浅析乔治·斯坦纳的 ‘Understanding Is Interpreting’

郑文文

山西师范大学外国语学院，山西　临汾　041000



浅析乔治·斯坦纳的 ‘Understanding Is Interpreting’

郑文文*

山西师范大学外国语学院，山西临汾041000

众所周知，乔治·斯坦纳提出了“理解即阐释”的翻译观，那怎样去理解呢？本文根据作者的理解并引用部分例子，从阐释学的角度，用简单明了的语言简要分析“理解即阐释”。

阐释学；理解；阐释

The Hermeneutic Motion，by George Steiner，have enlightened the translating process and translator’s understanding on the source text.It showed the interdependent relationship between understanding and interpreting.According to George Steiner，the hermeneutic motion is the act of elicitation and appropriative transfer of meaning.He introduced hermeneutics in philosophy to translation study，putting forward the four steps ?trust，aggression，incorporation and restitution in the process of translation，which emphasized the specific relationship between understanding and interpreting of translator.

Translating is the process of understanding，which was embodied in one of his most important views ? ‘Understanding is interpreting’，which is because the producing of language and its process of understanding is that of translating，and translating is a basic factor of language，while the basis of translating exists as the language in an entirety.In the view of Steiner，the best way to translating is to paraphrase not free translation.He advocated that translator is limited freely in paraphrase.The translator must pay close attention to the author of source text so as to not get lost in translating process.What he should do is to follow the thoughts of the author instead of splitting hairs over words.He may extend its meaning of source text appropriately instead of changing it.For this step，it’s important to reinforce translator’s understanding.

In the translating process，at that time，translator may be confronted with hostility and resistance of the source text，therefore，he who has two kinds of identities ?reader and interpreter needs to give full play to the initiative and creativity，then invades the source text to interpret and translate it violently.From the respect of semeiology，it is to break a code and leave the shell smashed and vital layers stripped of linguistic signs then the decipherment is dissective.In the transfer of languages，faced with reappearing the thoughts，beauty and style of the source text，even foreign culture，translator needs to give full play to the initiative and creativity to digest and absorb the culture of target language.During which，it showed the understanding of translator to both the source language and target language.

George Steiner’s Hermeneutics on translation provides both a new angel for translation study and theory bases for translator’s subjectivity to understand more in the process of translating.

Set an example as follow：

I was in the middle before i knew that i had begun.(J.Austen：Pride and Prejudice，Ch.18，VIII).

This is a sentence in the end of Pride and Prejudice.In the situation，the starring actress asked the starring actor when he began to love her，then the actor replied as the above.In the middle is a phrase，which means “夹在中间，左右为难；陷入困境” in Chinese，while in this situation，it obviously means “陷入情网不能自拔”。If translator doesn’t understand the source text well and interprets it as “走了一半路，走在中间”，readers will not understand what does it mean.Therefore，translator needs to take Chinese custom into consideration to understand the source text more well so as to interpret it accurately.For instance，it can be translated as “我是到了不能自拔的时候，才发现爱上了你”.(Sun Zhili，2013)

[1]George Steiner.The Hermeneutic Motion(Excerpted from Chapter 5，pp.312-317)[M].US，1975.

[2]斯坦纳.《通天塔之后——语言与翻译面面观》[M].上海外语教育出版社，2001.

[3]孙致礼.《新编英汉翻译教程》[M].上海外语教育出版社，2013.

As we all know that George Steiner has proposed that “Understanding is interpreting”，while it’s a little complicated.How to understand it? In this paper I will analyze it briefly according my view by setting example.

Hermeneutics；understanding；interpreting Hermeneutics is a concept whose breadth and significance have continued to grow in contemporary thought — and in psychiatry.Derived from the Greek verb ‘hermeneuein’，which means ‘to interpretation’，and the noun ‘hermeneia’，‘interprtation’.Both of them are associated with the Goddess Hermes.The word was first used in the 17th century to mean biblical exegesis.

郑文文(1992-)，女，汉族，山西临汾人，山西师范大学外国语学院，翻译硕士，研究方向：英语笔译。

H315.9

A

1006-0049-(2016)15-0063-01