从语用角度看人物对话翻译——评《红楼梦》译本中的人物对话语言

A Pragmatic Study on the Translation of the Dialogues in Hong Lou Meng

有关《红楼梦》两个译本的评论很多,但多侧重于文化方面。文章试从语用角度对杨宪益夫妇以及霍克思翻译的两个译本进行分析,说明文学作品中的对话语言同样受到语用原则的约束,因此在翻译时,译者尤其要考虑如何在译语中体现原语的言外之力,留心原文本中有意违背交际原则的地方,理解说话人的弦外之音。

Since the Chinese classic work, Hong Lou Meng was translated and introduced to Western readers, numerous comments have been made upon the two most influential translation versions translated by the Yangs and David Hawks respectively. Those comments mainly focus on the impact of cultural differences on the two versions. This thesis, by comparing the original work with the two versions of translation of Hong Lou Meng, illustrates how the communicative principles dominates the characters＇ dialogues in this great literary work, and therefore concludes that for a translator to aim high, he must alertly sense the “illocutionary force” of characters＇ dialogues in the original work of Hong Lou Meng and choose to “show” it,“indicate” it or “hide” it according to the concrete situations so as to achieve the equivalent artistic attraction of the original version.