China News Service, Beijing, January 25 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) "The translated work should read smoothly, and the style and expression of the original text should be retained as much as possible." In an interview with a reporter from China News Service, he talked about some principles of translation, picture books Li Shixun, the translator of "Maomao", put forward the above point of view.
The author of "Maomao", Mitchell Ende, is a famous German writer with a unique writing narrative style.
The recently published picture book "Maomao" was written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the original work. The illustrations were drawn by Italian artist Simone Ceccarelli.
In Li Shixun's view, as a translator, one must constantly improve one's native language and foreign language proficiency.
In addition, we must consciously expand our knowledge and never take it lightly when engaging in translation work.
Modern fairy tales related to "time"
Judging from the content, Li Shixun said that "Maomao" is a modern fairy tale about "time".
Translated by Li Shixun.
Photo courtesy of Tiantian Publishing House
The protagonist of the story, Maomao, lives in the ruins of an amphitheater on the outskirts of a big city.
She can listen to people's words, animals, and even the wind in the trees.
In the place where Father Time lives, Maomao solved the "mystery of time" about the three brothers of "past, present and future", saw the flowers of time blooming and withering more brilliantly than the last, and realized that "Time is life, and life is in people's hearts."
When she woke up, she found herself sitting on the ruins of an amphitheater.
It turns out that one day has passed since she was in the birthplace of time.
With the help of Father Time, Maomao was able to release the "time spent" saved by people.
"Those time flowers are like colorful clouds carrying Maomao back to the world, and the saved time is also returned to their respective owners. The world has returned to its original peaceful state. The picture book "Maomao" expresses the first part of the original work." He said that with the picture book, One can imagine the difficulty of formally interpreting such a work.
Li Shixun believes that it can be said generally that "Maomao" is a "fairy tale book" or a "fantasy novel".
Because both of these statements reveal the main characteristic of the book: it is a fictional story.
"To be precise, this book should be classified as a 'fairy tale novel'. It is different from the folk fairy tales passed down orally, but is an independent creation of literati, with a larger length and more characters." Li Shixun said.
Turn imaginative words into images
In the picture book "Maomao", the text part is selected from the original work.
Li Shixun carefully re-examined the translation to make it more faithful to the original text.
"Picture books are mainly pictures, which are different from novels." After getting the picture book "Maomao", Li Shixun was immediately attracted by the cover. The starry night sky, the steps of the amphitheater, and the back of the little girl were both real and dreamy. .
As he opened the picture book "Maomao" page by page, his thoughts returned to the details of the original work, and childhood memories slowly came to mind, "Bebo's calloused hands immediately reminded me of the winter when I was a child. Here, my parents’ hands were cracked by frostbite.”
Picture book "Mao Mao".
Photo courtesy of Tiantian Publishing House
Many of the illustrations in the book left a deep impression on Li Shixun: For example, two adults made up after a fierce quarrel. Maomao listened to the whole process. From each saying their own reasons to shaking hands and making peace, a series of "shots" made it easier to Children understand.
"The painter turns imaginative words into images, giving people a more intuitive feeling. Readers who have read the original work often praise the painter's expressiveness." He concluded.
How to achieve "faithfulness" and "delivery" in translation?
In fact, Li Shixun came into contact with translation work very early.
During his graduate studies in 1980, he began to translate German literary works. After graduation, he was assigned to the editorial department of "World Literature" and was responsible for introducing German literature.
For more than 40 years, he has translated and published literary works, including classics in the history of German literature, as well as best-selling new works of contemporary German literature, etc. “If we talk about translation experience, we must first have an honest attitude. We must not be self-righteous or take it lightly. .”
"As a translator, you must constantly improve your native language and foreign language proficiency. In addition, you must consciously expand your knowledge and be open-minded about unfamiliar areas, so as to avoid common sense mistakes," he concluded.
Li Shixun believes that regarding translation, the two principles of "faithfulness and expressiveness" proposed by Yan Fu more than a hundred years ago are still valid.
To be faithful means to be faithful to the original text; to express it means to express it accurately.
The translation should read smoothly and retain the style and expression of the original text as much as possible.
The translation of the picture book "Maomao" is no different in principle.
He said that works for children do not need to be too deliberately colloquial. "I advocate literal translation as much as possible, and do not support 'free translation' unless it is difficult to achieve literal translation."
Li Shixun said that literal translation is the touchstone to test the degree of "faithfulness and expressiveness" and the level of translation. "Qualified literal translation should be the lifelong goal of honest translators." (End)