《聊斋志异》华人英译之嚆矢——《中国杂志》所刊译文研究

The First English Translation of Liaozhai Zhiyi Published in The China Journal

一直以来,学界对于《中国杂志》所刊《聊斋志异》译文的情况介绍莫衷一是。经考证,《中国杂志》共刊《聊斋志异》英译文3篇,均出自中国译者潘子延之手。其1933年的首篇《聊斋志异》译文译自《竹青》,并非《马介甫》。通过语料库手段和文本细读将该文与翟理斯的译文对比可发现,该译文在整体数据、情节保留和用词等层面都更忠实于原文,在语言畅达的基础上尽量还原了故事的原貌。这是目前发现的首个由华人译者完成并公开发表的《聊斋志异》英译文。在翻译史研究中,应注意以史料考证为根基,避免以讹传讹,进一步挖掘近代英文期刊中的典籍英译,更要重视华人典籍译者的贡献。

For a long time,scholars held various opinions on the introduction of the translation of Liaozhai Zhiyi published in The China Journal.With first-hand material of it,it can be found that The China Journal published English translation of 3 stories from Liaozhai Zhiyi translated by Chinese translator Pan Tze-yen.And the first translation was from“Zhu Qing”in 1933,not“Ma Jiefu”.Comparing this text with Herbert Giles’s translation by means of corpus and close reading of the text,it can be found that Pan’s translation is more faithful to the original text in terms of overall data,plot retention and phraseology.It tries to restore the original text in smooth English.This is the first English translation of Liaozhai Zhiyi completed and published by a Chinese translator.In the study of translation history,scholars should take first-hand historical data as the foundation,avoid circulating erroneous reports,further explore the English translations of Chinese classics in modern English periodicals,and pay more attention to the contributions of Chinese translators of classics.