翻译复印材料第二章翻译过程

第二章翻译的过程——理解与表达

第一节翻译过程

翻译的过程主要分为两个阶段：理解和表达。翻译上的不足之处主要出在理解上，如果译者完全理解了源语文本和有足够的能力驾驭目的语，那么翻译过程就会变得自然，而且几乎是一个自动的过程。理解是表达的前提和先决条件，表达是理解的结果。在实际的翻译过程中，两个阶段是在译者的潜意识中同时进行的，理解中有表达，表达中有理解。

第二节理解与翻译

要做到完全透彻的理解决非易事，而是一个极其复杂的过程。“理解原作十分不易，需要语言修养，文化修养，各方面的知识”。除了语言文化的差异之外，翻译中理解的复杂性主要表现在以下方面：

一、口语与书面语的差别

我们理解日常口语时，有一些有利的语音因素可供利用，如，语调、语速、停顿、语气、犹豫等，如果是面对面的交谈，还可以利用说话者的手势、面部表情甚至穿着打扮和说话时的语境等因素帮助理解话语。不利于理解的因素有，说话速度快，听者必须对转瞬即失的话语作快速的分析。相对于口语而言，书面语只是用文字记录的语言材料，虽然可以允许读者用较多的时间分析文本，但是读者已无法直接利用语音因素。语音因素是语言理解不可缺少的部分，“译者必须重建语音因素，也就是说他要设法补偿书面语的不足之处”。

二、语言与思想的不一致

语言与思想并非是一对一的对应关系，“语言掩饰着思想。而且达到这种程度，就象不能根据衣服的外形来推出它所掩盖的思想的形式一样；因为衣服外形的设计不是为了揭示身体的形状，而是为了全然不同的目的”（维特根斯坦，1996：41）。有时作者想要表达的并非言内之意，而是言外之意；有时一句话有若干歧义，而作者实际想要表达的一般只能是其中的一种含义。译者如何做出正确的判断，把握言内之意而非言外之意和确定若干歧异中唯一的一种解释，都是译者理解源语时的困难之处。

三、时间因素的介入

语言处于时间之中，是无时不刻在变化当中，因而语言的理解与表达表现出很大的创造性，没有两个人说的话，写的文章和翻译作品是完全一样的。甚至同一个人在不同时间和地点所说的话也是不一样的。既然不受时间限制的语言是不存在的，那么理解就带有创造性，理解是一个不断向原作真实含义靠近的过程，完全一致丝毫不差的理解原文是不现实的，也是不可能的。在斯坦纳看来，透彻阅读就是要恢复话语实际发生时的价值和意图，理解本身无论是语际的还是语内都是翻译。语际翻译除了受到时间的阻碍之外还会受到语言之间差异的阻碍。翻译的标准过程就是通过形变，把信息从原出语转到目的语。尽管解释性转换有误导性，但是要使信息通过却是不可避免的。任何翻译都存在一些失败的边缘地带，有一些因素可能逃避了完全的理解或恢复，而时间因素比语言差异更难以追踪。如果理解时假定时间是停止的，接受到的信息往往是微薄和扭曲的（Steiner, 2001:24-29）。

四、文化障碍

语言不能脱离文化而存在，文化是语言赖以生存和发展的土壤。当代英国译学理论家Susan Bassnett 曾把语言比喻为文化有机体中的心脏。她说：“如同在做心脏手术时人们不能忽略心脏以外的身体其他部分一样，我们在翻译时也不能冒险将翻译的言语内容和文化分开来处理。”因此语言的翻译不仅是语符表层指称意义的转换，更是两种不同文化的相互沟通和移植，翻译即涉及两种语言，更涉及两种文化。

理解的过程有以下四个步骤：

1. 分析原语文本的词汇和语法特征

He didn’t come to the hospital because he was ill.

Here lies one whose name was writ in water.

2. 结合篇章语境进行分析

I crossed the street to avoid him, but he saw me and came running towards me. It was no use pretending that I had not seen him, so I waved to him. I never enjoy meeting Bert Dykes.

3. 分析原语文本的交际语境

If you’re looking for a good job, we’re offering a thousand a week.

An American journalist describes his first experience in learning Chinese as follows: “Mandarin, the dialect I’m wrestling with, has four tones. The first is spoken…with a high-pitched sound. The second tone rises. I think of calling to shore while wading into the waters of Maine.

4. 结合原语的文化语境进行分析

Milky Way It is a wet summer.

第三节表达与翻译

理解是表达的前提，表达是理解的结果。理解只是完成了翻译的一半任务，译品的质量如何还要取决于翻译的另一半——表达。表达要求准确、充分、恰当和通顺。

Everybody can play tricks, but each trick has a charm of its own.

There is no grammatical rule that has not exceptions.

This map is drawn on a scale of one inch to two hundred miles.

The temperature must be changed quickly from room temperature to 1200C and held there for at least 10 minutes. Bestow nothing, receive nothing.

One man may steal a horse while another may not look over a hedge.

The soldiers, embittered by the memory of hardships undergone and of battle so often hoped for against the elusive foe, took every man his fill of revenge and blood.

第四节翻译中的表达

请将以下句子和段落翻译成汉语。

1) A soldier should be loyal to his country.

2)I am happy with that explanation.

3)I wasn’t born yesterday.

4)I know what I am dong.

5)I received a medical examination.

6)Thus began the massacre.

7)I forced myself to read.

8)This proves that he is wrong.

9)This post has security of tenure.

10)He promised to give the poor man ten dollars.

11)He has established himself as a grocer.

12)This is one of the most common problems we are

faced with.

13)But the status quo always has defenders.

14)Smith cradled the back of his head with his hand.

15)But the official of the UN said that the talk of

financial aid is premature.

16)He (a pig) looked at the cow, and the cow looked

at him. 17)I know a girl whose mother is a pianist.

18)He is the man who killed the murderer.

19)An Austrian zoologist, who has studied different

environments of living of ancient animals, said, …

20)They are good questions, because they call for

thought-provoking answers.

21)Only a fool would underestimate you.

22)His record shows how this could happen.

23)He is a 45-year old criminal named John.

24)They couldn’t do it better.

25)I can’t help disliking him.

26)Don’t cough more than you can help.

27)More guests came than I could count.

28)His determination to have my company bordered

on violence.

29)According to the latest figures, Colorado is the

most popular place to build a log home, followed by New York and North Carolina.

30)I am worried about the woman. I am afraid she might hurt herself, perhaps has already hurt

herself—there’s no way to know which of the return dates stamped on the book of poetry was hers. The book, Denise Levertove’s (丹尼斯·莱佛托夫) Evening Train, belongs to the New York City Public Library. I checked it out yesterday and can keep it for three weeks. Ever since my husband and I moved to the city several months ago, I’ve been homesick for my books, the hundreds of volumes stored in my brother’s basement. I miss having them near me, running my hands over their spines, recalling when and where I acquired each one, and out of what need. 31)I believe that if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, of whatever form, it will be

familiar with the concept of numerical counting. Some philosophers believe that pure mathematics is human-specific and that an entirely different type of mathematics may well emerge from a different type of intelligence—a type of mathematics that has nothing in common with ours and may even contradict it. But it is difficult to imagine any sort of intelligent life-form that would not need to count with numbers. The stars in the sky are discrete points and cry out to be counted by intelligent beings throughout the universe.