《武庚纪》译后

武庚纪译后

8月24日开始，12月9日结束，三个半月的时间完成了给《武庚纪》制作英文字幕的任务。写一下自己在观看和翻译过程的感受吧。

一、观后感

《武庚纪》第一季总体上是一个质量较高，同时也很有自己的特色的作品。首先从剧情方面来说，反抗暴政、追求平等这一主题贯穿了整个第一季，几乎没有冗余的人物或情节。《武庚纪》的画面也比较精致，模型人物细节也都很到位，毕竟有《秦时明月》的技术积累在先。配乐方面，几段主题音乐也比较到位。总而言之，是一部可以打9/10分的动画。

《武庚纪》的一大特色是开始便是高潮。在前十集中，武庚的父亲子受是真正的主角。他公然忤逆诸神，战场上大开杀戒，最终惜败于众神之主之手。同后二十集的挖洞打洞生活相比，前十集真的是酣畅淋漓。商纣最后的最后谢幕，更是点睛之笔。

奥特曼和怪兽作战时，一定会先被痛扁一顿，等胸口的小灯闪起红光时，方才施施然放个绝招将敌人打得灰飞烟灭，最后潇洒转身走人。这也符合观众的一般认识。主角要赢，但是要一波三折地赢。可惜，商纣虽然经历了twists and turns，但最后并没有胜利。这种悲剧性的英雄是国产电视剧和动漫中比较少见的。能够为自己的信念坦然赴死的人很多，但真正因此而死的人很少。这种竭尽所有仍然失败的开头（或者说小结局）增加了《武庚纪》的情感厚度。

对真正的主角武庚，《武庚纪》对其成长的刻画也非常到位。作为主角，虽然有一定的主角光环，但武庚的人生并不像开了挂一样简单。前十集中，武庚的形象是一个被宠坏了的小孩子，以王子的身份自居，并不认同父亲的选择。之后，父亲战败，母亲牺牲自己的生命给他换来了逃生的机会。这是他的第一次成长。被发配到北山矿场后，他公然顶撞自己的上司，结果白菜惨遭毒打，险些丧命。这是他的第二次成长。白菜养伤期间，他晚上加班试图挖够两人的分量，结果之前冷落的同伴姜尚和阿石主动来帮他。这是他的第三次成长。最后，夜挖逃生通道时，和一位在矿场工作一生的老人聊天。这是他的第四次成长。武庚从一个自私自利的小孩子，到感受到父母之爱，到学会谦卑和虚与委蛇，到认识到朋友的重要性，再到对所有受苦难的人的博爱，最后为两个素不相识的小孩子挺身而出。武庚的情怀从一己私利到了家国天下这一层次，成为了和父亲一样胸怀天下苍生的人。可以说，《武庚纪》对主角的成长描写是非常精彩的。

最后说一下《武庚纪》的台词。如果以娱乐的心态观看，那么对台词的感受也许并不深；但如果要一句一句的翻译，那么对很多台词会有更深一步的体会。简单总结来说，《武庚纪》的台词质量很高，“出格”的表达并不多，而且使用了一些令人捧腹的双关语。什么叫“出格”的表达呢？语言学中有一个术语叫“foregrounding”（前景化）。我们日常交流时，一般情况下我们是不会注意到语言本身的存在的，我们关注的是双方表达沟通的内容。但在某些情况下，我们会注意到语言的存在，比如对方说着说着汉语突然说了句英文。这种情况就叫”foregrouding”。在台词中也是如此。理想情况下，我们不应注意到语言的存在，只应感受到内容。但在某些国产剧或者动画中，经常由于台词质量太差而使观众产生的疏离感。典型的例子如滥用成语（想象一下刘邦说”三顾茅庐“）、使用过度欧化的句子（典型的例子就是《秦时明月》）。在这一方面，《武庚纪》相对做的较为出色，观众很少注意到语言本身的存在，这就是一个成功之处。另外，《武庚纪》还在剧中使用了一些双关语，效果拔群。印象比较深刻的是哪吒和武庚关于“心眼”的讨论，实在是令人捧腹。总而言之，《武庚纪》的台词整体而言是非常出彩的。

