蒯因“翻译的不确定性”再思考——兼论文化的可译性和不可译性

Quine's Indeterminacy of Translation Revisited:With a Look at Cross-Cultural Translatability and Untranslatability

对外文化传播离不开翻译,而翻译的核心则是意义建构。蒯因从意义消除论和意义整体论出发,指出有两个因素——意义或内涵的不确定性和指称或外延的不确定性,导致了翻译的不确定性。蒯因的论点具有哲学上的意义,但在翻译实践中,文化的可译性和不可译性都是相对的。翻译是译者在对人类文化和语言共相理解的基础上,根据母语和本土文化的特点进行语义表征再生成的动态过程。

Meaning construction is central to translation which is imperative for cross-cultural transmission.Based on his meaning nihilism and meaning holism,Quine points out that two factors—the indeterminacy of intensional meaning and the indeterminacy of extensional reference,are conducive to the indeterminacy of translation.Quine's thesis is of philosophical significance.Nevertheless,both translatability and untranslatability are relative.Translation is a dynamic process of meaning construction in accordance with features of the source language and culture on the basis of the translator's understanding of the commonalities of human culture and language.