莎翁全部著作將被譯成中文：腐國(guó)人怎么看？

The British Government has pledged £1.5 million to translate the complete works of Shakespeare into Chinese. The project will be delivered by the Royal Shakespeare Company, who have also received government funding for a tour of China. The stated aim is to boost tourism and ‘cultural links’.

英國(guó)政府已決定要花150萬(wàn)英鎊把莎翁的全部著作翻譯成中文?；始疑勘葋喒?英國(guó)一家大型劇院公司)將負(fù)責(zé)此項(xiàng)目的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)，為此，政府同時(shí)也資助他們來(lái)中國(guó)巡演。(大家可以開始存錢啦!)據(jù)稱，該項(xiàng)目的目的是刺激旅游業(yè)及增強(qiáng)“文化紐帶”。

ARE THE BRITS HAPPY?

英國(guó)人開心嗎?

The plays and poetry of William Shakespeare are arguably England’s greatest cultural treasure. Every school child studies his work, and he is considered to be the greatest Englishman to ever wield a pen. Until the 20th century though, Shakespeare was almost unknown in China. The new translations and accompanying tour will bring Shakespeare to a wider audience in China. What, though, do those who hail from the land of The Bard’s birth feel about their government sponsoring this project? Are they glad to see Shakespeare shared more widely?

莎士比亞的戲劇和詩(shī)歌可以說(shuō)是英國(guó)最偉大的文化瑰寶。每個(gè)孩子在學(xué)校必學(xué)其作品，他也被評(píng)為英國(guó)有史以來(lái)最偉大的作家。但是莎翁的赫赫聲名直到20世紀(jì)才在中國(guó)漸漸流傳開來(lái)。這一批譯文和巡演將把他的作品引薦給更多的中國(guó)讀者。但是，莎翁家鄉(xiāng)的人民對(duì)他們政府資助這一項(xiàng)目有何看法呢?有更多人一起分享莎翁的傳世著作，他們對(duì)此感到欣慰嗎?

I read through pages of comments at the bottom of several articles announcing the project. Only a very few resented this use of taxpayers’ money, with most expressing pride that ‘their’ playwright was to be presented afresh in the world’s most spoken language. However, there are some huge challenges involved in translating Shakspeare into Chinese.

我閱讀了幾篇新聞稿下面的多頁(yè)評(píng)論后發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有寥寥數(shù)人反對(duì)政府如此使用納稅人的錢，絕大多數(shù)人都對(duì)“英國(guó)人自己的”劇作家將通過(guò)世界上使用率最高的語(yǔ)言，以嶄新面貌示人而引以為豪。然而，把莎翁作品翻譯成中文可不是易事，可謂困難重重。

A HISTORY OF CHINESE TRANSLATIONS

誰(shuí)是先行者?

The first translations of Shakespeare into Mandarin were by Lin Shu (1852-1924) and entitled Strange Stories from across the Seas. They were not direct translations, but taken from a children’s book of prose adaptations of Shakespeare’s stories. The first Chinese encounters with Shakespeare were therefore not with the verse of his plays but the stories and characters in a simplified format.

林紓(1852-1924)可謂是翻譯莎士比亞著作的第一人(編者注：事實(shí)上，由于林紓不諳外文，翻譯過(guò)程是由他的合作者魏易口述，再由林紓筆譯的)，其翻譯的首本《吟邊燕語(yǔ)》原文并非作品本身，而是改編成散文的兒童讀物。所以中國(guó)讀者初遇莎翁作品，讀到的不是他的劇作，而是簡(jiǎn)化后的故事及人物。

COMPLEX LANGUAGE

復(fù)雜的言語(yǔ)

The influence of Shakespeare’s storylines has definitely been greater than that of his language. The first translation of a play didn’t come until 1922, courtesy of Tian Han and Shakespeare’s language does not easily submit to translation. Many of the words, figures of speech and references are too archaic to be understood even by native English speakers. Much of the plays is written in verse limited by strictures on rhythm and rhyme. A translator must decide whether to replicate the meaning of a phrase and disregard the rhythm, or translate the meaning more loosely in order to replicate the flow of the verse. This is particularly difficult when translating into Mandarin, a predominately monosyllabic language, rather than into European languages that are constructed similarly to English.