但《武庚纪》也非十全十美。首先就是《武庚纪》的对商纣的美化。近几年，不少文艺作品开始给一些历史人物翻案，例如说岳飞是自作孽才导致风波亭，秦桧也有自己的苦衷，等等。不断有人用这种哗众取宠的言论吸引大家的眼球。从某种意义上来说，《武庚纪》也是一部给商纣翻案的作品。商朝距今过于久远，史料和考古发现也不算太丰富，但大家的基本认知是商纣是暴虐之主。这样公然刷新大家的认知，恐怕未必是什么好事。不过好在《武庚纪》整体价值观还是比较健康的。作为一部文艺作品，适当的架空历史，也是题中应有之义。不过接下来要说的就是“商纣”这个词了。“纣王”这一称呼在剧中频繁出现，而事实上，“纣“是帝辛的谥号，在他活着的时候是不可能有人这样称呼他的。这是编剧的一个重大的失误。即使用架空历史的这一角度解释，也很难说得通。这也正是前方提到的”foregrounding”。此外，作为一部动画片，我们不能对其苛求太多，但确实有一些逻辑有欠缺的地方。例如，一个朝夕相处的人突然变成了另外一个人，同伴能毫无发现吗？武庚除掉老蔡成功上位之后，究竟是如何管理手下的上百号奴隶并让其尽心尽力的干活的？圣母心泛滥，要救前一分钟还要杀自己的追日的白菜也是有点不可理喻。凡此种种，都削减了故事的完整度和逻辑性。

但总而言之，《武庚纪》是一部瑕不掩瑜的作品，但第一季在国内国外的关注度都不太高。希望第二季官方在宣传营销方面能多出点力吧。

二、译后总结

正如前文所言，《武庚纪》的台词设计是相当不错的，因此在实际翻译的过程中，并未出现太多的问题。但是《武庚纪》毕竟是以中国古代为背景，有很多文化负载词是根本无法找到对应的英文词。下面选了一些自己在翻译中遇到的案例。

1. 《武庚纪》标题翻译

《武庚纪》最合适的译法应该是Chronicles of Wu Geng。但出于两点因素考虑，最后还是采用了纯音译Wu Geng Ji的译法。其一是Wu Geng Ji更为简短，发音也比较简单，观众很容易记住；其二是《武庚纪》的原始漫画《封神纪》也是采用的音译法Feng Sheng Ji，一些由漫画转移过来的粉丝也很容易联想到。我一向是很排斥音译这种作法的，认为这是译者在偷懒。但现在考虑到这种情况，音译也不是不可取。

2. 商纣

“商纣”在汉语语境中的所指非常明确，但如何将其译成合适的英文可是让人颇为头疼。Wikipedia上给的翻译是“King Zhou of Shang”，似乎勉强也能接受。但随之而来的问题是，剧中也有周国及周天子，后者显然只能译成“Kingdom of Zhou”和”King of Zhou”。”King Zhou of Shang”和”King of Zhou“极其容易混淆。造成这种现象的原因是汉语中的同音字太多了，如果将汉语拼音化表示，必然会出现大量的同形词。最后，为了最大限度的减少歧义，将”商纣“缩译成了”King of Shang“。个人认为这是此种情况下最好的选择了。

3. 天

“天“在剧中是众神之主，至高无上的存在。那么该如何翻译呢？我最早的译法是”Heaven“，想保留其在汉语中的双关意。个人认为这可以算得上是一个等值翻译。”Heaven”和”天“都既能指”天空“，又能指”神灵居住之所“。当时还小小得意了一阵。但后来，一位proofreader提出了异议，认为”Heaven”作为名字太奇怪了，觉得还是漫画中的译法“Tian”毕竟好。最后我从善如流，使用了”Tian“这个译法。这个时候就有了一种奇怪的感觉：我作为译者，想尽各种办法进行adaptation，试图减少观众的理解负担；但观众反而觉得alienation更加炫酷，更有感觉。真是有意思。

4. 神族

“神族“是剧中世界的统治者，拥有呼风唤雨的能力，视凡人如草芥。翻译时将其处理成了”gods”。”God”首字母大写时表示上帝，不大写时表示一般意义上的神灵，加复数表示很多。个人认为这个处理还是可以接受的。但有些强调“族”的地方还是有点棘手。比如，剧集最后追日质问伏羲“你为什么要背叛自己的族人“。若将其译成”Why did you betray the gods?”体现不出伏羲曾是神族一员，而若将其译成”Why did you betray your own people?”又体现不出伏羲“神”的身份，而且“people”在这里也有些歧义。总而言之，译成”gods”算是最好的选择了。

5. 神力/神元

“神力”是剧中神族的特殊能力，具体分为若干子类。“神元”则是神力的源泉。翻译时，最初将“神力”译成了”Divineability”（想到了“Starpicking Tower”，这种生造词似乎成了我的一种癖好……）。后来在建议下将其改成了更容易理解的“Divine Power”，将”神元“译成了”Divine Essence”。个人认为还是比较信达雅的。就具体的神力种类而言，其在命名时采用了很多佛教神话中的意象，翻译时大多对其进行了灵活处理。以下是具体的几种神力及译法分析：

无色界神力：神力中最罕见的种类，用于压抑声音、气味、力气、光、攻击、防御等，让全部能力大幅降低、黯然无色。（代表：天）

Monochrome Divine Power: As the rarest of all Divineabilities, it can suppress voice, smell, strength, light, attack and defense, impairing the opponent significantly.

