Only Translate 翻译尔尔

李小华

Translators are the unacknowledged facilitators of the world.

譯者是不被认可的世界推动者。

Did a mistaken translation put rovers1 on Mars？ In 1877 Giovanni Schiaparelli2， an Italian astronomer， used his then state-of-the-art telescope to view and describe what he called “canali” on the planet. English translators leapt3 on the discovery of what they rendered as “canals”. There followed a frenzy of speculation that Mars might be inhabited， which left a deep mark on the human imagination. To this day “Martian” is a synonym for alien life.

But the Italian word could also have been translated as “channels”. Which did Schiaparelli mean？ In some writings he was careful to discourage firm conclusions about life on Mars; in others， he encouraged exactly those conclusions. It is almost as though canali let him have both “channels” and “canals” in his mind at the same time.

The story is told in “Dancing on Ropes”4， Anna Aslanyan5’s new book about translators’ and interpreters’ roles at critical moments in history. It is full of lively stories like that of Schiaparelli’s canals. Ms Aslanyan is herself both a translator and interpreter （in the argot of the profession， the former works in writing， the latter in speech）， and enlists both practical experience and archival history. She leaves the reader with an awed respect for the translator’s task.

Ideally， interpreters are invisible， and two people who do not share a language will feel they are conversing directly. But this ideal is virtually unachievable. Speakers cut off their own interpreters. Listeners are rude to them， as if they （not the actual interlocutor6） had said something objectionable. The poor linguist7 in the middle can thus be tempted to clean up or soften a rude remark; Ms Aslanyan relates some enjoyable tales from the Russian interpreter for Silvio Berlusconi8， Italy’s bawdy former prime minister.

The job is draining. In “The Language Game”， Ewandro Magalhães9， a Brazilian interpreter， described how， at the Nuremberg trials10， small booths11 hooked up with telephone wires were first used for interpretation into several languages. Staff got one day off in three， and shifts were capped12 at 45 minutes. Even so， an interpreter said， four months in Nuremberg made her feel ten years older. Perhaps only the Ottomans13， who made “dragoman14” a powerful job—the grand dragoman was simultaneously deputy foreign minister—gave interpreters the respect they deserve.

Translation is different： usually solitary， seemingly more leisurely， but now under tremendous economic pressure. In the digital era， everyone competes with everyone and buyers often simply take the lowest bid （or Google Translate）. The literary work that cannot be done by a faceless contractor or a machine may not always pay the bills， but it at least provides stimulation. Ms Aslanyan recalls trying to transpose a Russian spoken in rural Ukraine into an English that carried the same tones; after she and a collaborator considered and rejected a Scottish inflection15， they went with snatches16 of West Country17 English. Since 2016 the overseers of the International Booker Prize for fiction have split the prize-money equally between authors and their translators.

Ms Aslanyan says a mistranslation also played a role in America’s atomic bombing of Japan in 1945. An official statement said that the Japanese would “mokusatsu18” the Potsdam Declaration that called on Japan to surrender. The verb can mean things including “to offer no comment on” and “to kill with silence”， but also “to treat with silent contempt”. The Americans leaned towards the latter interpretation—a defiant insult—helping seal19 Hiroshima’s fate.

Devotees of Esperanto20， an artificial language， have long hoped that understanding would promote peace between peoples. Douglas Adams21， author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”， satirically took the opposite stance. In his fantasy， the Babel Fish—which， once stuck in your ear， instantly provides perfect translation of all languages—is responsible for more wars than anything else in history.

But the most eloquent comment on translation may come from José Ortega y Gasset22， a Spanish philosopher whom Ms Aslanyan cites. Two words in two languages are never exact translations of each other， he said. More than that， though， no two people mean the same thing by the same word （with the possible exception of some scientific terms）.  Translation， therefore， is a “utopian” endeavour， an impossible act of perfect mind­reading23. That does not mean it should not be attempted—but those who try should be “good utopians” who know they can never succeed.

