讓「文化他者」發聲：西方文學方言翻譯研究述評

Giving a Voice to the “Cultural Other” --A Critical Review of Western Studies on Literary Dialect Translation

文學方言是指作家用書面語再現限於一地或在某個社會階層內部使用或在這兩方面均受限的一種口語。由於非標準語言變體轉換上的不對等，以及方言蘊含的地方色彩和社會文化意義很難移植到目標語言文化中，文學方言是中外翻譯界公認的難題，也是目前研究相當缺失的一個重要課題。本文基於相關研究文獻，重點對西方關於文學方言的運作機制及其可譯性和翻譯策略的研究現狀進行述評，結果顯示：一、早期西方研究者主要從語言學和方言學角度分析文學方言的運作機制，當代學者則大多採用社會語言學、結構主義文學理論或後現代主義、後殖民翻譯理論進行考察；二、西方譯者和翻譯學者普遍認為文學方言難譯，甚至不可譯，歸根結底是譯文做不到「忠實」或「對等」；三、當下西方學界逐漸達成共識，認為方言標準化譯法和方言對譯法的效果不甚理想，文學方言自創譯法和方言特徵淡化譯法則比較可取、可行；四、有關研究顯示，文學方言翻譯策略隨歷史情境而變，說明文學方言並無絕對正確或適當的譯法；五、如果譯者放棄對「忠實」或「對等」這種不切實際的追求，採取適當的補償性翻譯策略，就能讓「文化他者」發聲，推動中西文化對話。論文最後指出未來研究路徑供國內研究者參考。

As a generally recognized and somewhat vexing problem for the translator, literary dialect translation is largely under-researched. This article provides a critical review of current Western studies on literary dialect and its translation, focusing on its mechanism, its translatability, and four strategies the translator may opt for. It is concluded that literary dialect is generally deemed untranslatable in both China and the West, simply because in this case the traditional goal of fidelity or equivalence is virtually unattainable. The difficulty of translating literary dialect lies more in the need to transplant its regional and socio-cultural connotations to the target language and culture than in the need to find a nonstandard target-language equivalent. Of the four basic dialect translation strategies, dialectal standardization and dialect-fordialect translation are now generally held to be unsatisfactory, while creating an ad hoc literary dialect and making sparing use of target language dialectal features are thought to be more feasible and more desirable. On the other hand, it has been found that the translator’s adoption of a translation strategy is subject to the changing historical context, suggesting that there is no absolutely “correct” or “appropriate” solution to the problem of literary dialect translation. Nonetheless, here it is argued that the target text can give a voice to the “cultural other”—and thereby contribute to the China-West cultural dialogue—if the translator opts for a proper compensatory strategy. The article concludes by suggesting several possible avenues of further research which could improve the status quo in this field.