最初的译法是“Eclipse Divine Power”，想突出此种神力”使压抑“和”使变色“这两种属性。后来在逛Feng Shen Wiki的时候发现了漫画中的译法，觉得这种处理更加形象易懂一些，而且也更符合”无色“的含义。就采用了这种译法。

元始界神力：神力中最特别的种类，属于“远古神兽”所拥有。（代表：不死鸟）

Primeval Divine Power: A unique Divine Power that can only be found among the primeval beasts.

“元始“大致含义就是”the very beginning”。采用”primeval”来翻译，个人认为是比较贴近原文的。

修罗界神力：呼唤亡灵、灵兽助战，神力越高，呼唤之物越强。（代表：十刑）

Elemental Divine Power: To summon the undead and other creatures.

“修罗”是古印度神话中的一种恶神，在佛教传入中国后已经成为大家熟知的概念。但英语中却并非如此，虽然有“Shura”和”Asura”两个音译词，但普通观众可能并不能理解其含义。因此在翻译时将其处理成了“Elemental”。”element”作为“元素”，在网游中和“召唤物”这一概念常常联系在一起。考虑到此种神力的实际效果，应该还算妥当。

金刚界神力：纯以攻击与防守为主，大幅增强战斗能力。（代表：天魁）

Sturdy Divine Power: To greatly enhance the ability of fighting.

“金刚”也是中国人熟悉而外国人不太了解的概念。翻译时取其实际效果即强化自身之意。

地藏界神力：可使用关于毒物、腐朽、死亡等之类的黑暗能力。（代表：鬼木、流月）[10]

Venomous Divine Power: To manipulate the dark powers such as poison, degeneration, death, etc.

“地藏”同上，仍然取其实际效果。

万象界神力：可操控天地万象为己用，利用大自然的能力战斗。（代表：太极、追日）

Magnificent Divine Power: To control the natural phenomena to fight.

“万象“突出”宏大“，因此译成了”Magnificent”。

空识界神力：感应、传达、分享等能力，神力顶端者还可以窥见未来、预知预言。（代表：伏羲、心月葵、心月狐）

Prophetical Divine Power: To foresee the future.

取其“预言”之意。

长生界神力：控制生命之奥妙，回复、医疗等能力。（代表：孔雀、真禅圣王）

Longevity Divine Power: To recover quickly or treat others efficiently.

取“长生“之意。但长生界神力并未在第一季中出现。

6. 不死鸟

汉语名称中并没有“凤凰“出现，但是其形象明显是以凤凰为原型的。翻译时，将其处理成了”Immortal Phoenix”。

7. 炼气术

“气“属于非常重的文化负载词，很难在英语中找到对应的词，连类似含义的词都很少见。因此在翻译时只能采用了音译的方法处理成了”Qi-training”，再通过加注来解释炼气术在此剧中的具体含义。

8. 百夫长/千夫长

这是两个不太好的翻译。百夫长/千夫长是剧中奴隶的职位，百夫长统领百人左右的奴隶，千夫长则更高一级。最初翻译时，凭自己推断，觉得英语中应该没有对应词，因此化用了“captain”和”lietunant”两个军队中的职位名进行了翻译。应该说也算不上错。但后来在玩英雄联盟时，偶然发现贾克斯有一个皮肤名字就叫“百夫长”。顿时心里一惊，再稍加搜索，就发现英语中有“百夫长”完美的对应词“centurion”，”千夫长“则是”chiliarch“。无奈当时captain和lietunant两个译名已经存在了很多集，无法再回头纠正。所以只好继续沿用。这件事中得到的教训是要多查字典，不要仅凭自己的臆想就往下翻译。另外还有一点感想是人类的军事政治制度确实有相通之处，中西差别如此之大，竟然有完全相同的两个军事职位。猜测以古代人类的指挥能力，管理百人左右应该已经是上限，所以才会如此。

