翻譯中的語言規範問題：談網路的語料庫功能

On the Issue of Norms in Translating: The Function of Web as Corpus

翻譯是一個涉及兩種語言的活動。語言是一種約定俗成的慣例，使用同一種語言的人可以自由無礙的溝通，這是因為一群人對於字的定義和句子的理解有一定的共識。一般人在耳濡目染的情況下學會某一社區的語言用法，包括不斷創新的詞法或語法。不過一個人大腦的統計紀錄能力畢竟有限，我們很難經由內省得知整個社區作用於無形的語言規範，包括單詞、搭配、語法、語意、語用等各層次的原理與規則。幸運的是，自從有了語言記載工具之後，人類可以寫作和錄音方式檢視自己使用過的語言，從而找出其中的規則。特別是網路的發明，使大量文字記載變得垂手可得，只要通過電腦程式的整理和篩選，就可以一窺廣大社區人群的語言使用案例和規則。對於一個翻譯學者，網路語料庫是值得研究的一個議題。而對於一位專業翻譯師，網路則是一種愈來愈重要的資源。本文由語言的規範談起，探討語言的準則問題，主要介紹語料庫語言學的主旨與研究方法。作者舉例說明了如何從語料庫中萃取字詞的用法與慣用的搭配。接著再討論翻譯學中所謂編譯規範（norm）的概念，重點放在譯文撰寫過程當中網路所能扮演的角色。本文示範了如何在翻譯的選詞、搭配、造句過程當中，利用網路搜尋引擎來獲得最符合原文和最能為讀者所接受的譯文。最後，本文提出一個以網路語料為本的翻譯模型，包括一般民眾和專家學者在語言規範和發展上所扮演的角色，以及翻譯家在整個語言社區中所擔任的職務與社會責任。

Translating is an activity involving two languages. Language has conventionsto allow people to communicate with each other smoothly. A person growsup in a certain discourse community learning the language through exposure.However, it is difficult for human minds to recall the norms of language in aconscious way. Fortunately, now that the computer network is prevalent, a lotof language data can be analyzed by a computer program to extract frequenciesand usages and present rules applicable to a particular discourse community.For a professional translator, the Internet has become an increasingly indispensableresource. This article first discusses the norms of language and exploresthe issues of standard usages for a certain discourse community. Examples areused to demonstrate how word usages and collocations can be extracted fromthe Internet to facilitate the recognition of preferred linguistic conventions.The article then goes on to consider the concept of “norm” in translationstudies, emphasising the role Internet plays in the process of translating. Moreexamples are used from results of web search to show how observations ofauthentic usages can facilitate the choices of words, collocations, grammaticalstructures, and phraseological units to conform to the conventions of the targetlanguage. Finally, this article proposes a model of translation based on the Webas Corpus, explaining what roles language users can play in the formulation oflanguage conventions, as well as what the translator's roles and responsibilitiesare in this machinery.