談詩歌的可譯性及其限制

王粉 敖佳勇

【摘要】可譯與不可譯的駁論在翻譯史中由來已久。許多詩人，語言學家和翻譯家不贊成詩歌的翻譯，甚至認為詩歌是不可能被翻譯的。但另一方面又有很多的翻譯家進行詩歌的翻譯嘗試，并且成功的翻譯出了很多優(yōu)秀的詩歌。本篇文章主要研究的是詩歌的可譯性及其他的限制問題。

【關鍵詞】可譯 詩歌 限制

一、詩歌的定義（The Definition of Poetry）

詩歌是一種主情的文學體裁，它以抒情的方式，高度凝練，集中地反映社會生活，用豐富的想象、富有節(jié)奏感、韻律美的語言和分行排列的形式來抒發(fā)思想情感。詩歌是有節(jié)奏、有韻律并富有感情色彩的一種語言藝術形式，也是世界上最古老、最基本的文學形式?！渡袝び輹罚涸娧灾荆柙佈?，聲依永，律和聲。早期，詩、歌與樂、舞是合為一體的。The famous translator Lin Yutang defined poetry as “poetry is essentially thought colored with emotion ”. （林語堂，1998）

二、詩歌的聲調和音韻（Tone and Rhyme of the Poetry）

聲調是音節(jié)的高低升降形式，它主要是由音高決定的。音樂中的音階也是由音高決定的，可以用音階來模擬，學習聲調也可以借助于自己的音樂感。但要注意聲調的音高是相對的，不是絕對；聲調的升降變化是滑動的，不像從一個音階到另一個音階那樣跳躍式地移動。聲調的高低通常用五度標記法：立一豎標，中分5度，最低為1，最高為5。普通話有四個聲調：陰平，陽平，上聲，去聲。

Any speech has a tone and tone is especially important in poetry. As we know， there are four tones in Chinese language： level， rising， entering and falling. The four different tones are used to contrast with each other in poetry for auditory effect. For metrical purposes， the first tone is regarded as even tone， while the other three tones are regarded as oblique tones. Even-toned and oblique-toned characters have their proper places in poetry and the musical effect of Chinese poetry lies in its fixed arrangement of even and oblique tones. As to the ideographic relations of the four tones， Shi Chuzhong in Tang dynasty said in his《元和韻譜》，“The first tone is horizontal and steady， the second is loud and clear， the third is high and melodious， and the fourth is short and rapid.” Thus the variation of the four tones plays a very important part in Classical Chinese Poetry.

音韻是古代用來注音的東西，就跟現(xiàn)在的拼音差不多。通常注音都有兩個字，前一個字代表原字的聲母，后一個字是韻母。另外也是指和諧的聲音。

In the Chinese tradition， the use of rhyme is an essential part of verse writing， and Chinese poetry has attached importance to the use of rhyme since ancient times. The Book of Poetry （《詩經》） contains305 poems， among which only seven poems are not rhymed. In a general classification of literature， verse has been defined as “rhymed composition” （yun-wen）， as opposed to prose which is labeled “free composition” （san-wen）. The difference between the two types of writing rests in whether or not rhyme is present. End-rhyme is ubiquitous in classical Chinese poetry except for a few very early poems， giving it a special musical quality， “Tian Jin Sha” （《天凈沙》） written by Ma Zhiyuan （馬致遠） in the Yuan Dynasty is a good example to illustrate the arrangement of even and oblique tones and the use of rhyme.

三、中國詩歌的特征（The Features of Chinese Poetry）

1.語法靈活性（Flexibility of Syntax）。漢語語言獨特，一般不受性別，情緒，或時態(tài)的影響。中國文字不受詞類的約束。用詞靈活，語音語調流暢，詞性轉化頻繁。詩歌中，同一個詞既可以用作名詞，動詞，又可以用作形容詞，根據上下文進行詞性轉換。以下例句可以證明這一點。

a.糞土當年萬戶侯。（毛澤東：《沁園春.長沙》）We saw the lords as muck and clay.（tr.Zhao Zhentao）

b.日色冷青松。（王維：《過香積寺》）Suns color chills green pines.（tr. Liu Ruoyu）

In the above two examples， the words “糞土” and “冷” have changed their original parts of speech. In example （a）， “糞土” used as a verb phrase， referring to “count as muck，” or “l(fā)ook upon as dirt”. In example （b）， the word “冷”（“chill”）has a pivotal role， pointing both forward to “青松” （“green pines”） and back ward to “日色” （“suns color”）. This can be translated into “suns color chills green pines，” or “suns color chills among green pines，” or “suns color is chilled by green pines.” The poet is not concerned with the question which object is chilled by which， but with presenting a single experience that fuses the impressions of pale sunlight， chilliness， and green pines.

