《射雕》终出英文版,译者居然是位英国80后......
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几乎每个人心中都有一场金庸武侠梦…
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终南山下,活死人墓;神雕侠侣,绝迹江湖…
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蓉儿可不是小妖女,她是…很好很好的姑娘…很好很好的 …
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芷若,我对你一向敬重,对殷家表妹心生感激,对小昭是意存怜惜,但对赵姑娘却是…却是铭心刻骨的相爱…
这副对联概括了金庸所有小说。在华语圈,金庸作品创下的阅读、收视神话无人能及。
像《射雕英雄传》、《鹿鼎记》、《神雕侠侣》等翻拍不下六七次,拍到烂都不缺流量。
90年代经典版…
当代鲜肉版…
无论哪一部,拍必火,总有槽点和乐趣…
可惜的是,如此火爆的武侠经典,却很少有西方读者,因为目前仅有三本金庸小说被完整地译成了英文,分别是《雪山飞狐(Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain)》,《鹿鼎记(The Deer and the Cauldron)》和《书剑恩仇录(The Book and the Sword)》。
不过,这一情况即将改变!据外网报道,英国出版社Maclehose Press已经确定要出版《射雕英雄传(Legend of the Condor Heros)》、《神雕侠侣(Divine Condor, Errant Knight)》和《倚天屠龙记(Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre)》英文版,共12卷,第一卷于2018年2月22日发行,译者为英国人郝玉青(Anna Holmwood)。
这距离《射雕》诞生整整60年!!!隐隐感觉西方即将迎来一场武林风雨的暴击…
亚马逊网站已经开始售该书,号称“最畅销的中国玄幻小说(the bestselling Chinese fantasy phenomenon)”,“中国版《指环王》首次译成英文”,“所有中国读者钟爱几十年的系列,销量上亿本 “。
《射雕》系列被称为中国的《指环王》
美国Quartzy网站发表了文章“中国文学的《指环王》终于翻译成了英文”。
该文描述了西方人眼中的金庸武侠世界:
在中国作家金庸构想的世界中,英雄侠客英勇双全,侠肝义胆,对抗腐败和专制的朝廷。他们穿梭于林间,用“一阳指”一招毙敌。
(The world imagined by Chinese writer Jin Yong is one which celebrates loyalty, courage, and the triumph of the individual over a corrupt and authoritarian state—carried out by no less than heroes who fly through trees and deliver deadly blows to their enemies with a single finger.)
作者称,与《指环王》作者托尔金相比,金庸的武侠世界在创造性、广度和深度上不逊分毫(Cha’s fantasy worlds rival J.R.R. Tolkien’s every bit in creativity, breadth, and depth),两人主题相似,不过本质上有区别:
与托尔金一样 ,“正义”与“英雄主义”也是金庸小说的中心主题。但不同的是,这位英国作家是有关霍比特人、精灵和半兽人的奇思构想,而金庸作品根植于中国历史,是在一种“假设”的历史情形下对历史事实进行“再想象”。
(Like Tolkien, the themes of justice and heroism are also central to Cha’s works. But unlike the British writer’s fantasies about hobbits, elves, and orcs, Cha’s world is in fact rooted in China’s past, a sort of historical fiction that reimagines alternative “what if” scenarios in history.)
英国《卫报》也发表了文章“英雄诞生:中国的托金斯旨在征服西方读者”。
该文将郭靖比作《指环王》主演佛罗多·巴金斯和《权利的游戏》主演琼恩·雪诺:
郭靖是成吉思汗庞大侵略大军中的一名年轻士兵,是一位被谋杀侠客的儿子,是如《指环王》佛罗多·巴金斯和《权利的游戏》琼恩·雪诺那种求索型文学人物,很快将为人所知。事实上,这位中国武侠英雄已是一位杰出人物,与后两位史诗级人物不相上下。
(Guo Jing, a young soldier among the massed ranks of Genghis Khan’s invading army and son of a murdered warrior, may soon become as familiar a questing literary figure as Frodo Baggins from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, or Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. In fact, this Chinese fighting hero is already part of phenomenon that can match both of those epics in size.)