是誤译把漫游车送上了火星吗？1877年，意大利天文学家乔范尼·夏帕雷利使用当时最先进的望远镜观察并描绘了火星上他所称的canali。英语翻译人员匆忙之中，将此发现译为“运河”。随之人们纷纷猜测火星上可能有生命存在，这对人类的想象产生了深刻影响。至今“火星人”还是外星生命的代名词。

但这个意大利语单词本也可以译为“水道”。可夏帕雷利究竟想表达哪个意思？他在一些著述中谨言慎语，避免人们得出火星上有生命的确切结论，而在其他著述中，他引导人们得出的恰恰是一些那样的结论。似乎在他的脑子里，canali兼有“水道”和“运河”两层意思。

这个故事写进了安娜·阿斯兰扬的新书《绳索上的舞蹈》。书中讲述了笔译员和口译员在各种历史紧要关头所起的作用，全是诸如夏帕雷利的运河那样生动的故事。阿斯兰扬女士本人既做笔译，也做口译（用译界的行话来说，前者干的是笔头的活儿，后者是口头的），既依靠实际经验，也仰赖历史档案。她令读者对翻译工作肃然起敬。

理想情况下，口译员是隐而不现的;语言不通的两个人会觉得他们是在直接交谈。可这个理想几乎无法实现。讲话者常打断自己的口译员，听话者对他们很是无礼，好像是口译员（不是实际对话者）的言语令人反感。这样，夹在中间的口译员往往会祛除或柔化粗言鄙语;阿斯兰扬女士讲述了一位俄语口译员经历的几件趣事，他所服务的意大利前总理西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼时常出言污秽。

这件差事会让人心力交瘁。巴西口译员埃万德罗·马加良斯在《语言游戏》一书中描述了在纽伦堡大审判中首次使用以电话线连接的小隔间进行多语种口译的情形。员工们工作两天休息一天，轮班时间上限为45分钟。一位口译员曾说，即便如此，她在纽伦堡的4个月，让她感觉一下子老了10岁。也许只有奥斯曼人给予了译员应有的尊重，他们让译员成为一种拥有巨大权力的职业，因为他们的首席译员同时还是外交部副部长。

笔译工作则不同，通常是独立完成，看似更为从容，而当下负有巨大的经济压力。在数字时代，人人相互竞争，而雇主往往只认最低价（或“谷歌翻译”）。不知名的承包人和机器不能做的文学翻译工作，不见得总能让译者应付日常开销，但至少有激励作用。阿斯兰扬女士回忆说，有一次她试着把乌克兰乡下说的俄语译成语气相同的英语。她与合作者曾考虑过使用苏格兰英语方言，最后还是放弃了，只好零零碎碎地使用了英格兰西南部的英语土语。从2016年起，“国际布克文学奖”的主办方把奖金平分给作者和译者。

阿斯兰扬女士表示，误译在1945年美国用原子弹轰炸日本事件中起了作用。曾有官方报告指出，日本人将“默杀”敦促日本投降的《波茨坦公告》。这个动词有多层含义，包括“不予评论”和“置之不理”，还可以是“无声蔑视”的意思。美国人则倾向于后一种解释，即挑衅侮辱，这最终决定了广岛的命运。

人造语言世界语的热衷者向来都希望，理解能促进各民族和睦相处。讽刺的是，《银河系漫游指南》的作者道格拉斯·亚当斯却站在了相反的立场上。在他的奇幻故事中，一旦“巴别鱼”塞进耳朵，它会即刻提供所有语种的完美翻译——可是，历史上因它而起的战争比其他原因都多。

然而，西班牙哲学家何塞·奥特加·伊·加塞特对翻译的评论可能最具说服力。阿斯兰扬女士援引他的话说，不同语言中的两个词绝对没有完全对等的翻译。不仅如此，没有两个人用同一个词指同一件事（可能某些科学术语除外）。因此，翻译是“空想家”的追求，是一项不可能做到的完美读心术。这并不意味着不应该尝试，但那些知其不可为而为之的人，必定是“优秀的空想家”。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者;单位：青岛科技大学外国语学院）