這算是翻譯 (Is this considered translation to you?)

Wenjer Leuschel wrote:

碰巧在台灣的蘋果日報看到這篇訪談文章，令人不禁感嘆婚姻如生意。

http://apple.1-apple.com.tw/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Article&loc=TP&PageType=new&sec_id=5&NewsType=twapple&showdate=20070416&art_id=3399724


台灣女人只把男人當提款機

Q：很多人說台灣女人很現實，男人沒房沒車，很難找到結婚對象，你覺得呢？
A：台灣女人不是現實，而是貪婪。現實的意思是付出之後有相對的回報，沒什麼不好。但如果女人要求男人付出的遠超過自己所付出的，只顧自己的需求，那就是貪婪。
女人太低估男人追求女人的成本了。很多女人要求男人一定要有車子，不然坐機車髮型會弄亂，也不方便穿裙子。但她們沒想過，男人為了當司機，要付出多大代價。養一輛再破的車，包括油錢、維修保養費、停車費及牌照稅，一個月至少要一萬五千元。假設他月薪六萬，要花收入的25％才做得到，這些支出婚後還要繼續，乘以30年，就知當女人的司機成本有多高！很多女人說，男人即使有輛爛車也好，我想問這些女人，怎不自己去買？
女友若說心情不好，男生要開車去陪，然後再開車回家。女生都沒想到這男生明天還要上班。而且男人要負責打動女人的心，成敗都由男人承擔。男人還要花很大力氣製造驚喜。約會男人付錢，上賓館還是男人付的錢。
另外，很多男人也要負繳房貸的責任，即使婚後夫妻倆一起支付房貸，頭期款通常也是男人在付，往往通常至少要60萬。我的朋友中，很多是有了房子，才找得到夠水準的女友。

Q：有人認為，婚後孩子大都是女人在照顧，比較吃虧，她在婚前享有一點福利，難道不應該嗎？
A：前面講的司機成本，30年下來是520萬，還不含房貸。你覺得女人照顧小孩的付出，值這麼多錢嗎？
雖然我很想要有小孩，但我覺得生小孩對女人來說是污染生活品質的工作，先進國家都把高污染產業移到落後國家去了，台灣男人也不例外。台灣女人看不上沒車沒房的男人，又不願意生小孩，很多男人就去娶外籍新娘，這在美國也很普遍。台灣女人只要好處、不要責任，需要男人當司機、提款機，卻不願付出代價照顧公婆小孩。我不懂的是，男人自己都不抱怨娶外籍新娘了，女人卻一直抱怨男人只會娶外籍新娘。
男人的想法跟女人不同。男人潛意識裡把家庭當公司來經營，每個人負責不同工作，孩子就是女人的事。如果有錢有勢，他就會想再開第二家、第三家分公司，這就是包二奶的來源。不過台灣男人是有個問題，就是婚前從不思考要如何跟女人一起負擔父母跟小孩的事。
若女人對家庭的貢獻跟男人差不多，或女人對家庭的付出多於男人，這時家務分工就會成為爭執原因。這對台灣女人不利，很多台灣女人也不接受，所以男人會選擇外籍新娘。

Q：你同意大陸女人更現實的說法嗎？
A：很多台灣女人說大陸女人為了錢勾引人家老公，但大陸女人拿了錢就會乖乖做情婦，不像台灣女人做了情婦還千方百計想扶正。
而且大陸女人在婚姻裡講權利前，會先盡義務；她們不用男人接送，自己提包包，約會自己付錢；萬一老公對家庭貢獻不夠，寧願離婚自己撐起家庭。若台灣女人也做得到這些，才能真正講兩性平等。

Angeline_sh wrote:

男人，女人都有点各怀鬼胎的样子:P

Wenjer Leuschel wrote:

有朋友提到某台灣文壇名人說「翻譯不可教」。這讓我想起在 Accurapid 公司網站上的 Journal 裡讀到的一篇文章。那是在美國 Rice University 教英西翻譯課的 Verónica Albin 寫的文章。她舉了個例子，說明有人天生有那種才能，你根本不需要教他們如何翻譯，他們很自然就能翻譯得貼切。她的敘述如下：

... So let me tell you about my Spanish 416 class at Rice University called The Art and Mechanics of Translation II. I gave the students an excerpt from the New York Times. It was used by the American Translators Association's English into Spanish grading team, to which I have belonged since 1991, for the accreditation exam. NYT articles are usually well written, but they are not necessarily the epitome of beauty or wit. My student, Naturaleza Moore, managed to impart both in her translation. The source text read as follows:

　　　TOKYO - If Japanese leaders listen carefully Thursday
　　　afternoon, they may hear the jets of Air Force One
　　　whisking President Clinton high above the island nation,
　　　straight to his state visit in China.

