20130912

譯者不平鳴

中文譯作大多水準不高,劣譯俯拾皆是,這是不爭的事實,究其原因,主要是翻譯報酬一般相當低,譯者又得不到應有的尊重,有能力翻譯得好、卻不計較報酬和地位的人,相信少之又少;此外,出版社審稿不嚴格,譯得不好的作品,照樣出街,大概也是減低成本之故吧!

過去二十年我幾乎完全不讀中文譯作,英文著作自然是看原文,其他語文的,我都會看英譯(例如村上春樹的小說,我讀的便全是英譯),因為英美各大出版社對譯作的要求很高,不要說一定不會出版像洪蘭那樣的離譜爛譯,只要譯得不妥貼的地方太多或太明顯的,都會過不了審稿那一關。至於稿酬,我不清楚,但應該比中文譯作的高一些吧。

然而,我最近讀 Edith Grossman 的小書 Why Translation Matters (Yale University Press, 2011),才知道英美譯者也感到他們這一行不受重視。Grossman 是著名的譯者,譯作等身,主要翻譯西班牙文的文學作品,例如馬奎斯小說的英譯,不少是出自她的手筆。Grossman 在英美翻譯界鼎鼎大名,連她也覺得譯作 --- 包括她自己的 --- 不受重視,其他譯者的感受可想而知。

Grossman 提出的其中一點,相信常看英譯作品的人都會留意到:譯者的名字大多不會印在封面,只能在扉頁看到,而且通常用較小的字體印刷,好像是務求做到毫不起眼似的!以 Grossman 的名氣,她的名字還是沒有印在她譯的 Love in the Time of Cholera 的封面:


Grossman 還指出,英美出版商不大願意出版譯作,因此,每年出版的文學作品中,只有百份之二至三是譯作(據 Grossman 說,西歐國家的情況好得多,每年有百份之二十五至四十是譯作)。Grossman 聽到的解釋是,英美出版商認為愛讀譯作的英美讀者不多;她在書中提出了一個反問:究竟是因為讀譯作的讀者不多,所以才出版這麼少的譯作,還是因為出版的譯作這麼少,所以讀譯作的讀者不多?

令譯者感到不受重視的,還有寫書評的人,因為他們評論譯作時,大多只是評論原著的內容,有時甚至隻字不提譯者,好像那根本不是翻譯的作品!

翻譯殊非易事,要譯得好,信達雅兼顧,那就一定要有相應的學識和深厚的文字功力;要提高中文譯作的水準,讓我們由重視譯者開始吧!

32 則留言:

  1. 近年大陸的譯本好些嗎?

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    1. 只知哲學譯作無甚進步。

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    2. 覺得台灣譯得比大陸通順。

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    3. 洪蘭也頗通順的,以致不特意校對原文,甚至不驚覺錯得那麼離譜。這其實更加危險。

      那位大陸譯者,文筆不錯是很大陸式,然則卻起碼沒有犯下洪蘭那些劣譯。

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  2. 博主第一段雖然在陳述事實,弔詭地又加深了大家對華語譯者的偏見,令人更難重視華語譯者,有點self defeating。

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    1. 既是陳述事實,就不是偏見了!我在最後一段說的「尊重譯者」,不是指尊重現實中存在的譯者(否則連洪蘭也要尊重了!) ,而是指尊重翻譯這個行業。

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    2. 是理應更多關注甚至投放更多資源從事栽培,而不是目前現實上配得特別多的稱讚肯定。

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  3. 一國對譯者重視與否,似乎跟她有多樂意輸入外國文化有關。

    英美是文化大國,本身著作早就多不勝數,根本毋須翻譯外文作品。

    中國有多想輸入外國文化,不言而喻。

    近年來看過最佳的譯作童元方教授翻譯的《愛因斯坦的夢》,譯自Alan Lightman的《Einstein’s Dreams》。

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  4. 英漢翻譯真的退步了 。。。。。

    英語電影在港上映,配中文字幕,更是譯得慘不忍睹!

    雖然我英語能力差,也盡力去聽原裝的英語,因為起碼不會不知所云,被誤導了。

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  5. 一般而言,本人甚少讀華譯的西方著作。一次曾見大陸出版法國MICHEL FOUCAULT : HISTOIRE DE LA SEXUALITÉ 中譯版便特意買回看看。一看就嚇死人。幾乎兩三頁就有誤譯之處。
    其次是被視為經典文獻的《古代社會》,中文版也有好幾段不知所云之處。

    個人認為,若果是西班牙文的文學作品,英譯本也有意不盡達之處,還是閱讀同一拉丁語系的譯本的好。當然先要條件是讀者要懂哪個同類語系。

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    1. 英語不屬拉丁語支,英語是日耳曼語族的。

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  6. 讀村上春樹還是中譯比較好吧?畢竟中日有很多詞彙/概念是共同的,不用翻譯,照搬就可以。

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    1. 村上春樹的 mentality 是西式的(例如影響他的作家和他的音樂品味),我覺得讀英譯會更接近原文。

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  7. 講真,英文能力欠佳的人勉強讀原文,有時未必真係好過洪蘭好多。問題在於,有錯而無法自知,日子一長,就多個洪蘭。

    不是要說洩氣話,只是俗語有云,工欲善其事、必先利其器!

