinthisfieldforalongtime,butChinesepeopledonothaveChristianitybackground.ThusmanyoftheculturewillmakeChinesepeoplemisunderstand.

Forexample:

(15)“Endoftheworld”willmakeChinesepeoplethinkofthecomingofgreatdisaster,inwhichallthehumanbeingwilldie,andtheywillfeelfear.ButtotheEnglishpeople,ithasnothingtodowithdisaster.Itisthecomingofthejusticemoment.

3.1.4.Historicalculture

Thehistoryofanationistherecordofthesocialdevelopment.Idiomsandlegendsprovidereadysupportinthisrespect.“Themainproblemsthatidiomsandfixedexpressionposeintranslationrelatetothetwomainareas:theabilitytorecognizeandinterpretanidiomcorrectly;andthedifficultiesinvolvedinrendering

thevariousaspectsofmeaningthatanidiomorafixedexpressionconveysintothetargetlanguage.”[12]P65Anidiomorfixedexpressionmayhavenoequivalentinthetargetlanguage.Onelanguagemayexpressagivenmeaningbyasingleword,anothermayexpressitbyafixedexpression,andathirdmayexpressitbyanidiom,andsoon.Soitisunrealistictoexpecttofindequivalentidiomsandexpressioninthetargetlanguageinallcases.Theidiomsandexpressionsmaybeculture-specificwhichmakesitdifficulttotranslateorisuntranslatable.TheexpressionsuchasKangarooCourt,relatedtospecificculturalbackgroundprovidesagoodexample.Andthehistoricalstoriesorlegendsalsohavetheircultureelement,forexample:(16)“八仙過海，各顯神通”，“三個臭皮匠，頂個諸葛亮”，“情人眼里出西施”。

3.2.Untranslatabilityresultedfromcultureconflict

Intranslation,somewordsinonelanguagearetraditionallyconsideredequivalenttootherwordsinanotherlanguage,buttheirconnotationsandeventheirreferentsareineffectquitedifferent,theyareso-calledfalsefriends.Forexample:

(17)TheChinese“龍”andEnglish“dragon”.Chinesepeopleview“龍”asasymbolofpowerorgoodfortune.Suchas“望子成龍”，buttheEnglishpeopleseethedragonasfierceandassociateitwithevil,crueltyandviolence.If

“望子成龍”istranslatedinto“toexpectone’ssontobeadragon”,Englishpeoplecannotacceptthat.

Sincetheformsoftherelateditemsarethesame,theyareoftenmisleading.Forexample,(18)thebrandnameofawell-knownChinesebattery“白象”isliterallytranslatedinto“WhiteElephant”.“白象”meansfortuneandgoodluckinChinese.However,thetranslationelicitunfavorablereactionfromEnglishconsumers,whousewhiteelephantasanidiomtomeansomethingcostlybutuseless.

Somewordsofcolorhaveconflictmeaningaswell.Takeredforexample,(19)ithasthemeaningofhappyandfestivalas“紅”inChinese,suchas“red-letterdays”.ButtheChinese“紅茶”is“blacktea”inEnglish,andtheChinese“紅糖”is“brownsugar”inEnglish.TheEnglish“inthered”is“虧損赤字”.

Cultureisoneofthegreatobstaclesintheprocessoftranslation,alongwiththelinguisticbarrierthatisresponsibleforuntranslatabilityintranslation.4.Themethodofcompensation

Compensationisaspecialmethodthatisusedtoreachtheequivalencewhenthereisnoequivalentconceptandsuitableexpressioninthetargetlanguage.

Itiswidelyacceptedthatthelanguagephenomenonofuntranslatabilityisnotabsolutelyuntranslatable,especiallyintheculturalaspect.Intranslationpractice,whendealingwiththiskindofphenomenon,thetranslatoralwaysmakesgreateffecttogetrelativelysatisfactoryversion,followingarethemethodsoftenusedbytranslatorstocompensate.

4.1.Adaptation

An“adaptation”,alsoknownas“freetranslation”,isatranslationprocedurewherebythetranslatorreplacesasocial,orculturalrealityinthesourcelanguagewithacorrespondingrealityinthetargetlanguage,thisnewrealitywouldbemoreusualtotheaudienceinthetargetlanguage.Thismethodaimsatmaintainingtheeleganceandintelligibilityinthetargetlanguageatthesacrificeoftheformofthesourcelanguage,butwithoutchangingthemainculturalmessageoftheoriginal.Forexample:

(20)“很好，不用瞎擔(dān)心了，我還有委員的福分呢！”

“么事的桂圓？”

“是委員！從前行的是大人老爺，現(xiàn)在行委員！你還不明白？”

“Hegivemeverygoodnews,weneednotlookfortrouble.Ihavethepossibilityofbeingamemberofcommittee!”

