Totheoutsideworld,literarytranslatorsarefamouslyinvisible.Beingatight-knitcommunityofsolitaryhomeworkers,though,wetalkalotamongstourselves.Recently,onebigthingwe’vebeentalkingaboutisreviewsofourwork.Ascriticscometonoticeourexistence,wegarnerbothpraiseand–inwhatfeelslikegreaterdepth–criticism.SoIthoughtitmightbeusefulto

askotherliterarytranslatorswhattheyaimfor,whatpositivecriteriawehaveforjudgingtheoutcomeofourwork.Iwasnotdisappointed.It’seasytosaywhatabadtranslationis.Theonesthatareaccidentallyjaggedlikethepersonwieldingthescissorswasdrunk.Theoneswheresomeonehasmisunderstoodtheoriginal,orperhapsmisinterpretedit.Theoneswhereallindividualityhasbeensmoothedout.But

howdoweidentifyasuccessfultranslation?Whenhavewedoneourjobwell?Whatisitwewanttoachieve,beyondmerefluidity?WhatIsaGoodTranslation?1DavidColmer(translatesfromDutchtoEnglish)Fluidityisnottobesneezedat,andisoftendifficulttoaccomplish,butagoodtranslationgoesfurtherandachievestheself-evidenceandurgencyoftheoriginal.Itsings,whispersandswearsliketheoriginalandleavesthereaderthrilled,disturbedandamusedinthesamewaystoo.Asensitivemonolingualreviewerdescribesthestyleofagoodtranslationintermsthatunknowinglyechothereviewsoftheoriginalnovelorpoetry.Agoodtranslationdoesnothavetobeimpeccablystarchedandironed,butdarestoberaggedandfranticwhenappropriate.

Whenpresentedwithafewlinesoforiginalandtranslation,abilingualreadermightnotbesurewhichiswhich.

ThevoiceofagoodtranslationisasdistinctiveinEnglishastheauthor’svoiceintheoriginallanguage,alsowhencomparedtootherauthorstranslatedbythesametranslator.AgoodtranslationacceptsthegiftsEnglishoffersandisnotanendlessprocessionofcompromiseandloss.

Agoodtranslationissomethingtoaspiretoand,inthisperfectionist’sprofession,agoodtranslationisnevergoodenough.首先，流暢度是不容忽視的。譯文達到流暢的水平很難。但好的翻譯會更進一步，實現原作不證自明的清晰與下筆時的緊迫感。好的翻譯會還原原作的語感，讀者能感到它在歌唱、呢喃或咒罵，并為之興奮、不安或開懷。一位敏銳的單語評論家形容對好的翻譯作品的評論是能夠與原作的評論相互呼應的。好的翻譯不是無可挑剔地拘泥刻板、齊齊整整，而是適當時候敢于表現得粗糙和狂放。當譯文與原文同時出現在雙語讀者前時，好的翻譯應當讓讀者分辨不出哪個是原文，哪個是譯文。譯者具有辨識力的聲音應該留存于優秀的譯文文本中，正如原文中作者的聲音一樣。且在這個譯者翻譯其他作品時，也能看得出其風格。好的翻譯會接受譯文語言的饋贈，且翻譯的過程不是無盡的妥協與損失。我們都應追求好的翻譯，在這個完美主義者的行當中，好的翻譯永遠都不夠好。2AlexZucker(translatesfromCzechtoEnglish)Towriteagoodtranslation,atacertainpointIhavetoforgetthetextI’mtranslatingexists.

OnlythencanIreadmytranslationwithout“seeingthroughit”theforeign-languagetext“underneath”–thatis,thewayvirtuallyeveryoneelsewhoreadsmytranslationisgoingtoread(andassess)it.Beyondthat,Idon’tagreethatfluidityisnecessarilyalwaysagoal.

