“信达雅”与外国人名地名的汉语音译
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摘要
"信达雅"作为汉语对译外国语言文字的标准,是由清末著名学者严复提出的。但是,"信""达""雅"的概念则是源自孔子对于修辞问题的相关观点。从修辞的角度看,严复提出的"信达雅"翻译标准,实际上讲的是翻译修辞的三种境界:合乎原义、文从字顺、简约优雅。前二种属于修辞学上所说的"消极修辞",后一种则属"积极修辞"。三种境界都是非常高的境界,第三种则是最高境界,由达意传情的层面跃升至审美的层面。外国人名与地名的汉语音译,按照正常的逻辑,在"信""达"两个境界上努力就可以了。也就是说,人名、地名的音译只要语音上接近原词发音,形诸于汉字后读起来不拗口,让人一见就知道是外国的人名或地名,就是成功的音译了。但是,事实上,中国人由于特定的历史文化心理,总喜欢在外国人名、地名的音译上做功夫,力图将之"汉化",并赋予其一定的审美意义。这既是一种翻译的艺术,也是一种独特的文化心理的生动呈现,很值得我们探究。
Faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is the standard for translation between Chinese and foreign languages,as put forward by Yan Fu, a famous Chinese scholar in late Qing Dynasty. The idea of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is from Confucius' viewpoint about rhetoric. From the perspective of rhetoric, Yan's translation standard is,in fact, about the three states of translation rhetoric: according with original meaning,being clear and coherent, being brief and elegant. The first two belong to passive rhetoric in rhetoric, and the third one, active rhetoric. All the three states are of very high level, with the last state being the highest which goes from simple expression of meaning and moods to aesthetic. According to normal logic, transliteration of names of foreign people and places only has to be faithful and expressive. Namely, we pronounce them in a way close to their original pronunciation, write them in a way which is not awkward to read, and let people know they are foreign, then we are successful. In fact, however, Chinese, out of a special kind of historical and cultural psychology, always like to practice a lot to Chinesize the names and give them aesthetic value. This is an art of translation as well as a vivid way to present a unique cultural psychology, which is worthy of deep research.
Faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is the standard for translation between Chinese and foreign languages,as put forward by Yan Fu, a famous Chinese scholar in late Qing Dynasty. The idea of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance is from Confucius' viewpoint about rhetoric. From the perspective of rhetoric, Yan's translation standard is,in fact, about the three states of translation rhetoric: according with original meaning,being clear and coherent, being brief and elegant. The first two belong to passive rhetoric in rhetoric, and the third one, active rhetoric. All the three states are of very high level, with the last state being the highest which goes from simple expression of meaning and moods to aesthetic. According to normal logic, transliteration of names of foreign people and places only has to be faithful and expressive. Namely, we pronounce them in a way close to their original pronunciation, write them in a way which is not awkward to read, and let people know they are foreign, then we are successful. In fact, however, Chinese, out of a special kind of historical and cultural psychology, always like to practice a lot to Chinesize the names and give them aesthetic value. This is an art of translation as well as a vivid way to present a unique cultural psychology, which is worthy of deep research.
引文
本文为新时代创新背景下翻译传译认知国际学术研讨会暨中国翻译认知研究会第三届大会(2018年5月12-13日,河南工业大学)主旨报告,发表时有修改。
(1)(2)吴礼权:《中国修辞哲学史》,台北:台湾商务印书馆1995年版,第33页。
(3)陈望道:《修辞学发凡》,上海:上海教育出版社1997年版,第5页。
(1)吴礼权、谢元春:《中国传统文化心理在海峡两岸的存续现状探析——以海峡两岸对西方人名翻译的修辞行为为例》,《北华大学学报》(社会科学版)2013年第3期。
(1)(2)(3)吴礼权、谢元春:《中国传统文化心理在海峡两岸的存续现状探析——以海峡两岸对西方人名翻译的修辞行为为例》,《北华大学学报》(社会科学版)2013年第3期。
(1)(2)吴礼权、谢元春:《中国传统文化心理在海峡两岸的存续现状探析——以海峡两岸对西方人名翻译的修辞行为为例》,《北华大学学报》(社会科学版)2013年第3期。
(1)林语堂:《中国人》,郝志东、沈益洪译,杭州:浙江人民出版社1992年版,第52页。
(1)(2)吴礼权:《中国修辞哲学史》,台北:台湾商务印书馆1995年版,第33页。
(3)陈望道:《修辞学发凡》,上海:上海教育出版社1997年版,第5页。
(1)吴礼权、谢元春:《中国传统文化心理在海峡两岸的存续现状探析——以海峡两岸对西方人名翻译的修辞行为为例》,《北华大学学报》(社会科学版)2013年第3期。
(1)(2)(3)吴礼权、谢元春:《中国传统文化心理在海峡两岸的存续现状探析——以海峡两岸对西方人名翻译的修辞行为为例》,《北华大学学报》(社会科学版)2013年第3期。
(1)(2)吴礼权、谢元春:《中国传统文化心理在海峡两岸的存续现状探析——以海峡两岸对西方人名翻译的修辞行为为例》,《北华大学学报》(社会科学版)2013年第3期。
(1)林语堂:《中国人》,郝志东、沈益洪译,杭州:浙江人民出版社1992年版,第52页。