自译·他译·机译——记一次诗歌翻译实验

Self-translation·Other-translation·Machine-translation——An Experiment of Poetry Translation

文章选取笔者一首完整的英语诗歌文本,进行自译、他译与机译的翻译实验,通过细致的文本分析与比较,发现:一、自译的特殊性首先体现在选材,选什么进行自译完全取决于自译者,他译和机译都没有这样的自由;二、自译的特殊性主要在理解环节,有着天然的优势,不易产生误解,可以更快更好地完成理解过程,节约时间,他译则在理解环节耗时较多,且往往产生误解,进而导致误译,机译最快,但误译更加明显,不合逻辑、不合情理之处更多;三、决定自译质量的因素主要是表达,而表达主要受自译者的翻译观影响,决定他译质量的因素主要是理解,而理解主要受他译者的外语水平限制,机译不存在理解环节,没有语境观念,译作完全由语料决定。

This paper is based on a poetry translation experiment, making comparison and contrast among self-translation, other-translation and machine-translation, finding that： 1. Self-translator has the final say in choosing translating material, other-translator and machine otten passively accept the commission; 2. Self-translator has the natural advantage in understanding the original, he could finish the process faster and better, while other-translator has to spend much more time in doing so and cannot avoid misunderstanding usually, and machine could accomplish the process in a second without thinking, therefore without logic at all; 3. The quality of self-translation mainly depends on expressing instead of understanding process, while the quality of other-translation mainly depends on understanding instead of expressing process, and the machine-translation depends on its corpus.