| 文化对等 |
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文化与翻译--Part I 课文学习--第四页
（ Culture and Translation ） |
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| V. Cultural Equivalence and Some Strategies Three factors should be taken into consideration if one wants to achieve cultural equivalence between the two languages ． These factors are ： i) types of source text and importance of cultural flavor in the source text; ii) purposes of translation and; iii) intended readers ． K. Buhler, one of the linguists claims that language has three functions: ideational function （概念功能） , informational function （信息功能） , and phatic function （交际功能） . Of course, in translation we try to obtain as much cultural equivalence as possible, but if the source text focuses primarily on the “content” of a message, then cultural phenomena need more emphasis and the author's style cannot be neglected. In these cases, the translation needs to keep as much original flavor as possible, including the images and entities in the source text. For instance, in translating Mao Zedong's works, it's better for us to keep the flavor of the original version and translate by using the same images and entities given by him. In this way, the translation not only keeps Mao's style but also introduces Chinese culture to English people. Besides ， purposes of translation ， in a great extent ， determine whether and how cultural equivalence is realized ． If the source text is specific to people in certain fields ， everything should be translated precisely word by word ． If not ， for instance ， you are just translating a novel ， your purpose is just telling a story and the words have no close connection with the story, you needn't bother to be too faithful and call use a superordinate words to substitute the specific word ． For example ， you may use the word “medicine” instead of a special one ． In addition, the intended readers also affect the realization of cultural equivalence between source text and target text ． If the readers are quite familiar with the source culture, the translation may be brief and needs no further explanation ． If they are not familiar with the source culture, then further explanations are needed ． For example, if you are telling a detective story about Holms to someone didn't know English culture ， you'd better give further information about Holms and point out that he is a famous detector ． In fact ， during tile process of translation, we cannot just think of only one or two of these factors ， all of them should be taken into account simultaneously ． Since to seek cultural equivalence is not an easy task for translators, perhaps some strategies are more helpful ． Generally there are two categories of translation ： literal translation and liberal translation ． Literal translation includes ： a) translation keeping the original content ， e ． g ．：她有沉鱼落雁之容，闭月羞花之貌。 Her beauty would make the fish sink ， the wild goose fall down and the moon hide herself, and put the flowers to shame ． b) translation by transferring the source words partly or completely into the target language ， e.g. ： CT ， VCD ， XO ， BP 机， Internet ， etc ． c) translation by its pronunciation ， e ． g ．： Benz 奔驰 , Mini 迷你 , Pizza 皮萨， etc ． This kind of translation is often used in translating names of persons and places ． For example Washington 华盛顿， John 约翰 etc ． Liberal translation is always employed when the translator tries to obtain cultural equivalence. It includes cultural substitution, paraphrase and translating the implications of the source text. i ) Translation by cultural substitution （文化置换） This strategy involves replacing a cultural-specific item or expression with a target item that does not have the same prepositional meaning ( 命题意义 ) ， but is likely to have a similar impact on the target reader. For example, in English, people often say “ He is as strong as a horse. ” They say this because “ horse ” in English is an image represents the concept of strong and energetic. While in Chinese such kind of concept is embodied in “牛” . So we translate the sentence as “他壮得像头牛” . Similarly “一箭双雕” in Chinese can be substituted in English by “Kill two birds with one stone.” ii) Translation by paraphrasing （意译） As translatability between cultures is limited and some entities or images are not lexicalized in the target language, so in translation, those kinds of entities and images can only be made clear to the target reader by paraphrasing. Here are some examples: Dissident 持不同政见者 Sunday saint 道貌岸然的伪君子 Go Dutch 各付各的钱 iii) Translating the implications of the source text ( 暗含的翻译 ) We can also translate by giving the implication of the source target since literal translation cannot clearly convey the message. Different peoples differ in ways of thinking and they use different ways to express the same feelings and points of views. To these cases, translation should focus on the “content” of the message, i.e. the implication. Look at the examples below: Original: Steve was the only good thing on her horizon. Translation: 见到史蒂夫是唯一使她心情愉快的事。 Original: I'm going straight. Translation: 我再也不偷了。 |
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