9. 单位换算

为了营造时代感，剧中出现了大量的古代长度/时间/重量单位，例如里、时辰、斤等。在翻译时，将其统一处理成了公制。

10. 心眼

“心眼“在本剧中指得是修炼炼气术所必需的一种天赋，拥有”心眼“的人能看到”气“的流动。同时，“心眼”也是汉语中的一个俚语，“缺心眼”是常见的骂人的话。哪吒在发现武庚看不到“气“的流动之后说”看起来你没有心眼“。一语双关，简直让人拍案大笑。但在翻译时，却很难把这种双关义同时翻译出来，尤其是”缺心眼“这一层含义。几经思考后还是没有解决方法，只能退而求其次之，直接将其译成了”Mind Vision”，完全舍弃了其第二层意思。虽然在情节上仍然说得过去，但其中的趣味却完全丧失了。这也是翻译中不可避免的问题吧。

三、结语

《武庚纪》是一部优秀的动漫，也很高兴自己为推广国漫贡献了自己的一份力量。此外，也感谢Mirorin、Dathis的校对工作以及Tuskume的时间轴。希望以后能有机会继续合作！

Feminism in China

Feminism is relatively a new term that went popular during last 50 years. After thousands of years of suppression, women wanted to claim their rights that they believed should be equal to men. It is very interesting to take a review on feminism in China.

It is generally believed that women were subjects to men in ancient China. Well, this is partly true, especially after Song Dynasty when New-Confucianism came up holding the view that women should be kept from outdoors. This new kind of theory had its own social background, but there’s no denying that women suffered a lot by observing these rules. They were taught to obey their fathers, their husbands and their sons without freedom. Also they were banned from books and knowledge because “ignorance is the highest morality for women”. The only role they could play is, as quoted from the text, “the Angle in the house”. The social position of women didn’t get any better during the following dynasties. Foot-binding was invented in Qing Dynasty, which was one of the cruelest methods to control women in the world.

Last century has witnessed a major change in women’s role in society. The 1911 revolution, which overthrew Qing Dynasty and established Republic China, destroyed foot-binding and other feudal remains once and for all. Women were able to participate in politics or go to school now. A greater change took place in 1949, when People’s Republic of China was founded and Chairmen Mao declared the equality between men and women. But it is always difficult to break up a tradition and establish a new one. Even the leadership of the new country sometimes took it for granted that women should attend to their family and bear children for their husbands whatever their own wills were. So actually women didn’t play an equal role as men in society until the Reform and Opening-up in 1978. People all went to Shenzhen or Guangzhou to make their fortune regardless of their sex. The new leadership once said:” He who catches the mice is a good cat, whether he is black or white.” Fame and fortune began to be worshiped and old tradition was wash away. Women have eventually managed to show their talents in fields they like.

But during the last few years, a new term came up as “女权癌”, or “over-feminism”. Basically speaking, over-feminism believed that women should enjoy their rights without taking up social responsibilities. For example, traditionally speaking the bridegroom should buy his own house to marry his bride, and he should make money for the household. Over-feminists believed this practice shall be carried on and women should never worry about money which came from pockets of their husbands. But on the other hand traditionally speaking women should do the housecleaning or make dishes for the family. This over-feminists could not agree with. They would claim that women and men are equal and men should clean the house too. So we can see over-feminism is actually a double standard fallacy, where women would take all advantages without paying anything. But it is a pity that many people hold the same view now.

Feminism in China has made substantial progress now. But over-feminism is a threat to the real equality between men and women. I believe everyone should consider this issue carefully and make decisions after full thought.

Comments on A Rose For Emily

A Rose For Emily, written by William Faulkner, is a short but thrilling story that describes the tragic life of a southern lady named Emily, who was daughter of a large plantation owner. Short as the story is, it is quite exciting and attractive thanks to the deft narrative strategy and the vivid character Emily. The narrative strategy will be analyzed first as follows.

First of all, the author tells the story from a very special point of view, the first person plural “we”. “we” in the story doesn’t stand for a specific group of people, but represents people of the town as a whole. Therefore, “we” knows everything that happened in the town, regardless of time and place. In the meantime, with “we” showing up all the time, the audience will feel that they are really engaged as if they were living in that town, and that they are among “we”, who witnessed all the events themselves. In conclusion, because of the smart use of “we”, the story is told wide-rangingly without boring the audience.

