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看老外是怎样翻译中文小说

(2022-09-18 14:12:01) 下一个

 

读完小说<狼图腾>的英译本,发现不少翻译错误。这里我只列举一些明显错误。

令人惊讶的是译者是一位有名的中国文学教授。

 

在下面的列表中我用:

 

[CHINESE] 代表: <狼图腾> 姜戎著,长江文艺出版社,2004

[ENGLISH] 代表: "Wolf Totem", Jiang Rong, Translated by Howard Goldblatt, The Penguin Press, New York, 2008.

 

 

1.

[CHINESE] P. 41, Line 11: 每头狼几乎都是怀着以命拼食的亡命报复劲头冲过来的。

[ENGLISH] P. 66, Line 20: Alpha males, filled with murderous thoughts of revenge, ...

[NOTE]: 每头狼 is not "Alpha males".

 

2.

[CHINESE] P. 43, Line 27: 每头狼浑身的皮毛被白毛风嵌满了雪,全身雪白。

[ENGLISH] P. 71, Line 1: The fur of the pack leader was inlaid with snow driven there by the wind, turning it a spectral white.

[NOTE]: 每头狼 is not "the pack leader".

 

3.

[CHINESE] P. 50, Line 35: 每挪一步,马身与泥浆缝隙里就被灌进更多的雪沙和寒风,

[ENGLISH] P. 82, Line 1: They were trapped, though they kept struggling, each torturous step bringing more snow and cold air into the spaces that opened up between hoof and mud.

[NOTE]: 马身 is not "hoof".

 

4.

[CHINESE] P. 57, Line 8: “黄河百害,惟富一套。”

[ENGLISH] P. 90, Line 31: "The Yellow River causes a hundred calamities but enriches all it touches";

[NOTE]: 一套 is the Hetao Area (河套地区), the Great Bend of the Yellow River.

 

5.

[CHINESE] P. 69, Line 2: 牧民粮食定量每月19斤,少就少在小米上。

[ENGLISH] P. 109, Line 29: The herdsmen were given only nineteen jin of grain a month, all of it millet.

[NOTE]: 6 of it millet.

 

6.

[CHINESE] P. 72, Line 30: 陈阵常想,额仑草原的狼个头大得出奇,

[ENGLISH] P. 115, Line 2: Chen Zhen wondered if the reason the Olonbulag wolves had such large heads and so easily outsmarted humans was that they often dined on Olonbulag mutton.

[NOTE]: 个头 is size, height, not head; the same mistakes are in [ENGLISH] P. 393, Line 3 and in [ENGLISH] P. 447, Line 33.

 

7.

[CHINESE] P. 82, Line 34: 进了包,漂亮的地毯已恢复原状,三个灯捻的羊油灯将宽大的蒙古包照得亮堂堂,

[ENGLISH] P. 132, Line 4: Inside, the rug had been restored to its original state; three lanterns in which sheep's oil burned lit up the spacious yurt,

[NOTE]: should be: the lantern of three wicks ...

 

8.

[CHINESE] P. 86, Line 28: 这是狼钟爱之地,隐蔽,背风,

[ENGLISH] P. 138Line 19: ... was a favorite place for the wolves, with its hiding places and the wind at their backs;

[NOTE]: 背风 is lee side, leeward, not "the wind at their backs"; the same mistake is in

[ENGLISH] P. 210, Line 6.

 

9.

[CHINESE] P. 99, Line 27: 但是眼前的场景使他差点泄了气:平平的地面上,只有一个直径30厘米左右的小洞,

[ENGLISH] P. 160, Line 1: He was discouraged by what he saw: a hole no wider than a few inches had been opened in the ground,

[NOTE]: 30厘米(cm) is equal to 12 inches, not a few inches.

 

10.

[CHINESE] P. 114, Line 31: 这里正是马群全军覆没地的东边。

[ENGLISH] P. 181, Line 34: It was a spot just south of the site of the horse massacre.

[NOTE]: should be: east, not south.

 

11.

[CHINESE] P. 128, Line 21: 那片苇地我知道,太大了,有几千亩,

[ENGLISH] P. 204, Line 12: I know that valley, it's huge, thousands of acres,

[NOTE]: 1 acre = 6 mu (), the same mistakes are in [ENGLISH] P. 251, Line 4, in

[ENGLISH] P. 242, Line 26, and in [ENGLISH] P. 509, Line 31.

 

12.

[CHINESE] P. 129, Line 20: 要把狼全烧死了,遇上大灾年,遍地的死牲口谁来处理?

[ENGLISH] P. 205, Line 31: But let's say you burn them all up--then who pay when the fire kills our livestock?

[NOTE]:

 

13.

[CHINESE] P. 152, Line 20: 春天的黄羊粪很湿,

[ENGLISH] P. 239, Line 23: Gazelle dung is wet in the summer,

[NOTE]: should be: spring, not summer.

 

14.

[CHINESE] P. 173, Line 5: 士可杀,不可辱。

[ENGLISH] P. 269, Last line: You can kill a warrior; you cannot humiliate him.

[NOTE]:  is bachelor (in ancient China), not warrior.

 

15.

[CHINESE] P. 265, Line 3: 天苍苍,野茫茫,

[ENGLISH] P. 392, Line 10: The sky is dark, the wilderness vast /

[NOTE]: should be: Vast is the sky, boundless the wilds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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