　　　Government and business leaders in Tokyo will wonder
　　　nervously, as a senior Japanese diplomat put it:
　　　"Has 'Japan-bashing' turned into 'Japan-passing'?"

Here's how Naturaleza, a sophomore who had never translated before in her life, rendered the last sentence:

　　　"¿Se habrá convertido la 'era de ira contra Japón'
　　　en la 'era de no ir a Japón'?"

I might be able to teach Aleza a few things about the mechanics of translation promised in the course title, such as minding agreements, paying attention to the transliteration of non-Roman alphabets, remembering that English and Spanish punctuate differently, and so forth, but what can I teach her about the art of our profession when she already thinks about words the way she does? Absolutely nothing. She is innately very good and that's all there's to it. ...

沒錯，有人對內涵和形式就是有那種敏感！要把 "Japan-bashing" 和 "Japan-passing" 的音韻形式和實質內涵同時譯出，這種本領怎能教呢？尤其對那些感受不到英文的音韻和詞義所蘊含的文化趣味者而言，開十年的翻譯課程教他們，他們可能還是無法學會的。任何人試著把那句 "Has 'Japan-bashing' turned into 'Japan-passing'?" 翻譯成中文，大概就會明白背後的道理。

當然囉，學術界有人說什麼「不可翻譯性」，這倒是個方便法門。只要自己譯不出來的東西，都可以往「不可翻譯性」推；如果有人真的翻譯出教人讀得懂的文字，一句「以釋代譯」就可以把他打死。所以我說啦，翻譯這一行真的不好幹哩！

Verónica Albin 的文章可在 http://www.accurapid.com/journal/20prof.htm 讀到。這篇 Reading Orwell 值得翻譯人閱讀。她所說的語文現象，其實在中文裡也有。我的手倒有點癢癢的，有空再把這篇文章翻譯成中文，也許對某些年輕翻譯人會有點兒幫助。

[Edited at 2005-05-20 00:30]

Wenjer Leuschel wrote:

Some friends in Taiwanese cultural circle maintain that "Translation cannot be taught." This reminds me of an article published in the Journal of Accurapid website, written by Verónica Albin who teaches English/Spanish Translation at Rice University in the United States of America. There she mentioned an example which shows that there are people who are gifted to translate properly without having been taught how to previously. Here it goes:

... So let me tell you about my Spanish 416 class at Rice University called The Art and Mechanics of Translation II. I gave the students an excerpt from the New York Times. It was used by the American Translators Association's English into Spanish grading team, to which I have belonged since 1991, for the accreditation exam. NYT articles are usually well written, but they are not necessarily the epitome of beauty or wit. My student, Naturaleza Moore, managed to impart both in her translation. The source text read as follows:

　　　TOKYO - If Japanese leaders listen carefully Thursday
　　　afternoon, they may hear the jets of Air Force One
　　　whisking President Clinton high above the island nation,
　　　straight to his state visit in China.

　　　Government and business leaders in Tokyo will wonder
　　　nervously, as a senior Japanese diplomat put it:
　　　"Has 'Japan-bashing' turned into 'Japan-passing'?"

Here's how Naturaleza, a sophomore who had never translated before in her life, rendered the last sentence:

　　　"¿Se habrá convertido la 'era de ira contra Japón'
　　　en la 'era de no ir a Japón'?"

I might be able to teach Aleza a few things about the mechanics of translation promised in the course title, such as minding agreements, paying attention to the transliteration of non-Roman alphabets, remembering that English and Spanish punctuate differently, and so forth, but what can I teach her about the art of our profession when she already thinks about words the way she does? Absolutely nothing. She is innately very good and that's all there's to it. ...