Second, the author controlled timeline of the story brilliantly. Chapter I is actually the end of the story, but it shows up at the very beginning. At the end of Chapter I, the author switches back to the earlier time when Miss Emily was still alive, giving the audience a picture of what Miss Emily looks like. Chapter II, not naturally following the last chapter, describes events that happened thirty years earlier and introduces an interesting new topic – the disgusting smell in Miss Emily’s yard. Chapter III follows Chapter II chronologically, depicting Miss Emily’s feelings and other people reactions when she found “the one”. Chapter IV continues the plot of Chapter III, describes how Miss Emily’s sweetheart disappeared and how she became a loner. In the last chapter the audience are brought back to the current time being, when the town folk found out the truth. By switching the timeline back and forth, the author keeps the audience in suspense and makes them eager to find out the answer, which works efficiently.

Third, the author makes smart specifying and generalizing. For a story that lasts more than thirty years, it’s impossible to write every detail down. Instead, the author chooses several events carefully, which are written in great detail so that the audience are able to learn what the characters look like. In the meantime, the author describes other incidents as generally as possible, yet manages to ensure that nothing important is left out. By specifying and generalizing, the author makes the story detailed as well as concrete.

This is all about narrative strategies. Next I will draw some analysis on why Miss Emily lived such a tragic life.

First of all and most importantly, Miss Emily tragedy is stemmed from her upbringing and environment. It can be learned from the story that Miss Emily’s father, who considers himself superior and aristocratic, drove away many pursuers of his daughter. He was the reason why she became so cold and unfriendly. In the meantime, people in Miss Emily’s town also played an important role in the tragedy. When Miss Emily finally found her true love, her countrymen didn’t encourage, regarding it as a degradation, and even summoned her kin to stop her. All these outside factors are critically decisive for Miss Emily’s tragic life.

However, to some degree, Miss Emily herself is also to blame, although not very much. Miss Emily was so drowned in her solicitude that she refused to get in touch and communicate with other people, which only reinforced her loneliness. Lessons for the children and death of her father, along with many other opportunities where she could meet and chat with people, were dumped by her like a piece of garbage. Considering her upbringing and education, her behavior might be reasonable. However autism did contributed to her tragedy.

With tide of time going on and on nonstop, old traditions and old people are doomed to be washed away. How can we avoid, or at least slow down the journey to our unchangeable destiny? I think the most important two weapons are “adaptation” and “communication”. Adaption means getting used to new environment, new information and new technologies in life. Communication means exchanging thoughts and ideas with other people, especially friends, in order not to be omitted when they march towards new dawn of life. Armed with these two weapons, we can be young and fresh into the end of time.

                                                                                                                                                       Apr. 21st, 2016

A Comparison of Eastern and Western Education

When I was a little kid, I liked reading very much, and one of my favorite magazines is Readers. I remember two articles from Reader clearly, one is titled as “Competition of Chinese and Japanese Kids in Summer Camp”, which described different behaviors of Chinese kids and Japanese kids when they set out to climb a mountain together. Chinese kids were fatter, slower, and often turned to their parents for help while Japanese kids strived towards their destination without complaint. This article ignited an heated discussion on whether out kids have been spoiled and whether we should learn from the Japanese. The other article, however, described that American students wrote their essay entirely on their own. They did their research by referring to libraries, Internet and field trips and then they made brilliant summaries. The author of this article felt surprise because it was how he wrote his dissertation as an undergraduate in China. In the end, he strongly suggest that we should take up the same system.

These two articles left deep impressions on me, not because their ideas were fresh, but because their attitudes were so contradictory. One said we should be completely easternized while the other said we’d better be westernized. But I’m afraid neither path is easy. When talking about Eastern education, the words that come to mind might be “remember and recite”, “respect for teachers” or “obedience”. Traditionally speaking Eastern education has always been suffering from harsh criticism because it yields to little innovation and creation. Western education has often been regarded as a better way since it highly values independence and free thinking. It’s true that fruits of Western education are more attractive than those of Eastern education are. However, while Western education is overwhelming nowadays, it has certain byproducts. With independence and liberation comes a series of social problems, namely drug abuse, gun fighting, promiscuities and etc., which I believe far less under Eastern education.

Now you may think that I will propose that we should blend the advantages of Eastern education and Western education, to keep the obedience in Eastern education as well as the creativity in Western education. But it is simply not going to happen. All societies, be they in east or west, have been putting so much value on education in hope that it will bring out a better generation that they seem to forget that education is the outcome of a culture instead of the cause. Reshaping educational system, which is only a reflection of social culture, will never make a society, or a culture, change for the best. All the kids around the world have the same potential to be obedient or creative. What matters is how the culture allows him or her. So in short, education only brings out what society and culture wants. If we want a better generation, we should change ourselves to make a better environment rather than blindly hope a systematical reform can do all that.