其实我是挺不喜欢NYT的写作风格的，很多文章都用的是很重的journalese，感觉就是在拽文。。。我看过的印象最深刻的新闻类文章是Washington Post上的一篇feature，Pearls Before Breakfast，讲的是我很喜欢的著名小提琴家Joshua Bell假扮街头艺术家地铁站里拉琴的故事。这篇文章获得了当年的普利策奖（文章作者两年后的另一篇feature又得了一次普利策，也反映侧面出了他的功力吧）。文章里面没有什么大词，行文流畅自然，字里行间有一种安静而深情的美感。我认为写作不在于用词艰深，而在于用词精确。很多时候，正是一些小词的运用上才最体现功力。像很多NYT文章里那种为了显得水平高而用难词难句的，读起来时常让人觉得生硬做作。（不幸的是，美国学术圈这种风气也比较重，所以我现在写东西也有这种倾向。。。）
如果只论文字的话，我个人最喜欢的大概是Cluegirl的文字。用一个词来形容：haunting。她的Can’t Take the Sky的最后几段是我永远也忘不了的，美丽至极，残酷至极。我翻了几千字，可是总是不满意，因为总觉得自己把握不了她文字那种飘渺却又强烈的风格。
不知是不是产生了幻觉，我觉得Exegesis可能是我尝试翻过的文里给我的感觉最顺的。虽然femme的文字算不得容易，但是Exegesis的第一人称视角让文章的行文有几分口语化，让人觉得很自然。这一点和femme其他的文章又是相当不一样的。她的Requiem at Dusk也是我很喜欢的，但是那篇给我感觉就是完全翻不出来的那种。另外，我认为Pir8fancier和femme的风格有点像，都是用字比较难，语言十分到位，文章情节紧凑型的。Perverse Idyll... 唉，我是真不太喜欢她的文字，总让我觉得逻辑不清，看起来很费劲，而且又不是那种“有意思”的费劲。。。
话说最近发现了一个很棒的新作者suitesamba，她在最近这一两年里写了大概十几万字的文，基本都是生活气息比较浓，文字平和自然的那种。我个人对这样的文章抵抗力一直都是全无，笑。还有一个作者asecretchord/atanvarne_lj，我在追她（？）的长文Battle for the Dark Arts，而且我怀疑今年Snarry-A-Thon里我最喜欢的一篇文也出自她手下。个人认为她很有潜力lol。
但換成了文學作品的翻譯，除了上下求索作者所要傳達的意義到底為何之外，還不可避免地多了一個問題，那就是作者本身風格的再現，或以我這個大外行的話來說，就是一篇文章的「形式」。在我看來，文字意義的探詢可能是相對容易的。我們可以翻字典，可以上網Google，倘若作者還在世，直接一封信過去，許多問題就可迎刃而解－－至少我在譯The White Road時，作者懇切詳細的回覆，令我受益良多。
只是，一個問題也隨之而來，那就是意義是否能等值的傳遞。作者的意圖，在文字上能呈現多少？我能了解多少，又運用我的筆傳達多少？這每一層都有落差，也有可能蔓生出與最原始的意義無關的東西。這裡我又要舉The White Road做例子了。與作者筆談後，我才發現作者的意圖能反應到她的文字上的，可能只有一半，而我能領略的當然又更少。當然，我可以在譯文上加以補足，但這豈是常態？總不可能字字句句都揪著作者解釋：嘿，妳寫這句話真正樣表達的是什麼？再退一步想，當作者沒有完整的將意圖表達出來時，譯者有必要或義務將之補足嗎？當然，這囿於譯者的知識水平，說不定還會理解錯誤。這般思來想去，各種糾結，最後我很不負責任的將我的譯文限制在字面意義上的傳達，而那些深層的東西，我想就留待讀者解讀，即便我知道，字面意義與實質意義，常常存在許多差異。
>One of the reasons I'm hesitating and picking/choosing potential translation fics very very carefully is because I don't think my Chinese is good enough to translate them well. Revision is always good, especially with Perverse Idyll's works. I read "And Mine the Gall" recently and found another interpretation of several scenes. I was completely floored. I guess it's kind of like listening to Brahms; the more you listen, the more layers you find.
