清代翻译科钩沉

The Imperial Translation Examination in the Qing Dynasty as a Useful Reference for Selecting Qualified Translators in Our Time

自周以降,翻译人员便被赋予"传王声,柔远人"的重任,在贸易往来、文化交流等方面扮演着不可或缺的角色。遗憾的是,学界鲜有对近代翻译人才选拔的系统研究,影响颇大的清代翻译科的史料挖掘和整理也是东鳞西爪。本文重点爬梳和探究清代翻译科的科考目的、考务管理、社会影响等,评析其意义及不足,旨在丰富我国翻译史,为当下翻译人才选拔提供些许借鉴与思考。

Translators have been playing a key role in trade and cultural exchanges since the ancient times,and yet few studies have been made so far on the procedure for selecting qualified translators.In an attempt to fill the gap,this paper calls attention to the Imperial Translation Examination during the Qing Dynasty as a historical case in translator selection.By looking into the purpose,management and enrollment procedure of the Examination and finding out the extent to which the official procedure worked,the paper assesses its successes and failings as a way to select competent translators.The study is meant to shed some useful light on today’s practice in translator selection,and to add a missing piece to the historical account of Chinese translation as well.