字母中淘筛历史的细节

西人资料中搜寻关于中国的点滴
个人资料
元亨利 (热门博主)
  • 博客访问:
正文

(书摘)苏联驻美国大使及其他人物谈翻译

(2017-09-24 11:17:08) 下一个

越来越发现我的博文不能再叫读书笔记了,因为我的是一种备忘录的性质,想把自己感兴趣的内容先记下来,光凭大脑内容多了总是记不准,先放在这,以后再进一步处理,所以从这开始不叫读书笔记,改成“书摘”。

这篇的缘起是在读书中读到一些政治家/外交官对翻译的评论,因为他们在职业生涯中会遇到很多其它国家的官员,当然需要翻译,因此对翻译有亲身的体会,所以他们对翻译的评论肯定有很高的价值。这篇可能会不断的增加新资料。

第一个是苏联驻美国大使Anatoly Dobrynin写的回忆录In Confidence,Moscow's Ambassador to America's Six Cold War Presidents (1962-1986),由Times Books 出版社于1995年出版。从题目看,这位大使安纳托利多布利宁是六朝元老,他的任上经历了六位美国总统,尼克松总统与中国恢复关系时,也是在他任上。该书中,第28页开始,多布利宁谈到他随1955年莫洛托夫代领苏联代表团去美国参加联合国成立十周年的活动,当时多布利宁还不是大使,苏联当时驻美国大使叫Zaburin,苏联代表团是坐船到纽约,然后从纽约坐火车去旧金山,路上停站时没有什么大的动静,只是在芝加哥这个有很多斯拉夫和东欧移民的城市,他们对苏联很反感,这里的工会的力量也很强,工会也是反苏的,苏联代表团停在芝加哥站的时候,莫洛托夫从窗户看出去,很多人对他发出boo的声音,这在美国是一种起哄,赶人走的表示。车又开动了以后,莫洛托夫问大使Zaburin这是什么意思,Zaburin连眼都不眨地说(p29):“That is an American way of greeting”--这是美国一种欢迎的方式。莫洛托夫看上去很迷惑,回答说这是一种很奇怪的欢迎外国人的方式,多布利宁写道,他当然知道是怎么回事,但是他不能当着Zaburin的面说什么。

同一页下面一段多布利宁就谈翻译了,先贴英语吧

In San Francisco I had to accompany Molotov everywhere and interpret for him. HIs own staff interpreter and my friend, Oleg Troyanovsky, had to leave urgently for Moscow to attend his father’s funeral. Oleg Troyanovsky had been raised partly in the United States and attended American Schools, and his English was flawless. I must say that only when I had to fill in for him did I realize how hard an interpreter’s work actually was, although on the surface it always seemed to be so easy. All the smallest details of a conversation had to be translated with scrupulous exactness, because they usually carried an important diplomatic and political meaning. Although I could speak English rather fluently, I was hardly ready for the job of a professional interpreter. On the whole I managed satisfactorily. The most difficult part was writing the minutes of Molotov’s talks from memory in order to send his reports to Moscow: unlike professional interpreters, I was unable to make shorthand notes. 

在旧金山期间,我必须为莫洛托夫翻译,因为莫洛托夫的在编翻译(staff interpreter)的父亲去世,他必须赶回莫斯科参加葬礼。只有当我作了翻译工作以后,才意识到翻译的工作实际上有多艰难,虽然表面上看似乎很容易。一次会谈的所有小细节都必须非常准确地翻译出来,因为它们通常都有重要的外交和政治意义。虽然我的英语说的很溜,但是作为一个职业翻译还不是完全合格。整体上讲,我的翻译还算令人满意。最难的部分是从记忆中写会议的记录,莫洛托夫要把他的会谈报告上交给苏联,我不象专业翻译那样会速记。

 

第二,Owen Lattimore,他的回忆录China Memoirs,Chiang Kai-shek and the War Against Japan by Owen Lattimore, compiled by Fujiko Isono。Fujiko Isono(矶野富士子?)是日裔,长期担任Lattimore的助手,1972年陪同Lattimore访问中国,一起被周恩来接见。

本书中第58页,Lattimore于1937年与另外两位美国人访问延安,本来Lattimore准备要给其他两位不懂中文的美国人翻译,但是他发现共产党方面有自己的翻译,而且英语极好。接着他谈了对翻译的看法:

P58 Those who have ever had the experience of interpreting a serious discussion will know that the interpreter must concentrate so closely on using exactly the right word in each language in translating back and forth that his mind does not retain what went before and does not properly look forward to what is coming next. At the end of the interview, he finds it hard to tell what it was all about. There are all the details, but not the general picture.

有过翻译认真的讨论的经验的人都知道,一名翻译必须在语言交流的翻译中全力贯注于在每一种语言里使用精准的词语,以致于他会对之前的事情毫无记忆,也对接下来的事情一无所知。在会见结束的时候,他很难了解会见是为了什么。细节都在,但是整体无存。

[ 打印 ]
阅读 ()评论 (0)
评论
目前还没有任何评论
登录后才可评论.