是合理的变通还是“意义”的流失——谈文学翻译中的“随意”现象

文学翻译的目的何在?仅为了向读者介绍作品的故事情节,还是通过阅读这些作品,让读者了解名著中所包含的深刻思想内涵以及原文作者的本意?大凡严肃的译者都以后一种目的为追求.尤金·奈达提出"翻译,即译意",这句名言明确了翻译的使命所在.因为原文作者的本意是译作的根本.离开了这一根本,译者的创作就表现出一种随意性,就会造成原作意义的流失.

Reasonable Rendering or Losing Original Meaning?

What do we translate literary works for? Just to let readers know the plot of the work or to help them understand the original idea and the significance of the work? Most serious literary translators all hold the latter as their task and purpose of translation.Eugene Nida once said,"Translation means translating meaning".As such,he defines the real purpose or task of translation.This is because the original idea is the root of the translated work.Without the root,the translator is likely to do random rendering of the original work,thus bringing about the loss of the original meaning in translation.