Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19] > | 經典誤譯 Thread poster: jyuan_us
| jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER
其中有一個英語學習專欄﹐就是一段英文一段翻譯﹐然後解釋一些語法現象。譯文充滿英文理解的錯誤和中文表達錯誤。不誇張地說﹐譯文里沒有幾句通順的。這個專欄照樣已經生存了很多年。
[Edited at 2009-06-04 04:03 GMT] | | | jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER
紐約的中文報紙報導警察出事的新聞﹐老愛寫休班警察﹐聽多了給人感覺好像警察一休班就出事﹐或者警察出事都是在休班中。 這個詞老是被那些報紙的翻譯用。我不知道其英文是什麼﹐總感覺是誤譯。即使意思沒有翻譯錯﹐就不能改改措辭嗎﹖現在搞得這個詞組像個固定詞組。 真是老反胃了。 | | | jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER
Keli Zhang wrote: 不看电视的好处就是不会为此郁闷,hiahia 但是我没看懂。您值得拥有,中文还说得过去啊! 是译自“You deserve it"吗? 您值得擁有的意思是你值得被別人擁有。 | | | ysun United States Local time: 19:29 English to Chinese + ... off-duty police officer | Jun 4, 2009 |
即下了班的“不当班警察” jyuan_us wrote: 紐約的中文報紙報導警察出事的新聞﹐老愛寫休班警察﹐聽多了給人感覺好像警察一休班就出事﹐或者警察出事都是在休班中。 這個詞老是被那些報紙的翻譯用。我不知道其英文是什麼﹐總感覺是誤譯。即使意思沒有翻譯錯﹐就不能改改措辭嗎﹖現在搞得這個詞組像個固定詞組。 真是老反胃了。 | |
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Katrin Koehler (X) China Local time: 08:29 Chinese to German + ...
jyuan_us wrote: 惡之花﹐生命中不能承受之輕 Evil´s Peanuts Hit Straight into the Unbearable Lightness? Whose work was that? It looks like interesting.
[Edited at 2009-06-05 01:00 GMT] | | | ysun United States Local time: 19:29 English to Chinese + ... | Katrin Koehler (X) China Local time: 08:29 Chinese to German + ...
ysun wrote: 不知其所云 Katrin Koehler wrote: What´s that? jyuan_us wrote: 惡之花﹐生命中不能承受之輕 Evil´s Peanuts Hit Straight into the Unbearable Lightness? Whose work was that? It looks like interesting. 我敢说,至少有99.99% 的 native Chinese speakers 都看不懂“生命中不能承受之轻”是什么意思。此捷克小说的原名为 "Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí”,英译本为 "The unbearable lightness of being”。估计“生命中不能承受之轻”是从英文直译过去的。后来又有人改译为《不能承受的生命之轻》。我看那也是半斤八两。连书名都译成这样,其全文可想而至。 这本小说我没看过,译成这样我就更不会去看它。 虽然不知其详细内容,但我觉得另一种译法“布拉格之恋”就比这种译法强上几百倍。连翻译文学作品都不用意译,那译什么作品才用意译? 记得文革结束后不久,我看过一部英语原版片 "Carve Her Name with Pride”。中文名为“女英烈传”。当时我就觉得这个片名译得非常好。如果直译,人们也会不知其所云。 I see, you mean, "恶之花生命中不能承受之轻" are two different works and 99.99% of native Chinese speakers wouldn't understand what the last work, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," means. I am sorry to have mistaken "恶之花生命中不能承受之轻" for a sole work written by some author unknown to me. However, I would wonder that 99.99% of Chinese natives wouldn't understand Kundera's book titled "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and take "Love in Prag," "Love for Prag" or "Love of Prag" for a better title. A book title like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" kicks off more imagination than "Love in/for/of X," I would say. Besides, Kundera's work doesn't deal with "Love" in/for/of "Prag" at all. Kundera would definitely feel sorry for the 99.99% of Chinese natives, should they read a book titled "布拉格之恋" as his masterpiece. Kundera is of the opinion that the reader's imagination automatically completes the writer's vision. He, as the writer, wishes to focus on the essential. For him the essential does not include the physical appearance or even the interior world (the psychological world) of his characters. The idea of the lightness of being is in contrast to the idea of the heaviness of being, the eternal recurrence of the universe and all events therein. Kundera trys to show the significance and the insignificance of human lives any why people suffer. A book titled "布拉格之恋" wouldn't convey the idea of the novel in a slightest way. I would take "生命中不可承受之轻" for a proper book title, even in Chinese. As to Charles Baudelaire's work "Les Fleurs du Mal," I would take either "恶之华" or "恶之花" for a proper book title, for Baudelaire shows us with his poems how matters regarded as "Evil" can be presented as "Flowers." BTW, is it allowed to discuss in other languages other than Chinese here? In negative case, I would try my best to write in Chinese. | | | Katrin Koehler (X) China Local time: 08:29 Chinese to German + ...
