翻译三原则

1．1 严复的“信、达、雅” 关于“信”,严复认为:译文应该抓住全文要旨,对于词句可以有所颠倒增删,只要不失原意,不必斤斤计较词句的对应和顺序。

关于“达”,严复认为:达非常重要。

只信而不达,译了等于没译；只有做到达,才能做到信。

要做到达,译者必须首先认真通读全文,做到融会贯通,然后进行翻译。

为了表达原意,可以在词句方面作必要的调整改动。

关于“雅” ,严复认为:译文要雅,否则没有人看。

“雅” 是指“古雅” ,要采用汉代以前使用的古文。

对于严复的信达雅,不少人对于“雅” 有一些不同的看法:不能脱离原文,片面求雅；如果原文不雅,译文怎么能雅？况且,严复主张的是古雅,即用古文进行翻译,这是不可取的。

至于“信” 和“达” ,多年来用作评价翻译的尺度,在我国翻译界一直是没有异议的。

严复在《天演论·译例言》里首次提出了“信、达、雅” 的翻译标准。

“信” 指的是“忠实” ,“达” 指的是“流畅” ,“雅” 指的是“尔雅”。

所谓“尔雅”, 用严复自己的话来说就是“用汉以前字法、句法”。

一百年来,严复提出的“信、达、雅” 在中国翻译界起了很大的作用。

人们对“信” 和“达” 没有什么争论, 唯有“雅”字例外。

再“用汉以前字法、句法” 进行翻译是不行了。

因此人们对“雅” 字作过各种解释,发过各种议论。

纵观各家之言,我认为周照良教授的解释是比较可取的。

周照良教授在“翻译三论” 一文中说:“我认为应当作为‘得体'来理解。

得体不仅仅指文笔,而是指文笔基本上必须根据内容来定；文笔必须具有与其内容相适应的风格。

”他还说:“信、达、雅”三者哪一个最重要?我以为要看内容而定。

如果译的是《读者文摘》或旅游见闻,那就要着重达,便是漏译一两句也无关宏旨。

如果译的是哲学、社会科学, 特别是经典著作, 信就应当放在首位。

... 至于文学翻译, 那当然要讲究文笔。

如果一篇译文在内容上是忠实的,在语言上是通顺的,在风格上是得体的,那的确就是一篇很好的译文了。

1.2 “忠实”和“通顺”的标准“忠实” 主要是指内容。

翻译是在理解了别人用某种语言表达的意思之后,把同样的意思用另外一种语言表达出来。

也就是说,译者的任务是表达别人的意思,而不是自己进行创作。

因此,就要力求准确地表达原作者的意思。

“通顺”指的是语言。

如果原文是通顺易懂的,那么译文也要尽量做到通顺、易懂。

1.3 Tytler’s Three Principles If it were possible accurately to define, or, perhaps more properly, to describe what is meant by a good Translation, it is evident that a considerable progress would be made towards establishing the Rules of the Art; for these Rules would flow naturally from that definition or description. But there is no subject of criticism where there has been much difference of opinion ...I would therefore describe a good translation to be, That, in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language, as to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt, by a native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak the language of the original work. Now, supposing this description to be a just one, which I think it is, let us examine what are the laws of translation which may be deduced from it. It will follow,I. That the Translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work.II. That the style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original.III. That the Translation should have all the ease of original composition. (fromA. F. Tytler: Essay on the Principles of Translation)the popular language of the people can be used to translate any foreign language in the world. But Yan Fu opposed the application of the vernacular in translation, that is why many people criticized his “elegance.” Of course Yan Fu's explanation of the translation criteria is limited by the age he lived in. Therefore we must look at his criteria with a critical eye. Furthermore, Yan Fu's “elegance” can only be regarded as one style. Its opposite is the style of “boldness and unconstraintedness.” “Elegance” and “boldness” constitute two different styles. Of course there are many other styles in translation. So “elegance” as an overall translation principle may give rise to diverse interpretations. Mr. Lu Xun, the greatest modern Chinese writer proposed “faithfulness” and “smoothness” as translation standards and attached importance to the preservation of the original flavor. But he once said, “Rather be faithful (in thought) than smooth (in language).” This was only p ut forward in opposition to Zhao Jingshen's saying: “It's better to have a smooth version than a faithful one.” And this is, of course, understandable. Criteria for translation constitute the yardstick for measuring a piece of translated work. The common criteria applied in translation can be summarized in the following two words: faithfulness and smoothness. 1）“Faithfulness” first refers to the content of the original work. The translator must bring out the original meaning both comprehensively and accurately without any distortion or casual addition or deletion of the original thought. Faithfulness also includes the keeping of the original style, as Mr.Lu Xun put it, “keep the full flavor of the original work.” Sometimes, even the original emotions or feelings such as anger or distress, satire or irony, joy or happiness should not pass unnoticed. 2）“Smoothness” requires that version must be clear and distinct, flowing and easy to read without signs of the mechanical word-for-word translation, of obscure and crabbed language, of grammatical mistakes, confused structure and turbid logic. By smoothness we mean that we should make the language forceful, clear and idiomatic. Different languages have different ways of expression. The translator must try to follow the custom and good usage of the languages used and not stick to the mode of expression of the original. Sometimes there are contradictions between faithfulness and smoothness, but the translator must try his best to arrive at the unity of the contradictions. The most important thing is, he must first have a thorough understanding of the authors, ideas and feelings expressed in the original and put them into a different language idiomatically according to some of the fundamental rules and methods of translation. Only thus can he be said to be responsible both to the author and the readers. In the last decade of the 18th century, Alexander Fraser Tytler, professor of history at Edinburgh University, laid down three fundamentals by which a translation should be made or judged. They were (1)a translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work;(2)the style and manner of writing should be of same character as that of the original, and (3)a translation should have all the ease of originalcomposition. In his book Essay on the Principles of Translation, Tytler illustrated those fundamentals with a wealth of examples which put his book in a class by itself... In his book Les belles infideles, Georges Mounin says that the translation is a pane of glass through which we look at the work of art. He is thinking of Gogol's definition of the perfect translator as one who becomes a pane of glass which is so transparent that the reader does not notice that there is any glass. Obviously, it is too difficult to reach such an ideal: even the clearest glass has an index of refraction. A “clear glass” translation, however, can always be effected as it has been done though centuries. And the indispensable requisite is that the version must be both faithful to the original work and smooth in the target language. … then it is clear that we shall come to a satisfactory conclusion: unity of contradictions, i.e., a translated work both faithful and smooth. Before 1949 we got from the west almost nothing about the theories on translation except the principles of A F.Tytler, which were, however, of little help to us. Recently we have learned much from A .B. Feedorov, whose “principles of translation” have, indeed, supplied us a sound system of theory on translation. Adequate translation, as suggested by the Soviet scholar, is, in fact, a translation both faithful and smooth.为两个方面:一是理解的需要,一是表达的需要。