从“忠实于源文本”到“对源语文化负责”:也谈翻译规范的重构

From "Being Faithful to Source Text" to "Being Responsible to Source Culture": Toward a New Norm of Translation

如何在放弃"忠实原则"之后重新构筑一个富有时代感的翻译规范是译学界当前面临的一个重大理论问题。通过对"忠实"的严厉批判而勃然兴起的"译者中心"翻译观不仅在理论上难以自圆其说,在政治意识形态上是否可取尤其值得怀疑,不足以成为新规范的基础。将注意力转向源语文化,强调译者对译出语的文学或智力传统负有义务和责任,要求在翻译过程中尊重源语文化作为独立的意义生成体系享有对源文的最终解读权,倒是朝着正确方向迈出的一大步。

With the principle of fidelity sufficiently discredited, how to reconstruct the norm of translation for our time is increasingly posing a formidable challenge to scholars in translation studies. The translator-centered new ideology, catapulted into popularity by a radical rejection of fidelity, is both incoherent theoretically and suspect politically, and is hence not in a position to become the centerpiece for a new paradigm. A source culture-oriented approach, which demands that translator show respect for source culture as an independent signifying system within which the source text＇ s meaning is ultimately determined, would mark a big step forward in the quest for a new norm.