ysun wrote: 我敢说,至少有99.99% 的 native Chinese speakers 都看不懂“生命中不能承受之轻”是什么意思。此捷克小说的原名为 "Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí”,英译本为 "The unbearable lightness of being”。估计“生命中不能承受之轻”是从英文直译过去的。后来又有人改译为《不能承受的生命之轻》。我看那也是半斤八两。连书名都译成这样,其全文可想而至。 这本小说我没看过,译成这样我就更不会去看它。 虽然不知其详细内容,但我觉得另一种译法“布拉格之恋”就比这种译法强上几百倍。连翻译文学作品都不用意译,那译什么作品才用意译? I am not sure that I can make any judgement about Chinese styles. Should 99.99% native Chinese speakers have difficulties to understand Milan Kundera's "生命中不能承受之轻," would they have the same difficulties with Marcel Proust's "追忆逝水年华"? Would anyone be interested to read this work of Proust's just because the Chinese book title for his "À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time)" is elegantly translated? (By "elegantly" I mean 9 out of 10 of my acquaintants tell me that. However, most of my Chinese acquaintants have not read Proust's works at all. Could it be the volume that hinders reading?) "生命中不可承受之轻 (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)" may sound unfamiliar to Chinese ears - it doesn't sound familiar to German ears, either - but I am wondering how Chinese felt when they first heard of "南无阿弥陀佛 (Ave Amitabha!)" or "观世音 (Avalokitasvara)." So far I know, 鳩摩羅什 (Kumārajīva) first translated "Avalokitasvara" into Chinese as "观世音" while 玄奘 (Xuanzang) wasn't of the same opinion and translated it as "观自在." Chinese people get used to both during the history and everybody knows that that both are the one and the same name for "Bodhisattva Avalokitavara." Would it be possible that Chinese people understand the difference between the Lightness of Being and the Heaviness of Being without difficulties just like they get used to both "观世音" and "观自在"? Or just like they respond to "南无阿弥陀佛" without much thinking? The topic of this thread should be "Classical Wrong Translations," as the headline states. But I am not of the opinion that "生命中不可承受之轻 (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)" should be a wrong translation. It is just an unfamiliar translation for some Chinese. The translation can become familiar to Chinese readers if they come behind the ideas of "the Lightness of Being" and "the Heaviness of Being," that is, when they get used to Western philosophy like they do with Buddhism after centuries and centuries. Then, Kundera's "生命中不可承受之轻" might be easier to understand for Chinese than Proust's "追忆逝水年华," I guess. | |
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ysun United States Local time: 19:29 English to Chinese + ... a little bit of clarification | Jun 5, 2009 |
Katrin Koehler wrote: However, I would wonder that 99.99% of Chinese natives wouldn't understand Kundera's book titled "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and take "Love in Prag," "Love for Prag" or "Love of Prag" for a better title. A book title like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" kicks off more imagination than "Love in/for/of X," I would say. Besides, Kundera's work doesn't deal with "Love" in/for/of "Prag" at all. Kundera would definitely feel sorry for the 99.99% of Chinese natives, should they read a book titled "布拉格之恋" as his masterpiece. Katrin, Let me make a little bit of clarification. I didn’t mean that 99.99% of Chinese natives wouldn't understand Kundera's book. I didn’t mean that 99.99% of Chinese natives wouldn't understand the English book title "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", either. What I meant is that 99.99% of the Chinese natives wouldn't understand what the Chinese book title "生命中不可承受之轻" means if they don’t read the book because most of the Chinese people do not write or speak in that way. That is a very poor expression in Chinese. If you prefer to take "生命中不可承受之轻" for the title of this book in Chinese, I