文章称,金庸作品风靡华语地区,但在西方却很少有人知道,因为翻译的难度让人望而却步:
金庸是世界上最有名的功夫玄幻作家,他在华语圈享有巨大声望。然而,在西方,他的名字少有人知,主要因为他创建的世界太复杂,对译者如同迷一般。
(The world’s biggest kung fu fantasy writer, Jin Yong enjoys huge popularity in the Chinese-speaking world. In the west, however, his name is barely known, largely due to the complexity of the world he has created and the puzzle that has posed for translators.)
就连出版人MacLehose也是从中国朋友那里得知,金庸竟是如此受欢迎:
克里斯托弗·麦勒荷兹专门从事于翻译名家名作,他从一位中国朋友那里得知金庸就像法国的西默农,俄罗斯的托尔斯泰,其作品是大众文化的一部分,读者代代相传,热情不减。
(Christopher MacLehose, who specialises in translated masterpieces, had discovered from a Chinese friend how Jin Yong’s work was like Simenon’s is to the French or Tolstoy’s to the Russians – a part of the common culture, with one generation of readers passing on their enthusiasm to the next.)
翻译之难
翻译金庸之难首先在于他的语言丰富而复杂。波士顿大学中国文学及比较文学系教授彼德勒斯·刘称:
翻译金庸是项艰巨的任务,因为他的语言太复杂,为了营造一种中国古代通俗小说的文风,他将散文、诗歌和大量的成语及其他中国俗语融合一起。
(Translating Jin Yong is often a daunting task because of the complexity of his language, which integrates prose and poetry and makes extensive use of ‘four-character phrases’ and other Chinese idioms in order to recreate the ‘feel’ of traditional Chinese vernacular novels.)
此外,金庸语言往往还有着很深的中国哲学文化底蕴,这种文化意境太难翻译,据《卫报》称:
译界同仁现已被选派来协助这一任务,但他们面临的挑战是将功夫动作以及贯穿小说情节中的中国哲学和宗教思想忠实地翻译出来。例如,即便是将《英雄诞生》中的武功招数“降龙十八掌”直译为“the 18 palm attacks to defeat dragons”,但它实际上源自2,500年前《老子》的道家经典,除动作之外还有着深厚的哲学原理。
(Fellow translators are now being drafted in to help with the task, but the challenge facing all of them is to faithfully represent the kung fu moves along with the Chinese philosophies and religions that are all woven through the plot. Even the fighting skill of the warrior in A Hero Born, for instance, which literally translate as “the 18 palm attacks to defeat dragons”, is in fact derived from a Taoist classic ascribed to Lao Tzu, dating from 2,500 years ago, and has a strong philosophical element in addition to movement.)
且不说降龙十八掌还包括“亢龙有悔、潜龙勿用”等招式,就连“江湖”,“武林”这些词也很难译出其真正意蕴,据Quartzy网站称:
中国读者及任何武侠小说爱好者熟知的“江湖”一词,就很难翻译成英文。它字面意思是“江和湖”,但通常用于形容平行于世俗社会的世界,其法律和道德准则自成一派。它与另一武侠术语“武林”密切相关,后者指一群习武之人组成的群体。
(Jianghu, a term that is familiar to Chinese speakers and any reader of wuxia fiction but difficult to translate into English. The word literally translates as “rivers and lakes,” but is typically used to mean people who live in a world parallel to conventional society, one that operates by its own laws and code of ethics. It is closely linked to another wuxia term, the wulin, or “martial arts forest,” referring to a community of people practicing martial arts.)
据译者Holmwood称,读者最关心的是她会如何翻译这些五花八门的武功招式,比如:
打狗棒法咋翻译?
Branch Beats the White Chimpanzee,惊不惊喜?