Agoodtranslationrespectsand,therefore,reflectstheauthor’sstyleandvocabulary:Wheretheauthor’swritingischoppy,mineshouldalsobe.Whereit’sharshorstiltedoropaque,orlyricalandflowing,orunambiguous,mywritingshouldbetoo.Whentheauthorconformstoconvention,soshouldI;whentheybendorbreakit,Ineedtodothesame.Thisassumestheauthorintendedtheseeffects.Ontheotherhand,itcanhappenthatanauthor’swritingcomesacrossasawkwardwheninfactitwasaresultofpoor(ornon-existent)editing,ratherthanadeliberatestyle.Thisiswhereitcangettricky.Weallknowbynow,Ihope,thatthisdoesn’tmeaneverysinglewordorphraseinmytranslationmustpreciselycorrespondinstyleandeffecttoacounterpartintheauthor’stext.ButitdoesmeanthatIdon’thavethelibertytowritea“strange”workwhentheauthor’swas“normal”,or“normalise”thewritingwhentheauthormeanttobeunorthodox.IfIdo,theresultmaystillbe“good”,butratherthanatranslation,itmightbemoreaccuratetocallitanadaptation.做出好的翻譯，某種程度上我要忘記原文的存在。只有當我自己在閱讀譯文時都可以忘記那譯文底下的另一種語言，讀者才能做到這樣。以及，我并不承認流利是翻譯的目的。好的翻譯尊重并如實反映原文作者的風格與用詞。當一位作者的寫作是支離破碎的，我的譯文也應當是這樣。原文作者的寫作風格可能是刺耳、生硬、晦澀的，亦或抒情流暢、毫不含糊的，那么我的譯文也應該做到這些。原文的作者可能遵循傳統，我便也遵循傳統；當他們彎曲或者打破程式，我也隨之打破。當然前提是，作者預料到了這些后果。另一方面，如下的情況也可能發生：一位作者的寫作由于拙劣的編輯過程顯得很尷尬，而非作者本人有意為之的風格。這就是問題的棘手之處了。正如我們目前所知的，我說的并不意味著我的譯文中每一個詞句在風格和效果上都要與原文的文本對應。我的意思是，當原作者的寫作很普通，或者原作者就打算循規蹈矩地寫出非正統的東西時，譯者是無權譯出一本“奇怪”的作品的。如果我作為譯者真的這么做了，可能結果仍然是很好的，但我就不會說我在做翻譯了，可能說是‘改編’更準確。3RosSchwartz(translatesfromFrenchtoEnglish)Agoodtranslationcapturesthespiritofatextwithoutslavishlyfollowingittotheletter.

Itcapturestheenergyandtextureandvoiceofthesourcetextandreplicatestheminthetranslation,drawingonalltheresourcesofthetargetlanguage.Agoodtranslationconveyswhatiswrittenbetweenthelines.Agoodtranslationexudesempathy.Agoodtranslationelicitsthesameemotionalresponseinthereaderasthesourcetextdoesinitsreaders.Agoodtranslationdoesn’tcolonisetheworkbutpreservesthejoysandbeautiesofits“otherness”withoutresortingtoweirdforeignisation.Agoodtranslationperfectlyresolvesthetensionbetweenmeaningandmusic,andthatofbeingsource-textorientedandtarget-readeroriented.

Agoodtranslationisboldandcreative,agoodtranslationsings.好的翻譯無需死板地逐字翻譯，就能捕捉到原文的神韻。它能捕捉到原文文本中的能量、紋理和聲音，并動用譯文語言中的一切資源，將這些逐一在譯文中呈現。好的翻譯能夠傳遞出字里行間的意蘊，并流露出譯者的共情；這樣的翻譯能夠像原文引出讀者恰當的情感反應那樣引出譯文讀者的情感反應。好的翻譯不會對作品進行殖民，不用訴諸奇怪的異國化也能保存其‘他者性’之美；好的翻譯完美地疏解了意義與樂音間的張力，即‘文本中心論’還是‘讀者中心論’。好的翻譯是大膽而創新的，猶在歌唱。4AntoniaLloyd-Jones(translatesfromPolishtoEnglish)Agoodtranslationisimperceptible.Itreadsasifthebookwerewritteninthelanguageintowhichithasbeentranslated.

