不可译性及其补偿方法

不可译性及其补偿方法

【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】本文讨论汉英翻译中的不可译性问题，包括语言不可译性和文化不可译性。英语属于印欧语系，而汉语属于汉藏语系，其语音系统，文字结构和修辞方法都完全不同，这些绝大多数都无法在另一语言中找到对等语，这便造成了语言的不可译性。不同的国家和地区有着不同的历史、宗教、社会等文化背景，这些在别的国家和地区都是不存在的，所以给翻译造成了困难。但不可乙性并非绝对的，我们必须在理解可译性与不可译性是共同存在的，在此理解的基础上，我们可以采用补偿方法，目的在于对不可译性进行一定程度的补偿，尽量减少翻译障碍，促进语言与文化交流。

【关键词】不可译性；语言不可译性；文化不可译性；补偿方法

1.Introduction

Untranslatabilityisapropertyofatext,orofanyutteranceinonelanguage,forwhichnoequivalenttextorutterancecanbefoundinanotherlanguage.

“,acelebratedtranslationscholaroflinguisticsschool,raisedtheissueofuntranslatabilityinarguesthatthelinguisticuntranslatabilityisduetothedifferencesinthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage,whereascultureuntranslatabilityisduetotheabsenceinthetargetlanguageofrelevantsituationalfeatures.”[1]

“Nidapresentsarichsourceofinformationabouttheproblemofloseintranslation,inparticularaboutthedifficultiesencounteredbythetranslatorwhenfacingwithtermsorconceptsinthesourcelanguagethatdonotexitinthetargetlanguage.”

“PeterNewmarkhasoncebrieflytalkedaboutthedeviationintranslation.”

InChinatoday,manytranslationexpertsandscholarshavealsodiscussedtheproblemtosomeextentintheirpapers.

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

Linguisticandculturaldifferences,thetwocategoriesofuntranslatabilityphenomenonarecausedbydifferentfactors.Theseresultingfromthelinguisticdifferenceswillhardlychangewhilethoseresultingfromculturaldifferencesmaybecometranslatableinthefuturebyusingthemethodsofcompensationandtheskilloftranslators.

2.Linguisticuntranslatability

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

Untranslatabilityinphonology

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

(1)“石诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮……”

Theauthorwrotethewholepassageinhomophonewords.Thisisatypicalexampleofuntranslatabilitycausedbyphonemicsystem.Seeanotherexample:

(2)“Cat,cat,cat,catchthefatratfast.”

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

Untranslatabilityincharacterstructure

Chinesewordsconsistofcharactersthathavetheirmeaning,butEnglishwordsconsistofalphabetsthataremeaningless.Theyarecompletelydifferentinwriting.Chinesehasawritingskillofdescribingcharacters,forexample:(3)“人曾为僧，人弗可以成佛，女卑为婢，女又何妨成奴”，“鸿是江边鸟，蚕是天下虫”，“琴瑟琵琶八大王，王王在上，魑魅魍魉四小鬼，鬼鬼靠边”。TheyareallusingthespecialfeatureofChinesecharacters,todescribethecharacterstructureinpoetry,alsohavingtheirmeaning.ButEnglishhasnosuchstructuresinalphabeticalsystem,sotheyareabsolutelyuntranslatable.

SomeriddlesthatarerelativetothestructureofcharactersorEnglishwordsarealsountranslatable,forexample:(4)“田头长草”,“Whatmakesaroadbroad?”(TheletterB).Ifthelatterriddleistranslatedinto:“什么使道路变宽？”Everybodywillfellridiculous,andnoonecanunderstandthat.

Untranslatabilityinfigureofspeech

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

Puns

Punmeanshumoroususeofawordthathastwomeaningsorofdifferentwordsthatsoundthesame.Punspackseveralmeaningsintooneword,anditisextremelyunlikelythatanyotherlanguagewillpackintothesamesetofmeanings,soitisdifficulttotranslateintothetargetlanguage.Exampleone:

(5)“杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声，东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴”

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“low”and“fair”areallpunsinthissentence.“Low”meansshortinheightandlowsocialstatus.“Fair”meanspaleskin,lightincolorandjustice.ThereisnowordorphraseinChinesehavingthetwomeaningstogether,sothetranslatorcannottranslatethetwomeaningsintoChinese,onlyadaptedonemeaning,andwilllosetheothermeaning.

Palindrome

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

(7)“WasitacatIsaw?”