九阴白骨爪呢?
Nine Yin Skeleton Claw,意不意外?
江南七怪呢?
Seven Freaks of the South…是不是有种中西合璧的感觉?
不过高手往往在民间……
欲知更多招数如何翻译,只能明年二月见分晓…
为何翻译《射雕》三部曲
令人惊讶的是,如此难翻译的巨作,居然是由一位80后的英国译者Anna Holmwood承担的。
据BBC中文网电话采访她,她笑着承认"我是无知者无畏,刚开始不知道翻译金庸那么难,后来才知道,但没有退路了。“
她于1985年生于瑞典,父亲是英国人,母亲是瑞典人,从小在双语环境中长大。2005年她第一次来到中国,很快就对中国文化产生了兴趣,回英国后便入学牛津攻读当代中国研究硕士。她在朋友的力荐之下读了金庸,成功被吸粉,一发而不可收,最先读的是《鹿鼎记》。
Holmwood认为金庸作品“有质量,有地位”,很想推荐给西方读者。随着中国武术逐渐为西方人所熟悉,武侠小说在西方市场很有潜力:
人们对武术的知识一直在加深,我认为现在是翻译《射雕英雄传》的最好时机。欧美的小镇上有武术馆,所以实际上西方人不仅有兴趣观看和阅读武术作品,还有兴趣练习武术。
(Knowledge is getting deeper all the time, so I think now is the perfect moment to translate Legends of the Condor Heroes. There are martial arts clubs in small towns all across Europe and America and further afield, so in fact there is a big interest in the West not only in watching and reading about martial arts, but also practicing it.)
我们也爱重温经典,看英雄侠客痛打奸人恶棍,伸张正义,多么酣畅淋漓。当社会或法律难以惩凶治恶时,武侠小说或许能给人一种心理慰藉,而这种慰藉是不分国界的。Holmwood称:
在《天堂文件》等丑闻层出的时代,当掌权者追逐钱财而不顾百姓福祉,人们可以欣赏武侠小说。无权之辈能够战胜权贵,一套回旋踢就能打得对方屁滚尿流,这是一种普遍的渴望。
(In an age of the Paradise Papers and everything, people can appreciate when the people in power are after the money and not the well-being of the everyday man. There’s a universal desire to imagine that the powerless can prevail, and kick their ass with a spinning kick.)
其实,既然《权游》、《指环王》能够俘获如此多中国粉丝,我们大可相信经典如《射雕》也能吸引到西方人。东西方文化本就有相通之处,中国有侠客文化,西方也有亚瑟王和圆桌骑士,绿林好汉等,正如Holmwood在《射雕英雄传》第一卷中写道:
很多人认为金庸的世界太过于陌生,对于英文读者来说太“中国”了,根本没法翻译。但是,这个故事讲述了爱、忠诚、荣誉,还有个人力量对抗腐败政府和侵略力量,这是任何一个故事都希望展示的。翻译中最大的损失,就是不翻译这本书。
(Many have considered Jin Yong's world too foreign, too Chinese for an English-speaking readership. Impossible to translate. And yet this story of love, loyalty, honor and the power of the individual against successive corrupt governments and invading forces is as universal as any story could hope to be. The greatest loss that can occur in translation can only come from not translating it at all.)
也许有人担心译作太差,对原作是一种侮辱。不过,如果译作能在西方读者心中激起涟漪,激发阅读原作的欲望,某种程度上说,它就有意义。Holmwood也表达了翻译时的谦恭之心:
许多人年少时就读了金庸作品,这些作品留在他们心中。因此我在翻译时有一种极强的责任感。
(These books are read by so many Chinese people when they are teenagers, and the work really stays in their heads. So, of course, I felt a great weight of responsibility in translating them.)
加上歪果仁对中国越来越多事物的种种蜜汁迷恋,《射雕》英文版会带来怎样的效应,我们拭目以待…
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