Withinthetext,thetranslatorisinvisible.Agoodtranslationremovesthebarrierimposedbyanunfamiliarlanguageandallowsthewritertocommunicatedirectlywiththeforeignreader.好的翻譯是不留痕跡的，讀來好像這本書本來就是譯文語言所寫就的。在文本中，譯者是無形的。好的翻譯會去除陌生語言的障礙，使得作者能與外國讀者直接進行交流。Agoodtranslationdoesn’tsimplyreproducethecorrectmeaningoftheoriginaltext.Italsocapturesthevoiceandmusicoftheoriginalasthewriterintendedittobeheard,andreproducesitinawaythatisaudibletothenew,foreignreader.

Itissensitivetothemeaning,effectsandintentionsoftheoriginal,butalsotothebestwaystorendertheminthetargetlanguage.好的翻譯不僅僅是重現原文正確的語義，它還能捕捉到原文作者想要傳達的聲音與樂音，并以外國讀者能夠聽懂的方式再現。它能夠敏銳地察覺到語義、語言效果及原作者的意圖，更懂得如何將這些以最佳的方式在被翻譯的語言中呈現。Insomeinstances,achievingthataimcanmeanmovingawayfromtheliteralmeaningoftheoriginal.Thisisprobablytruerfortranslationfromsomelanguagesthanothers;perhapsfortranslatorsintoEnglish,languagesoutsidetheIndo-Europeangroupwillneedadifferentapproachfromlanguagesthatbelongtoit.Differentgenresortranslatingforchildrencanalsohavedifferentrequirements.So

whileagoodtranslationistruetotheoriginalmeaningtheauthorwantstoconvey,itisn’tstraitjacketedbytheliteralmeaningoftheoriginaltext.在某些情況下，實現這個目的可能意味著要將原文的字面意思抹去。在某些語言的翻譯中更為如此。因為或許對于那些將其他語言譯成英文的譯者來說，印歐語系之外的語言翻譯的方法與印歐語系之內的并不相同。面對不同的種類或者不同讀者，例如給兒童讀者翻譯，則也有不同的要求。所以盡管說一個好的翻譯是忠于原文的，但它不為原文的字面意思所束縛。Agoodtranslationalsorecognisestheoriginalwriter’sstyleandvoice,buttoconveythemtotheforeignreaderinkeepingwiththewriter’sintentions,thetranslatormightneedtoretunethemslightly,usingdifferenttechniques.

Thisisparticularlytrueofpoetry,orofprosethatislyricalanddependentonrhythmorsound.好的翻譯能夠識別出原文作者的風格特點，在遵守作者意圖的同時將其傳達給外國讀者。當然，譯者在其中可能需要運用不同的翻譯技巧輕微調試一下。這一點對于抒情性的、依賴韻律與聲音的詩歌和散文尤為重要。5SandraHetzl(translatesfromArabictoGerman)Tomeagoodtranslationisonewhereyoualmostcan’tbelievewhatyou’rereadingwastranslated,fromsomethingintosomething,fromsomewheretosomewhere–islanguageaplace,orisitratherathing?Onewhereyoualmostcan’tbelieveitwasbroughtfromsomewheretosomewhere.Thatitwasunboxed,thenhastilytransported,ashapeless,unprotectedsomething,andcarefullyputintonewboxes.WhichmakesitsoundlikeIsustainthetheorythat

agoodtranslationissomesortofahoax.對我來說，人們讀到好的翻譯時，是察覺不出它是譯文的，察覺不出這種從一個事物到另一事物的轉換、從一個地方移動到另一個地方——語言到底是一個區域，還是某種事物呢？總之你不會相信它是從某地移動到某地的，它從箱子中取出，急匆匆地運往另一個地方，這個無形的、也不受保護的東西就這么被小心翼翼地放到了另一個盒子里。這聽起來似乎是我堅信的那一套理論：好的翻譯就是一場騙局。6SaskiaVogel(translatedfromSwedishtoEnglish)Isupposeagoodtranslationisagoodpieceofwritingandshouldhaveallthemarkersofthose.