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  8. 臺灣電子布告欄系統PTT上的網友,又抓了洪蘭翻譯的「大腦當家」的前2頁的一些可笑錯誤。以她的英文水準出錯,不讓人意外,但更讓人驚訝的新發現:她在 UC, Riverside 心理系讀博士班時,她的丈夫曾志朗居然是同系的專任助教授、副教授!難道UCR認為這沒有學術倫理的問題嗎?
    http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/medstudent/M.1378948134.A.5C4.html

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  9. From a small sample of translation jobs posted by a U.S. company, comparing the pay for translating from Chinese to English with the pay for translating from German or Japanese to English, the former is in an approximate range of 0.5 to 0.7 of the latter. But it could go lower, because too many translators who know both Chinese and English are willing to do the jobs for lower pay. Those jobs get filled fast. --zpdrmn

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  10. Years ago (beginning of Chinese reform)I read an article from Reader's Digest ........

    The Chinese students who went US universities competed with their fellow countrymen/women for translation jobs,thus willing to accept lower pays moreover some even bribed the editors for placing more jobs with him or her.

    While the Koreans they stood side by side and ask for a fair pay!

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    1. asked !!!


      sPace

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    2. //While the Koreans they stood side by side...//
      I am not bad-mouthing Koreans here about such behavior. They must have their reasons for doing that, especially when they are away from their mother country. But it can back fire at times, especially when they are doing well enough.

      I used to go to a supermarket owned by some Korean people. (I don't go to that area anymore because all the supermarkets selling Chinese food are out of business.) Sometimes the Korean store gave away gifts at the door when the customers left, depending on how much they purchased. But they did it unfairly. If the customers were Koreans (they went by the look), big gifts were given away even if the customers bought only a few small, inexpensive items. Otherwise, you just got a small gift even if you bought a cart full or two. I didn't really mind because I didn't care for those gifts and the things there were cheap enough. The store stopped giving away gifts all together after a while. There must have been some non-Korean customers complaining about the unfair practice. (I saw it once.)
      --zpdrmn

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    3. Been to LA little korea once 。。。。。!


      were those non-Korean customers complaining about the unfair practice you saw Español/ Hispanic or Chinese?

      just curious with no intention to point fingers at particular ethnic group :)

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    4. I saw one customer (singular) complaining about the unfairness of giving gifts away in the manner I described. I can't tell you the details, the race of the customer or whatever (I think it's not Chinese or East Asian), because I was leaving the store in a hurry and wasn't interested in seeing how the store handled it. It was a long time ago anyway.
      I don't know how many people complained. It was just a wild guess when I said last time that there must have been people complaining.
      I also have to point out that not all Korean stores do things like that. One time I went to a Korean store. (It's the grand opening week.) I got a pack of bottled water for free. (My purchase was a bit over US$50). The guy who handled the giving away seemed fair enough.
      --zpdrmn

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  11. 新版面很不同啊!也有品味,不錯。

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    1. 謝謝,但相信亦會有人不喜歡。

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    2. You should crop the background image so that the top and bottom edges (and also the left and right edges) merge seamlessly. Just my two cents.

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    3. Not sure what you mean by "merge seamlessly". But I like it the way it is. Thanks anyway.

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    4. Your background image is part of a repetitive pattern ("Escher pattern"). When the browser tiles copies of the image across the background of the web page, they do not merge into one large repetitive pattern, because the image is not cropped at the right spot in the pattern. The abrupt cuts in the pattern make the background uncomfortable to look at.

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    5. Never mind; on second look, the pattern isn't perfectly symmetrical, so no amount of cropping would help.

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  12. 那翻譯莫言作品的葛浩文(Howard Goldblatt)呢?
    他曾經在台灣學過中文,很喜歡台灣文學,但是美國市場沒人想看,所以他改翻大陸的文學作品。
    這時候譯者遇到讀者取向的問題。那究竟是台灣的文化底子太弱,還是宣傳不夠呢?
    漢學家葛浩文 面臨掙扎
    http://forums.chinatimes.com.tw/art/focus/2003book/a021301.htm

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    1. 謝謝,這個問題相信台灣的讀者會較清楚。

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