語(yǔ)言不僅是一種工具（上）

∷林巍 文／譯

原 文

[1] 一個(gè)人的語(yǔ)言與其在社會(huì)中的身份其實(shí)密不可分。記得我在澳大利亞生活時(shí)，一位鄰居要競(jìng)選議員，他便每天早上起來(lái)練習(xí)發(fā)音，以令自己的講話讓人聽(tīng)起來(lái)悅耳、有身份。

譯 文

[1] A person’s language and social identity are actually an integrated entity. When I was in Australia, my neighbor practiced his utterance every morning, making it both pleasant and privileged to hear, for the purpose of getting into the parliament.

[2] 的確，語(yǔ)言是一個(gè)人社會(huì)身份的標(biāo)志，特別是在多民族、多元文化的社會(huì)里。所謂“身份”，也是一種知識(shí)結(jié)構(gòu)，表明你來(lái)自那個(gè)社會(huì)群體的文化背景、知識(shí)程度、甚至地理位置等。

[3] 語(yǔ)言會(huì)影響對(duì)于相應(yīng)文化的認(rèn)知。例如，有人調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，對(duì)于講雙語(yǔ)的中國(guó)人，在用中文問(wèn)到其關(guān)于文化觀念等問(wèn)題時(shí)，他們的回答顯然比用英文問(wèn)他們此類問(wèn)題時(shí)顯示出更多的中國(guó)人的做派。有意思的是，當(dāng)講廣東話的港澳人被用普通話問(wèn)到關(guān)于中國(guó)的文化、信仰等問(wèn)題時(shí)，他們的反應(yīng)往往比聽(tīng)到用廣東話問(wèn)到此類問(wèn)題時(shí)更具西方人的表述。

[2] Language is indeed a marker of social identity,especially in a multiethnic and multicultural society. The so called “identity” may also be viewed as a knowledge structure, identifying the cultural background, knowledge level even the geographical location of the social group you belong to.

[3] Language may also affect our cognition on the cultures we are involved with. For instance, an investigation reveals that bilingual Chinese responded to questionnaires tapping issues of cultural values in a more “Chinese” manner when the items were presented in Chinese than when they were presented in English. Interestingly, the Cantonese speaking people in Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, responding to the questions of traditional Chinese culture and beliefs, when received instructions in Mandarin, they replied more like Westerners, compared to others who received instructions in Cantonese.

[4] 其實(shí)，對(duì)于學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)的華人來(lái)講，大部分的還不是真正意義上的所謂“雙語(yǔ)人”，而是“雙語(yǔ)使用者”；后者是在語(yǔ)言與表達(dá)層次，而前者則是思維與生活習(xí)性。但是，這個(gè)過(guò)程并不是靜止的，而是可以轉(zhuǎn)換的。

[5] 所以，語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)者所學(xué)習(xí)的實(shí)際上是一種社會(huì)關(guān)系，一種他所理解的跨越時(shí)空所形成的關(guān)系。因而，他所面對(duì)的不僅僅是語(yǔ)言學(xué)的，而更是多重、變換著的社會(huì)身份問(wèn)題。

[4] For most English-learners of Chinese, they are not“bilingual” in its true sense yet; they are “diglossias”. In a way, they are only practicing their skills at linguistic and expressive levels. For true bilinguals, on the other hand,they have already merged themselves in two languages in terms of thinking and way of life. The two processes,however, have never been held up but are still on the move of transformation.

[5] When a language learner is learning a language he is actually engaged in nurturing a relationship to the social world and how that relationship is constructed across the time and space he understands. The issue of social identity,which is more multiple and subject to change, a language learner has to deal with is thus no less than the linguistic one.

