Some rhetorical devices, such as "transferring attribute" and "synecdoche",
It is very common in English, but rare in Chinese. If these rhetorical devices are determined to be immutable "forms", they must be inserted into Chinese.
And then pass it from one customer to another. As a result, the target language is either incomprehensible or misunderstood. As mentioned above, Wild Night-Wild
Take the poem Yexing as an example, the title uses a rhetorical device called "attributive to attributive" or "transferred" and "wild".
It is not the "night" immediately after the poem, but the "person" implied between the lines.
Or it is used to describe some kind of violent emotion of people at night. Therefore, we can say that the storm is not outside, but in the poet's heart.
It is the poet's burning love and unforgettable miss for his lover day after day. If it is translated into "stormy night" according to the requirement of "similarity", it will cause misunderstanding.
There seems to be endless storms outside the house.
The title of another poem by the poet, "The soul chooses her own society", is itself a rhetorical device using synonyms.
It is a part of the whole generation, and if it is translated into "the spirit chooses its own partner", it will make readers confused. There are three mistakes in this translation: first, I mistook the vehicle for the ontology and chose it.
"Companion" is a person, not a spirit; Secondly, the translation fails to point out that this kind of partner is a spiritual partner, which is the essence of this poem.
It praises platonic spiritual love; Third, it violates Chinese norms and should remove the attribute of "self". So this poem can be considered for translation.
"choose a soul mate"
Forms and registration
No matter at all times and in all countries, as elegant literature and art, the choice of words and sentences in poetry has its specific register and has an important influence on "form". Although with the evolution of language,
The register of poetry will change, but there will always be some standards that meet the routine. Of course, there are also "deviations", for example, in order to achieve a certain humorous effect,
There is no need to use it occasionally; However, if there are aimless "deviations" everywhere, neither the original nor the translation can be called poetry.
In A Dream of Red Mansions, Xue Pan's drinking makes his daughter sad, except for the third sentence, "My daughter is happy, and the wedding candle rises carelessly", which conforms to the register norms of poetry and is praised as "what an elegant sentence"
In addition, the other three sentences are vulgar; On the one hand, this is because the content is absurd, on the other hand, it is because it deviates from the "shape" of poetry register.
Even used taboo words. Cao Xueqin is an excellent poet and novelist. He describes "poetry" with deviation phenomenon.
The author's image is superficial, ignorant, vulgar and arty, which is profound.
Another example is the poem "A Resolute Courtier" written by Thomas shipman.
Although it is a face-to-face oral proposal, the language is simple and elegant, such as "please", "yes" and "hello".
Wait, there's no sign of spoken language. The first two lines of this poem are as follows:
Please say yes or no;
If you don't want me, just tell me;
The translator who advocates replacing "step" with "rice" translates these two lines into:
Please let me know;
If you want me, just tell me;
Judging from the relationship between syllables and words, "step" and "meal" can be said to be roughly corresponding or equal; Two rows to two rows, arranged in a similar way,
Moreover, even punctuation marks correspond to each other one by one, which should be regarded as a model of "similarity". However, words that are difficult to enter poetry in the translated version and registers that are quite different from the original do not exist.
"Similar" can be said.
(vi) Form and content
People often mistakenly think that when we talk about form, we should talk about form instead of content, not content.
Language is the carrier of thinking or ideological content, and the formal correspondence between the two languages is determined by the expressed content. If the ideological content or thought is compared to a central axis, then,
The expression of language will form some vague symmetry on both sides of it. For example, "You had breakfast.
The common English sentence "in your room" can only be translated into Chinese word by word through the external so-called form.
"You have breakfast in your room." But from the ideological content, this is a wrong translation example. of course，
The differences between these simple idioms in the two languages can be formalized. You can delete "yours" and translate it into "you have breakfast in your room."
However, sometimes there is no form without content, and "form" is often deceptive. As Elizabeth I wrote, "In Sir's"
According to the meaning given by the dictionary, the sentence "I am not" in the poem "Departure" cannot be understood as "yes verb".
Can not be understood as "I am right and wrong" according to "form"; It should mean "to be or not to be", which is exactly the same as "to be" in Shakespeare's famous play Hamlet.
To be or not to be, this is a question (to be or not to be, this is a question) "
The same is true of the usage of "Shi verb". So the correct translation should be "I am dead, I am still alive."
(7) Form and translation skills
The so-called "form" refers to the whole of poetry, all kinds of "forms"
The correspondence is extremely complicated. When we open the translation textbooks, we can see all kinds of skills summarized from practice, such as changing sentence patterns, adjusting word order, adding or subtracting sentences, rearranging expressions, transferring rhetorical devices, changing thinking patterns and so on. Most of these skills are death.
"Shape" is a living "shape".
In translation, literary translation is the most difficult of all styles; It is an indisputable fact that poetry translation is the most difficult in literary translation. However, in essence, poetry translation is the epitome of various styles of translation.
Not a special case or "deviant"; Judging from the characteristics of his artistic creation, his translation practice needs to follow the general translation rules more representatively.
Some translators are so bound by "form" that even basic translation skills are avoided. Or take the poem mentioned above as an example,
Compared with rigid translation, we can see the disadvantages of sticking to words:
The soul chooses her own society.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
The soul chooses her own society-
And then-close the door-
Her sacred majority-
Don't show up again-
Indifferent, she noticed that the chariot-
Pause-
At her low door-
Indifferent-an emperor kneeling-
On her mat-
I know her-from a rich country-
Choose a-
Then close the valve of her attention.
Like a stone-
(Reference)
The soul chooses its partner.
The soul chooses its mate,
Then, close the door,
Her sacred decision,
No more interference.
Found the car parked in front of her low door,
Be unmoved,
An emperor knelt on her mat,
rise superior to
I know she comes from a populous country.
I chose one.
Since then, the door of attention has been closed,
Like a stone.
The problems in the first two lines of the first sentence have been analyzed. The fourth line means not "non-interference", but "hiding without revealing". Second, literal translation,
Even indefinite articles have been translated into "Zhi Yi", which not only violates Chinese norms, but also deviates from the poetic register. The third que is even more unsightly, and it doesn't even make sense.
"A large population of a country" is an ambiguous sentence. In particular, the "stone" in the last line is ambiguous, which really puzzles readers.
Therefore, creatively using various translation techniques and artistically using the rhythm of Chinese word combinations to convey the ubiquitous rhythm of English poetry,
We tried to translate this famous poem as follows:
Choice? choose
Choose a soul mate,
Then thank the guests for closing the door;
Made a sacred choice,
It must be hidden.
Cars are pouring in,
Girls don't care;
The emperor knelt on the mat,
It's hard to touch your heart.
The vast sea of people is boundless,
Only one person was selected;
From then on, my heart was like a stone.
Close the emotional door.
In view of the similarities and differences between English and Chinese poetry in rhythm, phonology, sentence patterns, rhetoric and register, translation must follow the norms of Chinese poetry. Generally speaking, poetry translation is a process of domestication, but also a process of adjusting the original flavor; It is not only a scientific practice with rules to follow, but also a re-created art; Besides understanding the original text accurately, it is also quite challenging for the translator. Language application ability, poetry creation ability, phonological arrangement ability and translation theory mastery level are all tests for translators and decisive factors for translation quality.
Get out of the misunderstanding of the singleness and singleness of "shape" and find the diversity and complexity of "shape".
Is this the basis for poetry translation to achieve charm? Without ever-changing, flexible and vivid forms, this kind of poetry translation cannot be superb. We look forward to starting a new generation of poetry translation and creating the best bilingual products with both spirit and form.