翻译的不确定性问题

The Uncertainty of Translation

本文旨在探讨翻译与后现代理论的结合点:可译性与不可译性的不确定性问题。翻译的不可能性,也即原文的不可译性,恰恰是通过翻译来证明的。这个悖论与语言的问题相偶合:即语言的不可言说性是通过语言来证明的;同理,翻译所揭示的问题也不是翻译本身的问题,而是语言问题。这是西方形而上学力图解决而始终未能彻底解决的一个重大哲学问题。本文试图通过讨论“巴别塔”的隐喻在本雅明、德里达、保罗·德·曼等西方思想家中搅起的思想波澜,进而论述翻译中的语言问题。

This essay examines a critical interface between translation and postmodern theory, namely, the uncertainty between translatability and untranslatabllity. The impossibility of translation, that is, the untranslatability of a text, is evidenced by translation itself. This paradox correlates with that regarding language, i.e., that the unspeakability of language is proved by language itself. In view of this, problems revealed by translation are not simply problems of translation itself but are problems relating to language. Such a metaphysical issue, despite its importance, is far from being resolved. This essay will approach this issue of language in the context of translation, with reference to the Babel metaphor as discussed by western thinkers such as Benjamin, Derrida, and de Man.