“青”译为“blue”还是“green”——庞德的误译美之外

“青” Is “Blue” or “Green”——Objective Reasons of Mistranslation in Cathay

国内外许多翻译家已经对中国古典古诗进行了翻译,其中较有争议的是埃兹拉·庞德翻译的中国19首诗歌;较有代表性的是许渊冲翻译的中国古诗。仔细比较许渊冲的翻译与庞德所撰写的《华夏集》(又叫《神州集》),不难发现他们彼此的不同。功能学派哲学观点对此现象的解释是——他们二人的翻译目的不同。然而由于中西方文化本身所存在的结构差异,一名对中文一点都不熟悉的翻译家要把中国语言文化的经典——中国古典诗歌——翻译成英语,误译是肯定存在的。而很多研究者只着重强调庞德的误译美,认为庞德的翻译反而产生了不寻常的美感。本文从庞德翻译的19首古诗中涉及到汉字"青"的翻译入手,与许渊冲在处理同样"青"翻译的个例出发,研究庞德的误译美之外的诸多客观因素。

Many domestic and foreign scholars have translated lots of classical Chinese poems. Among them, Ezra Pound＇s translation is disputed and Xu Yuanchong＇s can be said as a representative one. Comparing Xu YuanChong＇s translations of Chinese classical poems and Pound＇s work Cathay （ also known as Shenzhou Set ） , you can find out their differences. The Functional Schools make a philosophical view about this phenomenon as the difference of their purposes. But due to the structural differences in Western and Eastern culture, if one who is not familiar with Chinese, intends to translate the best feature of Chinese Chinese classical poetry into English, the mistranslation is certainly existed. Many critics only emphasis the beauty of mistranslation by Pound. This article concerns itself with the translation of Chinese word ＂青＂ in the nineteen poems translated by Pound, comparing with Xu Yuanchong＇s translation with ＂青＂ in Chinese traditional poems. It studies some objective reasons of Pound＇s misinterpretation, not only focuses on the beauty of mistranslation as others do.