“Translation is a technical job. In addition to being accurate, fluent, and elegant, translation is also a knowledge job. It requires familiarity with culture, history, politics, national conditions, etc. Otherwise, it will not only make a joke, but also make mistakes.
But translation is ultimately a language job. Only by being familiar with the expressions, structures, and combinations of two languages and pondering them carefully can you produce excellent works. "
Jiang Yulou talked eloquently on the podium, just like a teacher in class.
In the audience, his classmates were like his students, listening carefully.
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but recall some jokes caused by translation errors in later generations.
In later generations, many university professors made big jokes because of translation problems.
In addition to the famous Mencius, there is also Chang Kaishen.
Yan Da and Shuimu can be said to have become a bright star in the academic world.
Mizuki also contributed a lot of jokes, such as Chang Kaishen.
Later, associate professor Wang of the History Department of Shuimu University wrote: "Research on the Academic History of the Eastern Sector of the Sino-Russian Boundary".
Among the materials cited in the book, a Chinese leader "Chang Kaishen" is mentioned many times. who is this?
Looking at the original text again, it turned out to be Chiang Kai-shek, the English translation of Chiang JS. When translated back to Chinese, it became Chang Kai-shek.
This was a lot of jokes at the time.
Today's translations of names of people and places all use Chinese pinyin, but there are always some institutions, like Sun Yat-sen University, that use other pinyin to show their individuality. For example, the English name for Yanjing University is Peking University, which is often pronounced as "Pikeng University".
Yan Dashu in the north is constantly making jokes, and universities in the south are not idle either. Jinling University Press published "The Society of the Spectacle" by French thinker Guy Debord. The translation mentioned the famous Chinese military strategist "Sang Zu's "The Art of War"".
In fact, it is "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. This pawn happened to be paired with Mencius.
Fudan University in Shanghai is not far behind. An article published by the school’s Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences mentioned:
"Schmitt quoted the poems of the Chinese poet Kunlun to look forward to the real political struggle and peace under this kind of world revolution or war: Take the fire of revolution and fighting as a gift, give one to Europe, and one to the United States. , leave it to China itself, so that peace can come to dominate the world."
There is a note at the end of the paragraph: "This is my translation. The original poem by Kunlun has not been found."
So who is the poet Kunlun? What is his original poem?
Anyone who understands can see that this is Chairman Mao's "Nian Nujiao Kunlun": Ande relies on the sky to draw a sword and cuts you into three parts? One part is left to Europe, one part is given to beauty, and one part is returned to the Eastern Kingdom. Peaceful world, the whole world is cool and hot!
The reason why these jokes appear is because many people do not have basic knowledge about Chinese and foreign literature and can only translate them blindly or blindly.
"Mr. Jiang...Classmate Jiang, is there anything else that needs to be paid attention to in the English translation?" A classmate raised his hand and asked.
He was so entranced just now that he almost called Teacher Jiang Yulou.
After Jiang Yulou thought for a while, he replied: "Let me just talk about a few issues that need to be paid attention to when translating English words."
Everyone looked at him attentively. The explanation just now made them aware of Jiang Yulou's strength.
Jiang Yulou looked at everyone, smiled slightly, and asked: "Do you know how to translate the word Dictatorship?"
Everyone looked at me, and I looked at you, their brows twisted into the character "Chuan".
Xu Xiangdong hesitated for a moment and replied: "Does it mean independence, autocracy?"
Jiang Yulou clapped his hands and said, "Yes, but do you know how this word is used in different contexts?"
Xu Xiangdong shook his head.
Jiang Yulou talked eloquently: "Although Dictatorship in English means independence and autocracy, when it is used in countries such as North Korea, it must be translated as dictatorship rather than independence, otherwise "people's democracy is independent" and "North Korean democracy" Socialist People's Republic" is very inappropriate.
Similarly, people's democratic dictatorship is translated as people's democratic dictatorship, and democratic centralism is translated as democratic centralism. Foreigners will also be confused - democracy is democracy, and independence and centralization are completely opposite concepts. How can they be put together? ?
Although foreigners are crazy and unable to understand it, the official standard translation from Chinese to English is like that. When it is translated back from English, Chinese people will also find the corresponding expression, and it will not be translated into "People's Democracy, Independence C, Democracy" Centralization" and other politically incorrect statements. "
After Jiang Yulou explained, everyone suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment.
Everyone has learned a lot, especially Xu Xiangdong. If he wants to inherit his family's career as a translator, he must pay attention to what Jiang Yulou said.
After all, if a translator is not careful, big trouble can happen.
Jiang Yulou said everything that needed to be said. If he continued to say it, there was nothing new, or it might not be suitable to say in a reading meeting, so he returned to Yu Min and sat down.
"Sure, Yulou, you can hide your secrets and become a blockbuster. You didn't see the expression on Xu Xiangdong's face just now on the stage. I haven't seen that expression of shock, surprise, and realization for so long. But I'm curious, you Why is your English so good?" Yu Min whispered beside him.
Jiang Yulou is a student in the Chinese Department. It is not difficult to understand English, but his spoken English is very good, his writing is equally good, and coupled with his understanding of translation, the sum of these is not very scientific.
"Yes, classmate Jiang, your knowledge of spoken English and English translation is also very rich." At this time, a beautiful female classmate walked up to Jiang Yulou.
Jiang Yulou took a look and saw that it was the beautiful student sitting next to Xu Xiangdong at the beginning.
"Who are you……"
"Hello, my name is Xu Jingyao, and I am a classmate of Xiang Dong and Yu Min."
Jiang Yulou stretched out his hand, "Hello, classmate Xu, nice to meet you."
After the two shook hands, he glanced at Xu Xiangdong, who was communicating with his classmates.
"Yulou, you haven't clarified your doubts yet. Speaking of spoken English, you won't be able to practice it if you don't communicate with foreigners a lot. Will any foreigners come to the valley to talk to him? Absolutely impossible!" Yu Min said anxiously I had to scratch my head, wishing Jiang Yulou could answer immediately.
How to answer?
You can’t say that you practiced it in your previous life.
Jiang Yulou laughed and said, "Oh, maybe I am a genius."
"Jade Tower..." Yu Min was speechless.
However, given his temperament, he was not someone who would continue to ask questions.
Xu Jingyao looked at Jiang Yulou deeply. Although she didn't believe Jiang Yulou's words, she didn't have a better explanation.
Yu Min struggled for a moment and asked embarrassedly: "Yulou, how can I become as good at English as you?"
"First of all, you need to have the latest Chinese-English dictionary."
"ah?"