2.嚴格的對仗（Strict Antithesis）。對偶是中國古典詩歌的一個重要特征。詩歌的結構，詩歌的平仄，詩歌的韻律都十分講究。上聯(lián)和下聯(lián)中的音節(jié)，詞性，聲調都必須嚴格遵守詩歌的特征，其語法必須規(guī)范，用詞必須得當：名詞對名詞，動詞對動詞，形容詞對形容詞，副詞對副詞。在上下聯(lián)里，兩行的字數必須相等，觀念和意境必須統(tǒng)一，想象和色調必須吻合。思想內容或類似或相反或相對。聲調，平仄一定要符合律詩的嚴格要求，律詩中第三行和第四行，第五行和第六行應為對仗格式。例如：風急天高猿嘯哀，渚清沙白鳥飛回。無邊落木蕭蕭下，不盡長江滾滾來。（杜甫：《登高》）The wind so swift and sky so wide， apes wail and cry.Water so clear and beach so white， birds wheel and fly. The boundless forest shed its leaves shower by shower；The endless river rollists waves hour after hour. （tr. X.Y.Z）

This poem is considered by many critics as the best regulated poem of seven-charactered lines in Tang poetry. Unlike most regulated verses， which require that the two middle couplets observe parallel， this poem is composed of four parallel couplets. So far as the style is concerned， the versification is so elaborate that there is grammatical parallelism throughout the poem， not only between two lines but also within the line. For instance， the first line is parallel to the second： 風急（the wind so swift） is contrasted with 渚清（water so clear）， 天高（sky so wide） with 沙白 （beach so white）， 猿嘯哀（apes wail and cry） with 鳥飛回（birds wheel and fly）. The same is true of the second verse.

四、外國詩歌的特征（The Features of Foreign Poetry）

前面部分已對中國詩歌的某些特征進行了介紹。在本節(jié)中，將重點放在外國詩歌分析和探討中，外國詩歌的聲韻，語法特點與中國詩歌既有異曲同工之處，也有別具一格的地方，例如頭韻，尾韻等。

1.和諧的聲韻（Harmonious Sound and Rhyme）。外國詩歌的音樂效果很明顯，令人印象深刻的就是詩歌中聲韻獨特性。如背景音樂，讓讀者通過聲韻，意境產生美感意識。值得一提的是，外國詩歌的頭韻至關重要，和諧且押韻，完美的聲音效果，抑揚得當的修辭手法，美妙的聲韻節(jié)奏實現(xiàn)了詩歌的美麗意境，令人拍案叫絕。頭韻（Alliteration）是英語語言學分支文體學的重要術語。頭韻是英語語音修辭手段之一，它蘊含了語言的音樂美和整齊美，使得語言聲情交融、音義一體，具有很強的表現(xiàn)力和感染力。從應用范圍、結構特征以及審美價值三個方面對其進行分析討論，將有助于我們理解和欣賞這一辭格。頭韻僅第一部分或第一部分輔音群的第一個音素相同。如果第一部分完全缺失，那就只能讓主元音相同。頭韻是加強行內節(jié)奏感的一種手段，是節(jié)奏式輔助因素。這也是英語追求形式美，音韻美的一個重要表現(xiàn)。

2.嚴格的語法（Strict Syntax）。英語是由拉丁字母文字的組成的語言，每個拉丁字母都有其獨特的發(fā)音。因此，在英語詩歌中，詩人們在區(qū)分語音和語法關系時，尤其注重人與主體的數量關系，主語，謂詞，賓語，時態(tài)，語態(tài)以及單復數的相應變化。與中國詩歌相比，具有更加靈活的句法結構，也就是說，外國詩歌有更嚴格的語法結構。

五、語言限制（Linguistic Limits）

龐德（Ezra Pound）在他的文章《如何閱讀》（How to Read）里說，“偉大的文學就是語言及其蘊涵的寓意最大限度地集合在一起”。一些文學作品的翻譯很困難甚至是不可翻譯的。這是為什么呢？因為人類的語言千差萬別，獨樹一幟。語言的不可譯性體現(xiàn)了語言的獨特功能。

A.漢語是一種表意語言而英語是拼音語言。漢語是表意文字，是一個組合的形式，是聲音和意義集合體，是一種特殊而有趣的表意語言。然而，英語是拼音語言。它不太注重書面符號，而更注重的是聲音或拼寫，以賦予詞匯更加豐富多彩的含義。此外，英語語言的發(fā)展還長期受到世界上其他語言的影響。

George Steiner ever said， “as an ideography language， each of its written signs gives more ideas of the meaning of the word than the sound. ” （106）. Thus for this reason it is hard to render the following two lines into English， “波瀾混沌游，泣淚滴清流 / 溢滿瀟湘渡，洪波沒澤洲”. All the characters have the same component. The radical on one side of a character “氵” which means water， is employed in all the twenty characters in the four lines. The employment of those specific characters has a strong implied meaning， which is closely connected with their forms. There is another example， “煙鎖池塘柳，炮鎮(zhèn)海城樓”. This is an antithetical couplet. The sentences in it are well matched， and the meaning of the couplet is also distinct； but it can hardly be well represented in English not only because that each pair of corresponding characters in the two lines share the same radicals， but also because that these radicals together make up the “五行（金木水火土）” （The five elements， metal， wood， water， fire and earth， held by ancient Chinese， to compose the physical universe） .