莎翁描寫的故事情節(jié)的影響遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于他的語(yǔ)言。第一部莎翁戲劇的翻譯直到1922年才由田漢完成。莎翁的語(yǔ)言翻譯難度很大，原文中很多詞語(yǔ)、比喻和引用都屬于古英語(yǔ)，土生土長(zhǎng)的英國(guó)人對(duì)其都摸不清頭腦。戲劇中的諸多部分使用韻文的形式寫成，受限于韻律和押韻。翻譯家必須在取意舍韻、還是注重流暢性而選擇點(diǎn)意中抉擇。特別在翻譯到漢語(yǔ)時(shí)難度最大，因?yàn)闈h語(yǔ)是以單音節(jié)為主的語(yǔ)言，而不像與英文結(jié)構(gòu)相似的歐語(yǔ)系語(yǔ)言。

HOW TO TRANSFER HISTORY AND COMEDY?

歷史和幽默怎么照搬?

Shakespeare’s ‘History Plays’ present a different challenge to the Chinese translator. As dramatisations of real historical events, these plays require the translator to have a thorough knowledge of British history. Meanwhile, Shakespeare’s comedic moments are often based on puns – clever word play to twist meaning in an unpredictable way. These are notoriously difficult to translate directly, as they often rely on phonetics – the sounds of the words – being similar whilst the meanings are different but in a foreign language, it is highly unlikely that the requisite terms will translate so neatly as to preserve the pun.

莎士比亞的歷史劇還賦予其中文翻譯者另一不常見的挑戰(zhàn)。要翻譯這些史實(shí)的夸大版，作者必須具備全面的英國(guó)歷史知識(shí)。同時(shí)，莎士比亞的幽默經(jīng)常包含在雙關(guān)語(yǔ)中--在人意料之外用文字游戲來(lái)曲折意思。要直接翻譯是出了名的難，因?yàn)殡p關(guān)語(yǔ)通常語(yǔ)音相近而意思大不相同;但在外語(yǔ)中，翻譯時(shí)要同時(shí)保留雙關(guān)和意思可不是件易事。

THE MAGIC OF PERFORMANCE

表演的魔力

I was very glad to read that a new, cohesive translation of Shakespeare was being prepared for Chinese audiences, but was more excited about the announcement of a tour of China. Though the new translations will be expertly done, they will never be able to replicate the originals. It is, though, important to remember that Shakespeare is not to be read, but to be performed. I enjoy performances whilst not understanding every archaic term or historical reference, and I am sure that you would too.

看到中國(guó)讀者馬上可以讀到全新連貫的莎士比亞作品譯文，我非常欣慰，但更讓我熱血沸騰的是巡演。因?yàn)榧词剐碌姆g作品是專家級(jí)別，他們也無(wú)法完全傳遞原著的精髓。要記住，莎翁的作品不是被讀出來(lái)的，而是被演出來(lái)的?？瓷虘騽r(shí)，即使不是每個(gè)古英語(yǔ)表達(dá)或歷史典故我都能理解，我還是非常享受看戲的過(guò)程，你肯定也會(huì)像我一樣。

There are many fantastic theatre companies in the UK that specialise in Shakespeare, the most famous being the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon – the place of Shakspeare’s birth, and The Globe theatre in London, a replica of an Elizabethan theatre which stages open-air performances. When you visit the UK attend a play at one (or both) of these venues – like me you won’t understand every word, but by seeing the action you will understand the emotions of the play far better than you can in a library. This is why I’m so excited to hear that the RSC are going to tour China, because ultimately Shakespeare has to be seen and heard, not simply read.

英國(guó)有很多優(yōu)秀的戲劇公司都以起莎翁劇出名，最為聞名的當(dāng)屬位于莎翁出生地——埃文河畔斯特拉特福(Stratford-upon-Avon)的皇家莎士比亞公司了，還有位于倫敦，提供露天表演的仿伊麗莎白式劇院的全球戲院。如果你來(lái)英國(guó)，可以去其中一家劇院(或都去)看場(chǎng)戲——就像我，有些詞你可能聽不懂，但表演本身會(huì)讓你比在圖書館讀書要更能理解個(gè)中感情。所以我得知皇家莎士比亞公司要去中國(guó)巡演非常興奮，因?yàn)樯套髌凡粌H僅是讀物，還應(yīng)該是視覺(jué)和聽覺(jué)的享受。