Right, there are people who are sensitive to meanings and forms and grasp them quickly and exactly! How can you teach anyone to translate "Japan-bashing"and "Japan-passing" properly, maintaining the rhyme while conveying the meaning? For people who are insensitive to the fun with English phonolgy and semantics, a translation course of 10 years wouldn't get them closer to a translation like this. Just try to translate the sentence "Has 'Japan-bashing' turned into 'Japan-passing'?" into Chinese and you will understand that one needs some talent to have it properly done.

Sure, there are some people in the academic circle who are talking about "instranslatability." That's some excuse. Anything we are not able to translate belongs to "intranslatables," isn't it? If there is anyone who happens to be talented to present a translation which make us understand what's about, they would put it away by saying, "It's not translation, it's interpretation." Well, that's why I say: Translation is a really hard business!

Verónica Albin's article can be read at http://www.accurapid.com/journal/20prof.htm. This "Reading Orwell" is something enlightening for us translators. The linguistical phenomena she describes happen in Chinese, too. My hands itches. They urge me to translate this piece into Chinese. Only if I have some time for it. It might be help some young translators.

Shaunna wrote:

这让我想起lab一位中国同仁LL，典型的大大咧咧型。
一次我的美国同事看着LL工作后lab里所有的凳子都跑到了地中间，一如往常，忍不住向我叹道： I'm really gving up on him. How hard is it to just push the chairs in? 我于是告诉他，并不是LL有意忽略，而是他根本不知道他应该把椅子推回去，我们从小没有人跟我们说过这个。美国同事眼睛睁得老大，好象这是多么不可思议的事情。"but you always put your chairs back!” 我只好诚实地告诉他 "not when I just came to US". 不过这些小节，有人注意得多些，有人则似乎多久都注意不到。
我后来去告诉LL（他也已到美国多年），他才开始注意，现在已经做得很好了，不会让大家一进lab就看到满地椅子。

jyuan_us wrote:

我有一個同事﹐ 過去是國內名校的英語教授。在辦公室每天出很多次虛恭(Passing the wind with noise). 開始以為她沒憋住﹐ 後來才知道她是以抱著 "好過癮“﹐”好舒服“﹐ “好爽”的態度而為之。

Shaunna wrote:

居然是个女的！

Shaunna wrote:

居然是个女的！

Wenjer Leuschel wrote:

台湾一位相当有名气的“资深译者”写了一系列“我的神经病”，每一篇都很有参考价值，我选以下两篇分享此处的同仁。


http://blog.yam.com/greenfire/article/6058258


http://blog.yam.com/greenfire/article/7605996
"論不可拿翻譯當正職的 N 個理由"

"那麼，以下就是一個前前後後在這行（限於個人經驗關係，我的觀察主要針對出版業的翻譯這個部分）混了將近十年（其中且有七八年是專職，亦即以譯書為唯一收入來源）的倦勤者，所歸納出的「歹路不可行」的四大理由。

一、翻譯無錢途。……

二、翻譯無前途。……
三、翻譯不算數（part 1）。……
四、翻譯不算數（part 2）。……

好啦，看到這裡你一定會說，既然如此江湖險惡苦大仇深，又何必多做流連徒自牢騷，田園將蕪胡不歸？沒錯！正所謂放下鍵盤回頭是岸，身為一個上有高堂下有寵物、左手寫詩右手打 game 的文藝近中年（唉唉，誤入歧途太久矣），實在有需要痛改前非重新做人。那麼，就如我近來陸續對前來邀稿的眾家編輯大人解釋過的，小的打算暫時金盆洗手另謀生路，以做為恭喜發財的新年新志向，翻譯可能還是比較適合當作修身養性的風雅嗜好，或者貼補家用偶一為之的休閒手工業吧。之後呢，也許天地莽莽後會有期，條條大路通書頁，又或許大家不如相忘於海，畢竟困於涸池的魚才必須相濡以沫相鞠以濕哪。"


Wenjer: 在台湾多少人对她在译界的名气和收入既羡且妒？连她做翻译都这么叫苦连天，还有谁敢妄想以翻译为生呢？！