B.漢語是聲調語言，而英語是一種有重讀，輕聲的語言。Chinese is a tone language， which emphasizes different tones. The four tones of Chinese characters have no perfect equivalence in English. The four tones are divided into two categories， the “ping sheng”（平聲） or the level tone， which is relatively tense， and the “ze sheng”（仄聲） or oblique tone， which is relatively slack. The Classical Chinese poems are all in fixed forms. In them there are three essential elements： the allocation of oblique tones and level tones， the neat antithesis and rhyme. The number of characters， five or seven measures the verse length of the CCP. The three elements constitute several fixed poetic forms， such as Wujue（五絕）， Qijue（七絕）， Wuyan lushi（五言律詩）， Qiyan lushi（七言律詩） and Ci（詞）.

C.擬聲法在中國詩歌中廣泛應用， 而在翻譯成英語時卻很難找到相對應的擬聲詞。The following are the lines selected from the famous epic poem by Bai Juyi （白居易《琵琶行并序》）：弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私語。嘈嘈切切錯雜彈，大珠小珠落玉盤。

The reduplicated words “嘈嘈，切切” enable the internal music of the poem to flow smoothly， which is difficult to translate. This tendency in words to echo the meaning by the actual sounds is called onomatopoeia. The attachment of words to their signified intrinsic meanings can be reinforced or reawakened by onomatopoeia. Sometimes poets use onomatopoeia as a deliberate artistic effect.

六、文化限制（Cultural Limits）

語言是一個國家的獨特文化產品。由于各國之間的文化，地域和國情差異，往往導致翻譯出現(xiàn)困難。在一個特定的文化背景下，在不同的社會環(huán)境中，有時人們對圖像，符號，甚至抽象的概念無法進行對等轉換和準確翻譯。因此，這可能會導致相對不可譯性。這就是文化限制。

A.詩歌的意義永遠超過它的字面意義。There are two lines in one of Meng Jiaos poems： “不恨歸來遲，莫向臨邛去” （孟郊）. Here， “臨邛” is the place where the lover of a womans husband lives. Thus “臨邛” is impossible to translate unless with a footnote， otherwise the deep meaning may be lost in the translation process.

B.一個普普通通物體可能與當地的風土人情有著千絲萬縷的聯(lián)系。In this case， it is easy to put its name into English but difficult to express the symbolic meanings in the Chinese culture. Take a famous couplet by Wang Zhihuan for example： “羌笛何須怨楊柳，春風不度玉門關” （王之渙）. It was a custom in the Tang Dynasty to break off a willow twig to see off a good friend， because “柳” and “留”（ask to stay） are homophones. So “柳” is closely related will the Chinese culture.

C.睹物思情，會讓有不同文化背景的人浮想聯(lián)翩。The reason is that due to distinct historical and culture differences， people of different nations may have completely different responses to a certain image. To put it in another way， some words do not have universally accepted cultural can notations and aesthetic effects.

Take two lines in a poem written by Li Shangyin as an example： “春蟬到死絲方盡，蠟炬成灰淚始干” （李商隱《無題》）. “春蠶” is an important image in this poem. In Chinese “春蠶” is associated with “hard work and devotion”. However， a foreign reader might feel sick at a “silkworm” as it is a kind of mollusk. They cannot understand why the poet compares the beautiful love with a disgusting worm. We can easily put “春蠶” into “silkworm” in English， but silkworm does not arouse the same emotion nor have the same function. It becomes an ordinary word， which does not play any role in reinforcing the theme of the poem.

From these example， we know some Classical Chinese Poems are very difficult to be translated， or even untranslatable because of the uniqueness of Chinese language and culture. Culture-default and meaning-default are inevitable in translation process. However， in most cases these defaults can be compensated. In other words， they are relatively untranslatable.

參考文獻：

[1]Bassnentt-McGuire，S.1980.Translation Studies[M].London：Methuen.

[2]林建民.中國古詩英譯[M].北京：中國華僑出版公司，1989.

[3]唐述宗.是不可譯論還是不可知論[J].中國翻譯，2002（1）.

作者簡介：王粉（1967-），女，貴州盤縣人，博士，教授，研究方向：語言學。