Untranslatability in Translation Practice

between Chinese and English

Han Fang

Abstract

The problem of untranslatability is always a disputed issue. Nowadays, it is well accepted that translation is a possible and feasible task. However, there are still some language points that are difficult to translate, which is called the phenomenon of untranslatability.

In order to make a thorough understanding of untranslatability, it is necessary to make clear what are translation, translatability and untranslatability. In the present paper, after analyzing the updated status of this problem, the author sums up the definitions of translation, translatability and untranslatability respectively.

It is well known that translatability and untranslatability are the two sides of a coin. Both translatability and untranslatability have profound theoretical basis, which has been discussed in the present paper. The author also makes an analysis of various factors that cause the phenomena of untranslatability and then classifies these factors into two categories: language differences and cultural differences. The two categories of untranslatable phenomena caused by different factors will develop in two different ways. Those resulting from the cultural differences may become translatable in the future, while those resulting from the language differences will hardly change.

It is widely accepted that the language phenomena of untranslatability are not absolutely “untranslatable”. In translation practice, when dealing with this kind of phenomena, the translators always make great efforts to get a relatively satisfactory version. In the present paper, the author also introduces several methods to solve the problems of untranslatability.

Anyway, people should not deny the existence of untranslatability. The best attitude people should take is to envisage it and try their best to solve this problem, if it can be solved.

Key Words:

translation, translatability, untranslatability, language difference, cultural difference, development

论中英文互译中的不可译现象

韩芳

摘    要

不可译问题一直是翻译界争论的焦点之一。关于翻译是否可能，什么是不可译的争论从未停止过。但无论如何，翻译活动已经进行了几千年，而翻译中也一直存在着一些具体的无法翻译的语言点。这就是说，毫无疑问翻译是可能的，当然具体的不可译现象也不应该被忽视。

不可译与可译，正如硬币的两面，是同时存在，无法割裂的。要讨论不可译现象，首先需要明确什么是翻译，什么是不可译和可译。本文首先讨论的就是这一问题，作者对国内外的这方面的研究成果进行了分析，而后总结出了翻译的定义以及可译和不可译的定义。

我们知道，在翻译过程中，任何作品的可译性与不可译性都是相辅相成的，它们都具有相当深厚的理论基础。本文接下来讨论了可译现象与不可译现象的理论基础。翻译本身是一个复杂的过程，而不可译现象的出现有着更加复杂的原因。本文从语言本身的差异，以及不同文化之间的差异两个方面探讨了不可译现象的成因。而不同成因引起的不可译现象在发展上有着截然不同的方向，由于文化差异导致的不可译现象并不是一成不变的，随着社会的发展与不同文化之间交流的日益频繁，这一类的不可译现象有可能会转向可译；而由于语言本身的差异引起的不可译现象是很难发生改变的。

不可译现象虽然被称为“不可译”，但并不意味着在翻译实践中它们是不可翻译的，相反，在翻译过程中，翻译工作者付出了巨大的努力以期能得到相对满意的译文。本文对解决不可译问题的一些策略进行了初步的探讨。

不可译现象无疑是翻译活动中的障碍，但不可译并不是绝对的，它是不断变化发展的。只要尽可能深入分析这一现象，在某些情况下，译者是可以变不可译为可译的。

关键词：翻译，可译，不可译，语言差异，文化差异，变化发展

作者：schools
出处：山西大学外语学院