(8)“AblewasIereIsawElba!”

(9)“Madam,I’mAdam”

Iftheyaretranslatedinto“我看到的是猫吗？”，“在我看到俄尔巴岛之前还没有倒！”，“夫人，我是亚当。”,theeffectarealllostwithoutanypalindrome,soitisalmostuntranslatable.

ThepalindromeinChineseisuntranslatableaswell,forexample:

(10)“客上天然居，居然天上客。”

(11)“雾锁江心江锁雾，天连海角海连天。”

Alliteration

Alliterationisusingthesameletterorsoundatthebeginningofthetwoormorewordsinsuccession.ItisacommonfigureofspeechinEnglish,especiallyinproverb,advertisement,novelandsoon.,andmostofthealliterationareForexample:

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

对于许多父母来说，同性恋，枪支，帮派这三个词已经代替了读，写，算作为学校的基本尺度。

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

Malapropism

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

(13)“我推开澳门，看到地上铺的是巴基斯坦，桌上摆的是刚果……”

Thisisasentencefromcrosstalk,Chinesepeopleknowthehumorsnaturally,butifitistranslateditinto:“Pushingopenthe‘Macau’,Isaw‘Pakistan’pavedonthefloorand‘Congo’onthetable.Englishreaderscannotacceptthat,for‘Macau’isnotadoor,‘Pakistan’isnotablanket,and‘Congo’isnotfruiteither.MostoftheyoungergenerationinChinahaveheardthishumoroussentence:“我手持郑伊健，脚踏温兆轮，翻过赵本山，穿过关芝林，跨过潘长江，来到周星池……”Itisuntranslatabletoo.

3.Culturaluntranslatability

“AccordingtoCatford,instanceofuntranslatabilitycanarisefromtwosources:oneislinguistic,andtheotherisculture.”P25

Nidaalsomentionsthatwordshavemeaningonlyintermsofthetotalculturalsetting.

Andwhatisculture,EdwardTylorgavethedefinitiontheearliestinhisthePrimitiveCulture:“Cultureorcivilizationtakeninitswideanthro-graphicsenseisthatcompletewholewhichincludeknowledge,beliefs,art,morals,law,customandothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbyamenasamemberofsociety.”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.

Untranslatabilityresultedfromculturegap

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“黄水仙”。InChinesepeople’smind,theplum,orchid,chrysanthemumandbambooareallthesymbolofhighspirit.ButEnglishpeopledonotthinkso.

Traditionalculture

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

Forexample:

(14)AccordingtoEnglishtradition,thefamilywillthrowoldshoestotheunmarriedcoupleswhentheygooutofthehouse,whichmeanswishthemluck,butifthistraditionistranslatedinto“扔旧鞋”，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.

Culture

Inreligion,translationbecomesthemission.Chinesehavetranslatedinthisfieldforalongtime,butChinesepeopledonothaveChristianitybackground.ThusmanyoftheculturewillmakeChinesepeoplemisunderstand.

Forexample:

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

.Historicalculture

Thehistoryofanationistherecordofthesocialdevelopment.Idiomsandlegendsprovidereadysupportinthisrespect.“Themainproblemsthatidiomsandfixedexpressionposeintranslationrelatetothetwomainareas:theabilitytorecognizeandinterpretanidiomcorrectly;andthedifficultiesinvolvedinrenderingthevariousaspectsofmeaningthatanidiomorafixedexpressionconveysintothetargetlanguage.”[12]P65Anidiomorfixedexpressionmayhavenoequivalentinthetargetlanguage.Onelanguagemayexpressagivenmeaningbyasingleword,anothermayexpressitbyafixedexpression,andathirdmayexpressitbyanidiom,andsoon.Soitisunrealistictoexpecttofindequivalentidiomsandexpressioninthetargetlanguageinallcases.Theidiomsandexpressionsmaybeculture-specificwhichmakesitdifficulttotranslateorisuntranslatable.TheexpressionsuchasKangarooCourt,relatedtospecificculturalbackgroundprovidesagoodexample.Andthehistoricalstoriesorlegendsalsohavetheircultureelement,forexample:(16)“八仙过海，各显神通”，“三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”，“情人眼里出西施”。

Untranslatabilityresultedfromcultureconflict

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

(17)TheChinese“龙”andEnglish“dragon”.Chinesepeopleview“龙”asasymbolofpowerorgoodfortune.Suchas“望子成龙”，buttheEnglishpeopleseethedragonasfierceandassociateitwithevil,crueltyandviolence.If“望子成龙”istranslatedinto“toexpectone’ssontobeadragon”,Englishpeoplecannotacceptthat.