Personally,Iappreciatemusicalityinatextandanabilitytocarrythroughthefeelingofeachline:thosesubtleshifts,forexample,whenattheendofaparagraphawell-placedwordorphraseelicitsalaugh,anoteoftragedyorirony.Iftextsaren’tmusicalinsomeway(cacophonousandmelodicalike),IfindthatIammorecriticalofthetranslation.Iwondertowhatextentagoodtranslationisn’talsoaboutabeinggoodfitwiththetranslator.IthinkabouttextswhereI’vehadtolabourperhapstoomuchtomakethevoicefeelauthentictotheauthor’s,andIcanthinkthatperhapsIwasn’tagoodfitforthattext.Ithink(hope)thishassomethingtodowithexperience.ThetextsI’mthinkingofwereearlyoninmycareer,whichmightbringmetomyanswerforwhatagoodtranslationis:

Whenthetranslatorfeelscomfortableenoughwiththetexttotreatitastheirown–allthewhilekeepingtheauthor’smusic,tone,emotion,voice,etc.,insight–andisabletocreate(ortranscreate?)apieceofwritingthatfeelsliketheoriginalandcarriestheoriginalthroughtothereader,howevermuchthetranslatorhasstayedfaithfultoordepartedfromtheoriginaltext.

Whentranslationsdon’tfeelliketheyhavebeenwritten–wherethereaderbecomestooawareofthemechanicsofthewriting–andsimply‘are’that’swhenthey’regood.Ifearthisallsoundsterriblyvague,andsoIthinkofdancingandreturntowhatyoubroughtupfirst:whenyouseesomeonecompetentlydoingthestepsbutnotbridgingtechniqueandfeeling,versusthedancerjustbeingintheflow.Flowiscaptivatingandgenerousinthatitallowsforallsortsofimperfectionsaswearebeingsweptalonginthemomentandmovement.我想好的翻譯同時也是好的寫作，并且擁有這兩者的標志。個人而言，我欣賞文本的樂音感及在每一行文字中攜帶這種樂音的能力。有時這表現為微妙的轉折：比如，自然段結尾處恰到好處某個詞或詞組會引人發笑、令人悲哀或感到荒誕。如果文字本身沒有樂音感，我發現自己對翻譯會更加苛刻。有時我會思考，好的翻譯應該不僅僅是與譯者合拍。我想起那些我需要費很大力氣才能與作者的聲音對應起來的文本，也許我與它們不太合拍。我認為（希望）這是與個人經歷有關。我想到的這些文本在我職業生涯的早期出現，現在我可以回答到底什么才是好的翻譯了：當譯者能夠較為舒適地處理文本，就像面對自己的文字那么舒適——同時保留原作者的樂音、語氣、情感、聲音等等，以及能夠創作出一段與原文相似的、保留原文意蘊的文本（姑且不論譯者是否已經遠離了原文）。當譯文不像是被寫出來的，讀者看得出來翻譯的痕跡時……我想我還是說得太模糊了。還是拿舞蹈來打比喻吧，回到你之前的問題。兩者的區別就像是你看到一個只是做動作而完全沒有將技巧和感受聯結起來的舞者與另一個一直處在流動狀態的舞者的區別。這種流動狀態是令人著迷的，并且很慷慨，因為它容許各種各樣的不完美發生，我們只是被時間和動作裹挾其中。7JuliaSherwood(translatesfromSlovaktoEnglish)Formeagoodtranslationisonethatisonthesamewavelengthastheoriginaltext–apieceofmusicthathasbeenarrangedfordifferentinstrumentsbutevokesanemotionalresponseasclosetotheeffectoftheoriginalaspossiblegivenadifferentculturalbackgroundandreferences.

