可譯與不可譯性：試析東方白〈魂轎〉之翻譯策略

Translatability and Untranslatability: An Analysis of the Translation Strategies of Dongfang Bai's ''Soul Palanquin''

約莫1960年代開始，臺灣文壇便開始有作家將臺語詞彙融入文學創作裡。1970年代後，臺語則大量出現於許多鄉土文學作品當中。到1980年代，才更為自覺地以臺語進行寫作或發展臺語文學的相關論述。東方白很早開始，即是以臺語書寫散文，將小說對話以臺語呈現的作家之一。試圖透過書寫臺語找回自己對文化、對生活的感覺，展現臺灣在日常語言溝通上，具多語混雜性的豐富特色，並將臺語提升到與中文、英語相互對等的發聲位置。此外，邱子修2008年編譯的《島嶼雙聲：台灣文學名作中英對照》，收錄東方白的〈魂轎〉，其選文標準之一為：方言的穿插，是為了呈現臺灣歷史文化脈絡下，人們在日常生活對話中的真實感與在地性。就此來看，〈魂轎〉確實可以傳達臺灣多語環境的獨特性。
本文擬以東方白短篇小說〈魂轎〉作為分析文本，運用翻譯理論的概念探討譯者在進行英譯的過程當中，如何翻譯及再現臺灣文化？其翻譯策略為何？對文本所出現的文化詞及臺語對話，若考量到目標語讀者的文化及其語言使用習慣，在目標語缺乏相對應的文化和語言的情況下，所遇到的困境為何？進行翻譯時，會否出現不可譯的現象？以及，在如何翻譯的取捨過程，有無出現策略採取上的矛盾性？這些問題皆是本論文所欲探討的面向。

In the 1960s, Taiwanese writers began to incorporate local vocabulary into their literary creations, and in the 1970s, Taiwanese language appeared extensively in many local literary works. However, it was not until the 1980s that there was a more conscious effort to write in Taiwanese and develop discourse on Taiwanese literature. Dongfang Bai was one of the pioneers of writing prose and presenting dialogues in novels in Taiwanese. Through writing in Taiwanese, he was attempting to rediscover his sense of culture and life, highlighting Taiwan's rich linguistic diversity and elevating Taiwanese to an equal position with Mandarin Chinese and English in terms of expression. The book Voices from the Beautiful Island: Bilingual Taiwan Masterworks, compiled and translated by Tzuhsiu Chiu in 2008, included Dongfang Bai’s soul palanquin. One of the selection criteria for the compilation was the use of dialects to present the authenticity and localism of people's everyday conversations in the context of Taiwan's historical and cultural background. From this perspective, soul palanquinwas indeed capable of conveying the uniqueness of Taiwan's multilingual environment.
Therefore, this article intends to use Dongfang Bai’s short story soul palanquinas an analytical text applying the concept of translation theory to explore how the translator translated and reproduced Taiwanese culture in the process of English translation. What were her translation strategies? What were the difficulties encountered when translating the cultural words and dialogues in Taiwanese that appear in the text, considering the lack of corresponding culture and vocabulary in the target language? Did situations of untranslatability arise? And were there contradictions in the adoption of strategies when choosing how to translate? These issues are all aspects that this article aims to explore.