would suggest adding just one character to it: “生命中不能承受之轻松”. I believe this would make a lot more sense to most of the Chinese people. I am not in a position to judge what would be a proper Chinese translation for the title of this book since I’ve never read the book, either in English or in Chinese. My opinion “虽然不知其详细内容,但我觉得另一种译法“布拉格之恋”就比这种译法强上几百倍” was merely based on a brief introduction of this book I learnt from the Internet, e.g., from the following link: http://big5.cri.cn/gate/big5/gb.cri.cn/6851/2005/06/27/[email protected] | | | ysun United States Local time: 19:29 English to Chinese + ... Translated with Google Language Tools | Jun 5, 2009 |
Czech > Chinese > English Nesnesitelná = 无法忍受 = Unbearable lehkost = 明度 = lightness bytí = 存在 = being Translated all together: Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí = 布拉格之恋 = Unbearable Lightness of Being Isn’t that interesting? | | | jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER
Katrin Koehler wrote: The topic of this thread should be "Classical Wrong Translations," as the headline states. But I am not of the opinion that "生命中不可承受之轻 (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)" should be a wrong translation. It is just an unfamiliar translation for some Chinese. The translation can become familiar to Chinese readers if they come behind the ideas of "the Lightness of Being" and "the Heaviness of Being," that is, when they get used to Western philosophy like they do with Buddhism after centuries and centuries. Then, Kundera's "生命中不可承受之轻" might be easier to understand for Chinese than Proust's "追忆逝水年华," I guess. Learning new philosophy, ideas and concepts from other cultures happens naturally. You cannot force people to accept a poorly translated word, if not a totally wrong translation. When there are better and more accurate Chinese words to choose, we shouldn't wait for centuries and centures for people to get used to the poorly translated terms. We see too many cases in which the readers are "conditioned" to poor translation. This at least is not a good thing. Translators are supposed to give good translations in the first place instead of pouring all those bad translations into publications. 不可承受之轻 is just weird, it is like seeing a worm from inside the bread you are eating. I don't mean it is disgusting, it is just not very pleasant.
[Edited at 2009-06-05 23:20 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-06-06 00:24 GMT] | | | ysun United States Local time: 19:29 English to Chinese + ...
Speaking of “生命中不能承受之輕", it would sound much more natural if we say “生活中难以承受之轻松", "生活中无法承受之轻松", or “生活中不堪忍受之轻松" although “轻松" usually comes with “享受/令人享受的" (enjoy/enjoyable). We could also replace “生活中" with “人生" in these phrases, e.g, "人生难以承受之轻松". Generally speaking, we say “生活中的轻松" or “生活中的沉重" instead of “生命中之輕" or “生命中之重". However, we could say “生命之轻" or “生命之重", but its meaning would be quite different. | |
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jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER
Ysun is right.我不知道全書的意思﹐因此對LIFE的理解我沒有根據﹐但有一點是清楚的﹐很多人看到LIFE就只翻譯成生命而不敢翻譯成生活。LIFE前邊必須有形容詞﹐比如DAILY LIFE﹐他們才敢翻譯成生活。對於這些譯者來說﹐ 生活 IS RESERVED FOR “LIVE”。 經驗之談。 | | | jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER
最近有人在發表的文章中因為不認識一個中國名人的英文﹐按照音譯原則﹐很規範地翻譯成了常凯申。 我沒仔細看原文﹐據說譯者是中國數一數二的牛笑的系主任﹐教授﹐博導。 | | | jyuan_us United States Local time: 20:29 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ... TOPIC STARTER 孟子被著名教授回譯成了門修斯 | Jun 6, 2009 |
jyuan_us wrote: 最近有人在發表的文章中因為不認識一個中國名人的英文﹐按照音譯原則﹐很規範地翻譯成了常凯申。 我沒仔細看原文﹐據說譯者是中國數一數二的牛笑的系主任﹐教授﹐博導。 事情發生在幾年前了﹐很多同仁可能都了解這個事件。今收錄於此﹐權作笑談。 | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » 經典誤譯 Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
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