When it comes to poetry translation, my former self fell into a strong misunderstanding-poetry is untranslatable, because I felt that the "translation" of poetry was a "lost" process, and then I dared not try it easily. However, after several experiences, I personally feel that poetry translation is the best embodiment of the so-called "dancing with shackles", which not only conforms to the original text, but also gives the translator relative creative space.
Poetry is a unique form of expression, which uses highly summarized and concentrated language to spread concise words, uses implicit images to express rich emotions, and uses the superposition of form and content to express its aesthetic feeling. These features increase the difficulty of poetry translation, but they are also the charm of poetry.
Through several assignments, I deeply realized the sentence "Translation is a record, not an explanation". In the past, in translation, we always exaggerated the boundary between Chinese and western cultures and made too many explanations. After careful consideration, I feel that I am depriving the target readers of their rights. Because "interpretation" has a strong personal subjective color, the original text of the poem is intended to give readers unlimited imagination freedom. Therefore, in fact, "interpretation" is the next choice.
Under the guidance of the principle of recoding, I personally think that poetry translation should also pay attention to the following points. First, grammar. English is a hypotactic language, and any factor should be based on grammatical correctness. Although poetry is concise, it does not mean that grammatical rules can be broken. Second, choose words. The words used in poetry are usually quite accurate. A word can express rich emotional meanings and create a good artistic atmosphere. This requires translators to have a broad understanding of the English language itself, such as the source of words. At the same time, we should consciously consider the artistic conception of the whole poem when choosing words. Third, the image. The transformation of Chinese-English images is a creative expression of poetry translation. Fourth, the relationship between form and content. The teacher once said that in many cases, form can be greater than content. Personally, I think form is an important part of expressing the aesthetic feeling of poetry and conveying its artistic conception in poetry translation. Therefore, respecting the form of the original text is also an important point to achieve good poetry translation. But it is not advisable to rhyme deliberately, even at the expense of others.
During this period, I read Xu Yuanchong's translation of China's ancient poems and found that the translation was very good.
Xu Yuanchong's criterion for translating China's poems is his theory of "three beauties", that is, he thinks that poetry translation should pay attention to "three beauties", namely, beauty in meaning, beauty in sound and beauty in form. Three beauties are based on three similarities: similarity in meaning, similarity in sound and similarity in form. Meaning is to convey the content of the original text, which cannot be misinterpreted, omitted or translated, but meaning does not necessarily convey the beauty of the original text. To convey the beauty of meaning, we can choose wonderful words similar to the original meaning, borrow words that British and American poets like to use, and express the beauty of the original meaning with the help of sound and form. The beauty of sound means that poetry should be rhythmic, rhyming, fluent and pleasant to hear. Translators can choose rhymes similar to the original text with the help of metrical patterns that British and American poets like to use, and can also express the beauty of sound with the help of disyllabic, repetitive and antithetical expressions. But it is often difficult to convey the beauty of sound, and it doesn't even have to sound like it. Formal beauty mainly includes the neatness of antithesis and the length of sentences. Preferably similar, or at least generally neat. Of the three beauties, beauty in meaning is the first, beauty in sound is the second and beauty in form is the third. On the premise of conveying the beauty of the original meaning, the translator tries his best to convey the beauty of sound, and on this basis, he tries his best to convey the beauty of form and strive to achieve the three beauties. If you can't do it, you don't need to be similar in shape or sound, but you should convey the beauty of meaning and sound of the original text as much as possible anyway.
This theory of "three beauties" was first put forward by Xu Yuanchong in his letter to the aesthetician Zhu Guangqian in 1979, and has been continuously applied in translation practice since then. The translation proposition of "three beauties" determines that Xu Yuanchong pursues the principle that "seeking beauty" is more important than "fax" in translation practice, and attaches importance to the beauty and creativity of poetry. He said, "The main purpose of poetry translation is not to pass on the poet to future generations, but to enable people to share the poet's beautiful feelings"; He also said, "I think poetry translation should be clever and creative." For example, there are two versions of a poem in Yan's "Partridge Sky", "Singing the Shadow Wind of Peach Blossom Fan" and "Singing the Bottom Wind of Peach Blossom Fan". Xu Yuanchong interpreted the former version as "the peach blossoms and the wind on the fan are gone" and the latter version as "there is no wind under the fan". He thought the former explanation was more beautiful, so he translated it according to the more beautiful explanation. Another example is the last sentence of Li Bai's "Emei Mountain Moon Song", which says "I miss you but I don't see Yu Zhou". There are two interpretations of the word "Jun", one refers to a friend, and the other refers to the moon. Xu Yuanchong thinks that friends are too abrupt and have nothing to do with poetry; To say that it is a bright moon is to write the scenery of the Three Gorges with "thinking of the monarch", which highlights the poet's love for nature and is a blend of scenes. He thinks that friends are not as beautiful as the moon, so he translates "Jun" into the moon.
Xu Yuanchong believes that "when translating poetry, seeking truth is a low standard and seeking beauty is a high standard. Translation needs truth and poetry needs beauty. If the translated poem can be both true and beautiful, it is naturally better. If you can't have it both ways, you have to convey the beauty of meaning, sound and form of the original poem as undistorted as possible. " Although Xu Yuanchong puts forward that translation should be based on "no distortion", his translation practice shows that he puts the "three beauties" of translated poems on the pursuit of "seeking truth". For Xu Yuanchong, the "truth" in translated poems has its unique significance. The pursuit of truth in translated poems should be combined with the pursuit of beauty. Only a beautifully translated poem can be regarded as preserving the "truth" of the original poem. He said, "On the topic of poetry translation, poetry is the noumenon and the first; Translation is a method; It's the second kind. Poetry needs beauty and translation needs truth; The translation of beautiful poems is not beautiful and cannot be regarded as true; Only seeking beauty without distortion as much as possible is the principle of poetry translation. " It can be seen that for Xu Yuanchong, beauty is more important than fax. Some researchers believe that Xu Yuanchong's translation proposition deviates from the traditional translation concept of "seeking truth from the text" and raises the importance of sound beauty (mainly embodied in rhyme) to an unprecedented height.