“What’sacommontea?”Askedthewifewhovaguelycaughtthesound.

“Acommittee!Lordsandesquiresareoutofdate,andtheprevailingnominationistoacommittee.Don’tyoustillunderstand?”

Here,theChineseword“委員”(memberofacommittee)soundsquitelike“桂圓”(longan,akindoftropicalfruit).Intheconversation,thewifedoesnotquitecatchthewordandmistakethe“桂圓”for“委員”.Ifthetwowordsaretranslatedliterally,thereaderwillfindthewife’smistakeincomprehensiblesincethereisnophonologicalsimilarityinEnglishbetweenthetwoitems.Thetranslatorusethemethodofadaptation,turninglogon（桂圓）intocommontea.Nowtheformischange,butthefunctionoreffectispreserved.Commonteaisphonologicallyrelatedtocommittee.Byusingadaptation,thishomophoneuntranslatabilityisturnedintotranslatability.

4.2.Borrowing

Borrowingisatranslationprocedurethatthetranslatorusesawordorexpressionfromthesourcelanguageinthetargetlanguageholus-bolus.Differencesbetweenculturesmaymeanthatonelanguagehasexpressionandconceptsthatmaynotexitinanother.Forexample,wehavenoready-madeequivalentfortheEnglish“model”,“Coca-cola”,“coffee”,“l(fā)ogic”,“sofa”,“motor”,“Brandy”,“chocolate”,“Benz”,andsoon.Facewithsuchwordsandexpressions,thetranslatorsarehard-pressedtoconveytheoriginalmeaningandareoftenleftwithnochoicebuttoborrowtheoriginallexicalitems.SothesewordscomeintoChinese:“模特兒”，“可口可樂”，“咖啡”，“邏輯”，“沙發(fā)”，“摩托”，“白蘭地”，“巧克力”，“奔馳”，andsoon.Andlikewise,therearenoEnglishequivalentforsomeChinesewords,suchaskang(heatedbrickbed),GuandiMiao(templeenshriningGuanYu,awellworshippedancientChinesehero),Zongzi(apyramid-shapedumplingmadeofglutinousricewrappedinreedleavesthatiseatenduringtheDragonBoatfestival),Qigong(asystemofdeepbreathingexercisepopularinChina),TaijiQuan(akindoftraditionalChineseboxing),andsoon.SomeofthesehadbeenacceptedbyEnglishpeople,andsomewillbeaccepted,andthesewordswillcometoEnglish.

4.3.Translator’snote

Atranslator’snoteisanote(usuallyafootnoteoranendnote)addedbythetranslatortothetargetlanguagetoprovideadditionalinformationpertainingtothelimitoftranslation,theculturalbackgroundandanyotherexplanation.“Nidaalsopointsoutthatthefootnotecanexplaincontradictorycustoms,identifyunknowngeographicalorphysicalobjects,giveequivalentofweightsandmeasures,providesinformationonplaysonwords,includesupplementarydataonpropernamesandaddinformationwhichmaybegenerallyusefulinunderstandingthehistoricalandculturalbackgroundofthedocumentinquestion.”[13]P238-239Inaword,usingthismethodcanturnsomeuntranslatabilityintoacertaindegreeoftranslatability.

Forexample:

(20)道可道，非常道——《道德經(jīng)》Laozi

TheTao①thatcanbeexpressedinwordsisnottheconstantTao.

Note:①TheTaoisaabsolute,whichallotherthingsarerelative,itisalmightyandomnipresent.Itsvastnessorminutenesscannotbecomparedwiththingsofourunderstanding.Theuniverseisembracingit.

“HeretheChinesecharacter“道”isawordwithveryprofoundmeaning,whichfindsitselfnoequivalentintheEnglishlanguage.Itisalmostuntranslatable.Throughthefootnote,someoftheculturemessageshavebeentransferredintothetargetlanguagetext.”[14]P69

4.4.Calque

Calqueisatranslationprocedurethatatranslatortranslatesanexpression(oroccasionallyaword)literallyintothetargetlanguage,translatingtheelementoftheexpressionwordforword.PeterNewmarkrefersittoassemantictranslation.Itisamethodoftranslationthataimsatpreservingthemostculturalmessageofthesourcetextatthesacrificeoftheformalelementofthetargetlanguage,andsometimeseventheintelligibilityofthetargettext.Suchastranslate“armedtoteeth”into“武裝到牙齒”,

translate“knowledgeisstrengths”into“知識就是力量”,translate“hotdog”into“熱狗”,

andtranslate“紙老虎”into“papertiger”.Maybetheyseemridiculeratthebeginning,buttheywillbeacceptedbythetargetlanguagespeakingpeopleandbecomeacommonwordintheirdailylife.

4.5Paraphrase