Oragoulashorasoufflépreparedfromlocallyavailableingredientsthatcomesoutwithatextureasstodgyorfluffyandthatburnsyourpalateorticklesyourtastebudsinthesamewayastheoriginal.在我看來，好的譯文是與原文在同一個波長上的，是被不同的樂器演奏的同一段音樂，即使是在與原文不同的文化背景下，也仍能引發相似的情感共鳴。或者說，像是使用當地的配料烹飪而成的燉牛肉或酥皮，其質地或粗糙或松軟，都使你的味蕾像感受原來的配方時那樣騷動。8SamBett(translatesfromJapanesetoEnglish)Agoodtranslationwantstoberead.

Itscleversolutionswillkeeptothesurface,nomoreconspicuousthantheslipperythingstheyventuretoapproximate.Thestrengthsandcuriositiesofthesourcewilldaretobepresentalongsideitsdullerpointsandweaknesses,butallwillhavebeenreimagined,naturallyandeffectively,ataremovefromtherulesoftheoriginalstyle.好的譯文渴望被閱讀。它聰明的地方顯而易見，和譯者們冒險含糊了事的那些部分一樣明顯。原文的精彩之處也可能和它無聊乏味的地方并列，但這些都需要（譯者）從原文的風格中解放出來，重新想象。9SophieLewis(translatesfromFrenchandPortuguesetoEnglish)Ithinkit’saboutanear-magicalbalance

beingstruckbetweenchannellingthetranslator’sperceivedideaofthetext’soriginalsoundandintentionanditsre-enactmentthroughthetranslator’sownvoice,

thewaytheypersonallywouldexpressthesestylesandideas.It’saboutthecarefulandalwaysconsiderateminglingofthesetwoimpulsesorperceptions–whichmeansyoucan’talwaystellthatyou’rereadingagoodtranslation!Thenatureoftheanimalisthatyoucan’tbesuretoidentifyitassuch,thoughyoumayhaveagoodfeelingaboutit.我認為（好的翻譯）是一種近乎魔術般的平衡，譯者理解下的原文的聲音和意圖與譯者以自己的聲音對這些進行的再現之間的平衡，他們會從個人角度來表達原文的風格和語義。所以好的翻譯其實在于小心行事，并能夠體會到這兩種不同脈搏和感受之間的混雜——即你有時候不能分辨你在讀的是不是譯文。動物的天性就是，你可能無法對某個事物下一個百分百的定義，但你有很強的直覺。10DavidBoyd(translatesfromJapanesetoEnglish)Agoodtranslationhums.Itlivesintheear.Itshattersourexpectations,redefiningwhattranslationcandointhefirstplace.好的譯文會在你耳中嗡嗡作響。它動搖我們的期待，并重新定義翻譯所能完成的任務。Whenyoureadagoodtranslation,theusuallabels(literalvsliberal,etc.)quicklylosetheirvalue.

Greattranslationsmakeitpainfullyclearthatwelackthecriticallanguagenecessarytotalkabouttranslationasanart,onitsownterms.當你讀到一個好的翻譯，平常的那些標簽或分類，比如意譯或者直譯之類的，都黯然失色。好的翻譯會讓我們痛苦而直觀地感受到，我們缺少描述翻譯這門藝術的語言。Thislackofcriticalclarityisexactlywhatmakesyourquestionsuchahardone.ToborrowfromPotterStewart,weknowagoodtranslationwhenweseeit,right?Complicatingmattersfurther,

eachgoodtranslationisgoodinitsownway.Ihopethatdoesn’treadlikeacop-out.Ithinkit’strue.