關於Perverse Idyll的作品，我的譯文曾被朋友說讀起來有些拗口，或許是因為我亦步亦趨的緊跟原文的句子翻譯所致。我想問你，在你閱讀原文時，會覺得The White Road很晦澀拗口嗎？我知道她用字繁複，來源不拘，對細節的描述不憚其煩，但這在以英文為母語的人士眼中，是覺得她用字很活，刻畫入微，還是覺得她太囉唆？不好意思，因為我對英文沒法像閱讀中文一樣直觀，所以想就這一點跟你請教一下。
>Personally, I found reading HP fanfics has greatly improved my British English skills. Though newspapers draw upon many areas of knowledge and tend to be written in up-to-date vocabulary, terminalogy, and expresssions, the language used (especially NY Times, Telegraph, Economist) is more academic than colloquial and does not contain much regionalisms. Honestly, I think reading (brit!picked) (good) (fan)fics is better for learning how "normal" people in the UK talk than reading papers ;)
>也許，過陣子我會再把文章順過一次，畢竟這是篇好文，不該毀於我手。
I know what you mean. One of the reasons I'm hesitating and picking/choosing potential translation fics very very carefully is because I don't think my Chinese is good enough to translate them well. Revision is always good, especially with Perverse Idyll's works. I read "And Mine the Gall" recently and found another interpretation of several scenes. I was completely floored. I guess it's kind of like listening to Brahms; the more you listen, the more layers you find.
> 不過我現在比較煩惱的是，光譯HP同人，學到的字彙範圍似乎跟現實世界有些落差，所以我還得開發其他的閱讀範疇才會對英語世界有更全面的理解。
Try working on some non-magic AU or muggle-heavy fics. Suitesamba's Harry and the Potter has some hefty discussion on pottery, and descriptions of the American Northwest. There are many med fics, especially ones revolving around 心理学 -- there's one that rewrote Equus with Harry and Snape as the main characters. Personally, I found reading HP fanfics has greatly improved my British English skills. Though newspapers draw upon many areas of knowledge and tend to be written in up-to-date vocabulary, terminalogy, and expresssions, the language used (especially NY Times, Telegraph, Economist) is more academic than colloquial and does not contain much regionalisms. Honestly, I think reading (brit!picked) (good) (fan)fics is better for learning how "normal" people in the UK talk than reading papers ;)
謝謝你的回覆！也謝謝你的誇獎！當初譯The White Road真的是一頭熱，但話說回來，我很高興自己當時的一頭熱，以及堅持到了把翻譯完成。後來孤鵣幫我校對時，發現了很多理解錯誤的段落，我自己校對時，又修正了不少地方，可我依然無法保證現在版本的正確性，實在是因為perverse idyll文裡的詩意，還有她諸多獨創的描述性句子，非常不容易轉換成另一種語言。我只能說我是盡力了。也許，過陣子我會再把文章順過一次，畢竟這是篇好文，不該毀於我手。
一、恭喜恭喜！《纽约时报〉使用的写作水平是英语报纸中最高之一。既然你读得了《纽约时报〉，我就用英文回复，希望你不介意;)
You deserve a sound round of applause for this accomplishment! Do you have other English language related goals, or other milestones you'd like to achieve? If you want to see how you stand with other papers of a similar reading level, there's The Telegraph and The Economist. Both are based in the UK.
二、You raised many good points regarding translating. Sparse, straight-forward language is always easier to translate than rich figurative language. It is difficult to capture a subtle nuances, and it's even more difficult when there are wide cultural differences between the two languages. This is why I think translating is as much of an art as writing itself.
Perverse Idyll's works are absolutely beautiful, her language stunning. I wouldn't even consider translating any of her works unless I've a huge amount of time available and have tried working on some of already, just to make sure the job's doable. Even then, I'd approach it with the utmost caution because, sometimes, her words are more poetry than prose and translating poetry's just... a complete different animal. You deserve another round of applause for your translations, for bringing the stories to a brand new audience.
三、我和你的情况相反——我想英译中，提高自己的中文水平。You gave sound advice -- I will keep your words in mind. Thank you! <(_ _)>
四、其他学习英文的同学们，好好努力哟！虽然路遥长艰难，the results are worth it!
发表于 2012-5-30 23:13
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