翻译的忠实:含义、预设与实质——为翻译的忠实辩护之二

Faithfulness in Translating: Its Meaning,Presuppositions and Essence─In Defense of Faithfulness in Translating(Ⅱ)

通过考证证明:"忠实"自古以来意为"以实相告",是一种言语规范,属于一般的道德规范,而不是严格的封建等级制度下不平等人际关系的伦理规范。翻译的忠实就是以原文之实告译文读者,没有预设作者或原作对译者的霸权,没有预设百分之百的程度。忠实是译者的道德与法律义务。企图将翻译的忠实妖魔化与极端化从而证明它是应当抛弃的神话,是徒劳之举。

Textual research indicates that ＂faithfulness＂, meaning ＂speaking the truth＂, has since ancient times been a canon concerning speech, which is one of the ordinary moral canons rather than an ethical one that governed unequal interpersonal relationships under a rigid feudal stratum system. Faithfulness in translating means speaking the truth of the source text to the reader of the target text, which does not presuppose the author＇s or the source text＇s hegemony over the translator, nor a degree of 100%. It is the translator＇s moral and legal obligation. It is thus futile to try, by demonizing and carrying it to extreme, to demonstrate that it is a myth that should be discarded.