钱钟书评林纾译作之我见——兼谈《林纾的翻译》

A review to Lin Shu's Translation by Ch'ien Chungshu—— Taken Lin Shu's translation as an example

世人多斥林译之讹,指其译文不依原著、肆其雌黄、随意增改,纰缪甚多,以"信、达、雅"权之者众。钱钟书不讳林译之谬,亦不遮其光芒,谓其讹可一分为二:讹之妙处虽损原意却能开民智、通中西,变一时风气,促文化交流;讹之陋处使文章失韵味、损灵气,读之如口嚼白蜡,佶屈聱牙,化珠玉为厌物。讹错,译家避之而恐不及,钱钟书何以扬其讹错,赞其功德?章句儒但见毫末之疵,钱先生察其觉世之功。

Mistakes of Lin Shu＇s translations had been identified by quite a few scholars for criticizing his works not adhering to the meaning of the original works or even modifying or changing the meaning of the original works and having grammar mistakes. All of those scholars use the standards of ＂faithfulness to the original works＂and ＂clearness of the meanings＂etc. to evaluate Mr Lin＇s translations. But,Ch＇ien Chungshu provides new points of views on how to evaluate the translations by Mr Lin Shu beyond all of the common focuses mentioned above. Ch＇ieu Chung-Shu believes that although the translations by Mr Lin Shu do not always reflect the original works exactly,but the beautiful translations themselves can enlighten people and promote the communications between Chinese and Western cultures. This serves the functions of translations quite well and provides an easy understanding channel for the readers who read the translation works. And Ch＇ieu Chung-Shu also recognizes that the risks of less accurate translations sometimes can weaken the charm and beauty of the original work or may even turn an excellent article into a plain one that will in return cause the readers losing their interests of reading eventually. Generally speaking,mistranslations shall be avoided by all translators. But the translation works shall not focus only on following the original works exactly; it should also allow some flexibility in the means of expressing the ideas as long as they can convey the original meanings to the readers and. Ch＇ien Chungshu also believes that the contributions and effects of the translation work on the society and cultures shall be highly valued as well,which are clearly one of the biggest contributions of Mr. Lin Shu＇s translations.