http://s10/bmiddle/002EukoMgy6IzEcqUEF69&690Importance of Translation 翻译的重要" TITLE="The Importance of Translation 翻译的重要" />

Do you spend time to read books? Beside Chinese books, there are plenty of books out there that are translated, and it takes a lot of skills to produce a well-translated book. Read about the importance of translation, brought to you by Spotlight radio and translated by our very own Wen-Jie! 翻译工作难，但对读者而言却是福音！读中英美文。

Aya is a student from Japan.  She loves to read all kinds of books. When Aya goes to the book store, she finds books written by writers from around the world. She loves Japanese writers like Shushaku Endo and Haruki Murakami. But she also enjoys many other writers - like Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

阿雅是一位日本学生。她喜爱阅读各样的书籍。阿雅在书店里，总看到有世界各地作家的著作。她喜欢日本作家远藤和村上春树所写的书，也喜欢其他许多的作家，像苏联作家托尔斯泰和苏格兰作家柯南道尔爵士。

Aya can only read in her native Japanese language.  But she is able to read books that were originally written in many different languages.  Aya never thinks about this.  But, she can read these books because of the work of translators. This article is on the important work of book translation.

阿雅只会读她的本国语-日语。但她却能够读外国语言的著作。阿雅从没有想过这事；但，她能阅读这些书因为有人专业从事翻译。本文所谈的，正是书籍翻译的重要。

Books are a special form of communication. Writers write books to communicate ideas about things like love, faith, culture, and even politics. Books are a great way to exchange ideas between cultures.  However, without translation, this exchange could never happen.

书籍，是沟通的一个特别形式。作家写书，传达他们对爱情，信仰，文化，甚至政治方面的想法。书籍可以是不同文化交换想法观点的好管道。然而，若没有翻译工作，这个交流就无法发生。

Most people do not think a lot about book translators.  Their names are not well known like writers.  But they do have a difficult and important job.  Translators must be very good at understanding the books they translate. They must also be very good at writing.

多半的人对书籍翻译没有太多认知。这些译者并不知名。但他们从事的是很艰巨和重要的工作。从事翻译的人，需要理解书的内容，也需要擅于写作。

A translator’s job is not just about translating each word in a sentence from one language to another. Translators must also concentrate on translating the writer’s original meaning. To do this, translators must think about groups of words or even pages of a book when they translate.

翻译者的工作，并不是逐字逐句的把字词翻译出来就行了，他乃要专心致力把作者的本意翻出来。译者必须从好几大段或几页的内容来思想揣摩，做好翻译工作。

Translators must also think about the culture of the readers they are translating for. Often, ideas and even words are particular to one culture. So, translators must explain these cultural ideas.  Sometimes, a translator can simply choose a different word to express a clearer translation of the writer’s meaning.

译者也必须考虑读者的文化背景。往往，一些观点和字词有它在某个文化里的含意；也因此，译者必须要解释这些文化观点。有时，译者甚至可以选择一个不同的字词来更确切地表达作者的含意。

Let us look at an example. Translators have translated the book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” into almost 70 different languages. German is one of these languages. The British English version of the book is called “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” But the term “Philosopher’s Stone” does not translate well into German. The idea of a “Philosopher’s Stone” is an old idea.  Over many years, the term has become a symbol of perfect knowledge.  The term has been used in English stories throughout history. However, translators did not think that German speakers would know this term well.  So, the German translator changed the name of the book to “Harry Potter and the Stone of Wisdom.” Wisdom is a form of knowledge. “Stone of Wisdom” is similar to “Philosopher’s Stone.” The words do not mean exactly the same thing. But, in German, “Stone of Wisdom” does express the idea of the term “Philosopher’s Stone.”

举个例子，“哈利波特和魔法石”此书被翻译成将近七十种语言。德语是其一。在原著英语版本，书名是“哈利波特和魔法石”，但英语的‘魔法石’这词，德语不容易翻出来。‘魔法石’是个古旧的概念。经过多年，此词已经成为‘完整知识’的象征。在英国古今的作品里，经常出现这词。然而，译者不认为读德语的人会明白这词含意。也因此，把书名改为：“哈利波特和智慧石”。智慧此字，意指知识。‘智慧石’和‘魔法石’意念相似。虽然两个字词意思不全然相同，但在德语里，‘智慧石’的确表达了‘魔法石’的概念。

Changing a book’s title is a major decision.  However, translators make hundreds of small changes with every single book.  These changes make the meaning clear. However, translators must be careful.  Too many changes can change the style of the writing.  A book’s style is often what makes it interesting or easy to read.  So, it is important that the translator writes the same way as the writer.