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

Somewordsofcolorhaveconflictmeaningaswell.Takeredforexample,(19)ithasthemeaningofhappyandfestivalas“红”inChinese,suchas“red-letterdays”.ButtheChinese“红茶”is“blacktea”inEnglish,andtheChinese“红糖”is“brownsugar”inEnglish.TheEnglish“inthered”is“亏损赤字”.

Cultureisoneofthegreatobstaclesintheprocessoftranslation,alongwiththelinguisticbarrierthatisresponsibleforuntranslatabilityintranslation.

4.Themethodofcompensation

Compensationisaspecialmethodthatisusedtoreachtheequivalencewhenthereisnoequivalentconceptandsuitableexpressioninthetargetlanguage.

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

Adaptation

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

(20)“很好，不用瞎担心了，我还有委员的福分呢！”

“么事的桂圆？”

“是委员！从前行的是大人老爷，现在行委员！你还不明白？”

“Hegivemeverygoodnews,weneednotlookfortrouble.Ihavethepossibilityofbeingamemberofcommittee!”

“What’sacommontea?”Askedthewifewhovaguelycaughtthesound.

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

Here,theChineseword“委员”(memberofacommittee)soundsquitelike“桂圆”(longan,akindoftropicalfruit).Intheconversation,thewifedoesnotquitecatchthewordandmistakethe“桂圆”for“委员”.Ifthetwowordsaretranslatedliterally,thereaderwillfindthewife’smistakeincomprehensiblesincethereisnophonologicalsimilarityinEnglishbetweenthetwoitems.Thetranslatorusethemethodofadaptation,turninglogonintocommontea.Nowtheformischange,butthefunctionoreffectispreserved.Commonteaisphonologicallyrelatedtocommittee.Byusingadaptation,thishomophoneuntranslatabilityisturnedintotranslatability.

Borrowing

Borrowingisatranslationprocedurethatthetranslatorusesawordorexpressionfromthesourcelanguageinthetargetlanguageholus-bolus.Differencesbetweenculturesmaymeanthatonelanguagehasexpressionandconceptsthatmaynotexitinanother.Forexample,wehavenoready-madeequivalentfortheEnglish“model”,“Coca-cola”,“coffee”,“logic”,“sofa”,“motor”,“Brandy”,“chocolate”,“Benz”,andsoon.Facewithsuchwordsandexpressions,thetranslatorsarehard-pressedtoconveytheoriginalmeaningandareoftenleftwithnochoicebuttoborrowtheoriginallexicalitems.SothesewordscomeintoChinese:“模特儿”，“可口可乐”，“咖啡”，“逻辑”，“沙发”，“摩托”，“白兰地”，“巧克力”，“奔驰”，andsoon.Andlikewise,therearenoEnglishequivalentforsomeChinesewords,suchaskang(heatedbrickbed),GuandiMiao(templeenshriningGuanYu,awellworshippedancientChinesehero),Zongzi(apyramid-shapedumplingmadeofglutinousricewrappedinreedleavesthatiseatenduringtheDragonBoatfestival),Qigong(asystemofdeepbreathingexercisepopularinChina),TaijiQuan(akindoftraditionalChineseboxing),andsoon.SomeofthesehadbeenacceptedbyEnglishpeople,andsomewillbeaccepted,andthesewordswillcometoEnglish.

Translator’snote

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

Forexample:

(20)道可道，非常道——《道德经》Laozi

TheTao①thatcanbeexpressedinwordsisnottheconstantTao.

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

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

Calque

Calqueisatranslationprocedurethatatranslatortranslatesanexpression(oroccasionallyaword)literallyintothetargetlanguage,translatingtheelementoftheexpressionwordforword.PeterNewmarkrefersittoassemantictranslation.Itisamethodoftranslationthataimsatpreservingthemostculturalmessageofthesourcetextatthesacrificeoftheformalelementofthetargetlanguage,andsometimeseventheintelligibilityofthetargettext.Suchastranslate“armedtoteeth”into“武装到牙齿”,translate“knowledgeisstrengths”into“知识就是力量”,translate“hotdog”into“热狗”,andtranslate“纸老虎”into“papertiger”.Maybetheyseemridiculeratthebeginning,buttheywillbeacceptedbythetargetlanguagespeakingpeople