Thegoodonesmakeusseetranslationinanewway.這種語言的匱乏讓你的問題變得很難回答。借用波特·斯圖爾特的話，當看到好的翻譯時，我們就會知道。對嗎？如果進一步把問題復雜化，每個好的翻譯都有它們的妙處。我希望這讀起來不像是個蹩腳的理由。因為我真的這么想，好的翻譯能夠讓我們以嶄新的方式來看待翻譯這回事。WhyDoesItMatter?Recently,ChadPostwroteanentertainingpieceaboutreviewingtranslations,arguingwithhimselfintherolesoftranslationadvocateandreviewer.Whatmademesitupandthinkwasthispassage,inthevoiceofPost’sinnerunderpaidcritic:Deepdivesintotranslationtheoryandhowtoreproducealanguage’ssyntaxinEnglishare100%guaranteesofboringthepissoutofageneralreader.[...]Thereare,what?,20,000readersofliteraryfictionoutthere?And,let’sbehonest,thetranslationswe’retalkingaboutareworksofliterature,notspynovelsorromancesorwhatever.Ofthose20,000readers,probably500orsoreadactualbookreviews.Ifyouwantthesereviewstobepromotionaltoolsforinternationalliterature,weneedtoupthatnumber.Andtoupthatnumber,

wehavetofocusonwhatreaderswant:plotdescriptions,informationaboutwhatmakesabookunique,whyit’sworthreadingandwhataboutitmightnotworkforeveryone.Andyouknowwhat?He’sgotapoint.Justliketranslators,criticsworkunderconstraints.

Igenuinelybelieveitispossibletoidentifyhallmarksofsuccessfultranslations–liketransferringhumourandwordplay,recreatingcadenceandrhythm,preservingastrongsenseofplace,andallthethingsmycolleagueshavepointedoutabove.

Butmaybedoingthatrequiresanextramentalshift,anextralayerofthoughttoworkoutwhatexactlythetranslatorhasdonehere,andwhichaspectsareentirelytheauthor’sdoing.Andmaybeifyou’rebeingpaidapittanceandallyouwanttodoisencouragereaderstobuyabook,ortellthemwhyyouthinktheyshouldn’tbother,thatshiftisn’tworththeeffort.Icanseethat.Forusastranslators,though,Ithinkit’sextremelyimportant.

Weneedrolemodels,weneedsomethingtostrivefor–andweneedtofindwaystodefinegoodworkthatgobeyondthenegative.

AsDavidBoydputsit,goodtranslationsmakeusseetranslationinanewway;theycanshakeusoutofcomplacency,encourageustotrynewthings.OneofthethingsIloveaboutliterarytranslationis,asDavidColmerpointsout,thatit’sajobforperfectionists,foreverreachingfortheimpossible,orthe“hoax”asSandraHetzlcallsit.

It’saprofessionforoptimists.Muchofourworktakesplaceonanintuitivelevel,readingverydeeplyandthenwritingourownversionofatext,sometimeslessconsciousofthechoiceswemakethanclosereadersmightbe,atleastinourfirstdraft.Hence,Isuspect,someofthelanguageweusetoexplainwhatwe’retryingfor:dancing,cooking,music,somethingnear-magicalandnear-invisible.Theseareallusefulmetaphors.But

ifwe’retocontinueourstrivingandpassitontonewgenerations,Ithinkit’salsohelpfultofindexamplesofgoodtranslationsandinvestigatewhatitistheydowell.Letmetellyouaboutacoupleofmyrolemodels.

ChristinaMacSweeney’sEnglishversionof

TheStoryofMyTeeth

byValeriaLuiselli

absolutelysparkleswithwit.Shegivesusastrong,consistentandfunnyvoiceandfindstrulyinnovativewaystohelpherreadersunderstandthenovel’scontext,addingawholeextrachapterofherown.

BreonMitchell’stranslationof

TheTinDrum

byGünterGrass

does,whatDavidColmermentions,embracethegiftsoftheEnglishlanguage’shugevocabulary,whiledeftlywranglingGrass’windingsentences.Irecentlyadmired

SusanBernofsky’sEnglishtranslationof

MemoirsofaPolarBear

byYokoTawada,whichreallycapturesthestrangenessofaSovietpolarbearwritingherlifestory,usingamixofslightlystiltedandcolloquiallanguageandagainchoosingherwordswithgreatjoy.Forme,thisisalsoanexampleof