鸦片战争时期中英香港交涉译事三题

Three Questions about the Translation Affairs of Sino-British Negotiation on Hong Kong during the Opium War

鸦片战争是近代中西方首次大规模的国际战争,译才奇缺。由此造成此间中英交涉虽以汉语和汉文本为基准,但官方文件的翻译却多由英方人员出任,中国由此丧失了翻译话语权。此文仅以香港交涉中的三段译事略论,即尖沙咀的译名多出;香港华民司法管辖权的译意两歧;以及《虎门条约》第13款译本的百年冤案。由此可见,翻译也是政治,在国际交往中尤具重要蕴意;译言也关命运,在边疆领土交涉中每具关键效用。

The Opium War the first-time large-scaled international war between China and the West in modern times.At that very period,the translators and interpreters were far from enough.As a result,the negotiation between China and Britain was mainly in Chinese speaking and written documents,but the official translation copies of these documents were done by British persons.Therefore,China lost the translation discourse right.Here the author analyzed three translation stories of the Hong Kong negotiation as follows:the multiple names for Tsim Sha Tsui(Kowloon Point),the different and paradoxical explanations for Chinese jurisdiction rights in Hong Kong,and the century case of injustice caused by the translation copy for Humen Treaty Article 13.In conclusion,translation is also politics,and it plays a very critical role in international communications.The translated target language can determine the fate as well,with a critical function in each frontier territory negotiations.