翻译“忠实”与创造性变通

On Faithfulness and Variation in Translation

汉英互译过程中,真正需要转换的对象不是语言单位预先规定的意义,或曰孤立静止的词典释义,而是上下文语境中的变通意义。换言之,也即词典释义在具体语言环境下产生的动态的相对价值。同单纯的"形似"相比,"神似"无疑更可取。由于英汉两种语言与文化之间存在着巨大的差异,变通既是文学翻译的基本属性,也是非文学翻译的基本属性。

In translation between English and Chinese, what is really needed is dynamic meaning acquired from the specific context, that is, the relative value of language units derived from the syntagmatic relations they are in, instead of the static meaning given in a dictionary. The choice of the translator means weighing between the relative value of single words and that of language units they are in. Compared with pure ＂formal resemblance＂, the effect of ＂spiritual resemblance＂ is no doubt more acceptable for translation. This paper argues that variation is the nature of translation not only in the translation of literary texts, but also in the translation of non-literary texts due to the great differences existing in both languages and cultures.