改书名，是个重大的决定。而译者从事一本书的翻译，动则会有好几百个字词的修改。这些改动让含意更清晰明白。而译者也需极度小心，太多的改动会影响整个写作文体的形式。通常一本书的风格，或是充满趣味，或是易读，都是吸引读者的因素。所以很重要的是，译者的作品，应该保持和原作者相同的写作风格。

A good translation will be balanced.  It will clearly communicate the writer’s ideas to a new culture.  But, it will also represent the writer’s style.  A bad translation does not capture the full meaning of words. And it does not make the reader feel the things the writer wants them to feel. A bad translation can completely change how people react to a book or an idea. Tim Parks is a writer in the United Kingdom. He wrote this in the Guardian newspaper:

一个良好的翻译作品具备平衡，能把作者的观点清楚沟通给另一个新的文化的读者，也能保有作者原先的风格。一个不好的翻译，非但不能掌握字词的全然含意，也不能使读者感受到作者所要传达的感受。一个差劲的翻译，会导致读者对一本书的内容和一个观念有全然错误颠倒的反应。英国作家派克斯，在‘卫报’上这么写：

“If the translator is bad…, you will understand the ideas, but not the style of the writer. Or the writing will represent the writer’s style, but will miss the ideas. The good translator is the one who has a deep understanding of the original writing and the best resources in his own language. This translator will bring style and ideas together. This will be something new that is also faithful to the original writing.”

“如果翻译很差..,你会了解概念，但掌握不到作者写的风格。不然就是翻译作品有原作者的格调，但却错过了书中的概念。绝佳的译者，乃对原著有深刻理解，也对自己的语言拥有最好的资源。这个译者的作品结合了格调和观点。这带出的，是全新的，却又忠于原著的内容来 。”

Becoming a good translator can take many years.  Edith Grossman has been a translator for over 40 years. She recently wrote a book called “Why Translation Matters.” In it, she wrote,

要成为好的译者，需要多年的功夫。格罗斯门女士从事此工作已经超过四十年了。她在近期写的“为何翻译重要”一书中说：

“As a first step toward creating a good translation, translators need to develop a good sense of style in both languages. They must expand their knowledge of the emotional effect of words. They must know the society that surrounds the words, and...they must know the atmosphere the words create.”

“要能翻译出好的作品，首先，译者需要培养自己对双语言有好的写作风格。他们必须扩展知识，了解字词会带出的情感效应。他们应该知道这些字词被使用的当时社会景况，也要了解这些文字原先被创作的大环境为何。”

Translation has always been important for exchanging ideas between cultures.  However, in the past, it was often difficult for writers to get their books translated.  Large publishing companies were not interested in translating most books.  Translation was expensive.  It required difficult research.  And communication between foreign writers and publishing companies could be difficult.  As a result, only the best-selling books were translated to other languages.

翻译一直以来都很重要，在双重文化中能彼此交换理念。然而，在以往，作者很难能使自己的著作被翻译出来。大的出版社对翻译书籍并不感兴趣。翻译费用也很昂贵。需要从事难度高的研究。而外国作家和出版社之间的沟通也有困难。到头来，只有最畅销的书籍才会被翻译成其他语言。

However, today, people from different cultures are communicating and sharing ideas more than ever before.   This growing globalization has made translation even more important.  And it is changing the publishing and translation markets.

虽然如此，在今日，不同文化的人们比以往有更频繁的沟通和交流。这个世界地球村的现象，使得翻译工作更显重要，连带也改变了出版和翻译的市场。

Now, it is easier for readers and publishing companies to learn about popular books written in other languages. Readers are requesting translations of the books they want to read.  And large publishing companies are beginning to do more translation.

如今，对读者和出版社而言，很容易知道什么是外国的流行书籍。读者要求阅读外国著作更形普遍。而大的出版公司也开始出版更多的外国翻译书籍。

It has also become easier for foreign writers to communicate directly with smaller publishing companies in other countries.  Some smaller publishing companies concentrate on only translating and publishing foreign works.  These smaller companies are better able to serve the foreign writer.

而对外国作家而言，和小规模的出版社打交道也更加容易。一些小型的出版社专门只做翻译和出版外国书籍。这些小公司更能够服务外国的作家。

As the global publishing market changes, there is a greater demand for good translators. However, most people will still never know the names of even the most expert translators.  But translator, Daniel Hahn, believes that this is a good thing.  On the website, wordswithoutborders.org, he wrote:

当全球出版市场有此变化之当下，更加需要有好的译者。然而，多半人对专业的翻译者仍然不知其名。但从事翻译行业的哈恩先生相信这是件好事。在他的网站wordswithoutborders.org上，他写说：

“As translators, our job is to be as unseen as possible. The reader should not notice we are there at all. The reader should reach the end of the book and think, ‘Wait, I do not speak Portuguese! How did that happen?’ It is the highest honour when our work is not noticed.”

“身为译者，我们是尽可能不被看见越好。读者对我们应该全然视而不见。读者应该能在读完了全书后这么想：对了，我根本不懂葡萄牙语！怎么读完了整本书呢？”这，是对我们从事翻译而不被注意到的译者最高的赞赏。”

See more at: http://spotlightenglish.com/listen/the-importance-of-translation#sthash.cLcfPZsH.dpuf