【复试问答】

聊一聊你看过的翻译书籍

1. 你读过什么翻译相关的书？哪本对你影响最大？What books about translation have you read? Which impressed you most?

I have read some translation books like Anthology of Chinese and English Prose（《散文佳作108篇》）, A Short Course in English-Chinese Translation（《英汉翻译简明教程》）, and Translation – A Practical Course written by Professor Liu Jichun.

Actually, the book Translation - A Practical Course impressed me most. From this book, I learned how to make my language less redundant and I knew the essential qualities of a translator.

It’s a thought-provoking book and I was moved by his dedication to his work. For example, the experience of his revising his translation works, like, translating the title of “How to Grow Old” taught me a lot. (At the first glance, I believed that “老年人生活艺术“ was the best translation version. But I continued reading and realized that the most appropriate translation was still “如何变老” according to the content of the article. )

It is fair to say that this is the guidebook of my translation study. Based on the theories I've learned from this book, I continued to read other translation books and kept making progress.

2. 你读过什么论文期刊吗？Journal?

Foreign Language Education 《外语教学》

Shanghai Journal of Translators 《上海翻译》

Chinese Translators journal 《中国翻译》

……

（在期刊自己找几篇关于翻译的学术论文，简单了解一下，可以看一下报考院校的导师写过什么论文）

3.聊一本自己喜欢的英文书？your favorite English book

My favorite English book is Pride and Prejudice（《傲慢与偏见》）, written by Jane Austen. The story takes place in England in the late 18th century. The five Bennet sisters, including the heroine Elizabeth, have all been raised by their mother with one purpose: finding a wealthy husband. In this novel, through many different attitudes towards love and marriage, the author shows the relationship between emotion and wealth. She stressed the importance of an ideal marriage with love. She said “Do anything rather than marry without affection”. 

From this book, I have not only deepened my understanding of marriage, but also realized that the first impression of someone is not always correct. Sometimes we should put aside our pride and prejudice, and try to communicate directly with each other.

傲慢与偏见开头非常著名的一句话：

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” 凡是有钱的单身汉总要娶位太太，这是一条举世公认的真理。

（另外，这句话的翻译也值得探究，“It is a truth universally acknowledged”到底放在句首激起读者兴趣，还是放在句末作为重点收尾？哪种更好呢？）

关于相关译著的也可以了解一下。

如李继宏 译《傲慢与偏见》：民科式翻译Armchair scientist

/Pseudoscience

/Self-identified scientist

I haven’t read his translation version of Pride and Prejudice. But I read some news about this.

Li Jihong spent 3 years translating this book and I do appreciate his effort. But I believe that the original novel leaves space for readers to imagine and form their own understandings. And the translated version should remain this function too.

After all, if a famous work becomes non-inclusive, it is no longer charming.

4.  聊一本自己喜欢的英文译著？book in translation

【原著】My favorite English translation work is Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair（杨必 译《名利场》）. Vanity Fair is written by William Thackeray(威廉·萨克雷). The novel talks about the joy and sorrow and ups and downs of two girls, Becky Sharp(蓓基·夏泼) and Amelia Sedley(米丽亚·赛特笠).

【译著特色】Yang Bi’s translated version of Vanity Fair is excellent, I think. When reading this translation, it feels like reading a Chinese novel. Because it not only perfectly retains the style and manner of writing of the original text, and also uses idiomatic Chinese for the sake of Chinese readers. Her expressions are not confined by the original text as she uses many translated methods and skills which are very appropriate. She is good at domesticating translation. When reading her translation, I don’t even know I am reading the translation text or the original one, I mean, it has no translationese.

举例：

【原文】…who is a good Christian, a good parent, a good child, a good wife or a good husband, who actually does have a disconsolate family to mourn his loss…

【译文】……真的是虔诚的教徒，慈爱的父母，孝顺的儿女，贤良的妻子，尽职的丈夫，他们家里的人也的确哀思绵绵的追悼他们……

李明教授也译过名利场：

e.g.: As the Manager of the Performance sits before the curtain on the boards:

领班的坐在戏台上幔子前面（杨必）

舞台监督坐在戏台上的帷幕前（李明）

I think Professor Li Ming’s version of Vanity Fair perfectly demonstrates the importance of retranslation. According to Nida, a translation has a lifespan of no more than 50 years no matter how successful it is. And as our culture and language are changing, we can always do better in translating the same work under certain social conditions.

For example, when translating the sentence “……”, Yang Bi translated it into “领班的坐在戏台上幔子前面”, and Professor Li translated it into “舞台监督坐在戏台上的帷幕前”. The two different selections of “the Manager of the Performance” and “the curtain on the boards” show the different usage of words at different times. The two versions are both good under certain social conditions.

This is my understanding of the different translation works of Vanity Fair.