欧盟的翻译对传统翻译观念的挑战

在欧盟,文本的产生是个复杂的集体行为,写和译交替进行,原作和译作经常互换身份。翻译分文化内和欧盟文化与国别文化间两种,并以游离具体文化的交际为目的。交际不是翻译的唯一目的,捍卫语言平等是翻译的另一项重要功能。等值关系不仅面向原作,而且面向译作,译作间的等值还有共时和历时之分。作者用外语起草文件,由译者翻译成母语,译作质量一般胜过原作。欧盟的翻译对部分传统翻译观念提出了挑战,要有效地解释欧盟的翻译现象,需赋予这些概念以新的内涵。

In the European Union institutions, the complex and collective process of text production alternates between writing and translating, and the identities of source and target texts change constantly. Translation occurs within the institutions or between the EU culture and the national cultures, aiming mostly at acultural communication. Translation is communicative as well as symbolic, and to safeguard the equality between languages is also a significant function. The equivalent relation may be source- or target-oriented, and the latter can be synchronic or diachronic, Documents are drafted by authors in a foreign language and rendered into the translators＇ native languages. The translations are hence usually superior to the originals. Explaining the trans- lation in and for the EU institutions poses challenges to a few traditional concepts, which may need to be redefined to better accommodate the practice.