譯 注

在[1]中，就“身份”的英文翻譯而言，主要可考慮三個(gè)詞語(yǔ)：status，capacity，identity。具體來(lái)講，status的主要意思為A person’s social or professional rank or position, considered in relation to other people. 即主要指一個(gè)人的社會(huì)地位、專業(yè)資格和職位特征。例如：法官歷來(lái)享有很高的社會(huì)地位（Judges have traditionally enjoyed high social status.）然而，在社會(huì)實(shí)踐中，該詞主要強(qiáng)調(diào)的是一個(gè)人在社會(huì)上的重要地位和身份。例如：他所做的這件事與其身份不符（What he did is incompatible with his status.）該詞對(duì)于此處的“社會(huì)身份”來(lái)說(shuō)過(guò)于嚴(yán)重和狹窄。而 capacity一般是指一個(gè)人的能力。例如：中譯英的能力（A capacity to carry out Chinese-English translation）其更正式的用法則為in one’s capacity as something... 即表明某種身份或立場(chǎng)。例如：他是以翻譯學(xué)會(huì)主席的身份參加此次會(huì)議的（He attended the meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the translation committee.）該詞對(duì)于此處的“社會(huì)身份”亦頗顯不夠?qū)挿号c分量。就 identity來(lái)說(shuō)，其本義表示某人由其所從事的職業(yè)而表示出的身份。例如：憑身份證件購(gòu)買(mǎi)車(chē)票（The tickets can be purchased on proof of identity）等等。顯然，對(duì)于此處“社會(huì)身份”的轉(zhuǎn)述，該詞在幅度與深度上都更為恰當(dāng)。

根據(jù)美國(guó)學(xué)者多納德·泰勒（Donald Taylor）所言，人在不自覺(jué)中總是愿意給他人貼標(biāo)簽的；身份是自尊心的要素；比較之中難免帶有偏見(jiàn)；偏向自我是一種趨勢(shì)。這在相當(dāng)程度上揭示了identity的客觀性與主觀性。就其詞源而言，該詞最初源于拉丁語(yǔ)identitas，表示“同一性”。在英語(yǔ)中，自其轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)閕dentity后，其主導(dǎo)意思便是“整體性”、“個(gè)別性”、“個(gè)體性”或“一種確定的特性組合”等。所以，以identity 翻譯此處的“身份”顯然更為客觀與合宜。

“他便每天早上起來(lái)練習(xí)發(fā)音”，其中的“發(fā)音”，若簡(jiǎn)單地譯為pronunciation，字面意思似乎符合了，但該詞的重點(diǎn)在 using phonetic symbols to represent the way a word that is graphically spoken，故顯得過(guò)于狹隘與單薄了。而“utterance”的本質(zhì)為a manner of speaking，如“雄辯的口才”（the ability to argue with forceful utterance），故不妨將此句譯為“my neighbor practiced his utterance every morning”。而“以令自己的講話讓人聽(tīng)起來(lái)悅耳、有身份”中的“身份”則又非identity或entity，亦非status，而為形容詞privileged，其本質(zhì)為an advantage，immunity，or right held as a prerogative（特權(quán)）of status or rank，故此句不妨譯為making it both pleasant and privileged to hear. 而“要競(jìng)選議員”，有幾種譯法，如enter into an election campaign for the membership of parliament; campaign for / run for parliament等，都顯冗繁，不如for the purpose of getting into the parliament簡(jiǎn)單、明快。

在[2]中，“語(yǔ)言是一個(gè)人社會(huì)身份的標(biāo)志”，其中的“標(biāo)志”，可有sign， symbol，mark 等，但此處不妨為名詞marker，而“你來(lái)自那個(gè)社會(huì)群體的……”的“來(lái)自”并非是come from，實(shí)則是“屬于”之意，故為（the social group）you belong to.

在[3]中，“當(dāng)講廣東話的港澳人……更具西方人的表述”是一種有意思的文化現(xiàn)象，也是作者所親歷的，表明了港澳人在兩種文化之間的一種特色。其中的“被用普通話問(wèn)到關(guān)于中國(guó)的文化、信仰等問(wèn)題時(shí)”是一句狀語(yǔ)，可用動(dòng)名詞短語(yǔ)responding to the questions of traditional Chinese culture and beliefs譯出。

在[4]中，“對(duì)于學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)的華人來(lái)講……而是‘雙語(yǔ)使用者’”，其中的“雙語(yǔ)使用者”有別于bilingual，而是社會(huì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)中的專業(yè)術(shù)語(yǔ)diglossia，該詞的主要含義為the use of two markedly different varieties of a language in different social situations.

對(duì)于“后者……，而前者……”，不一定要采用the later... and the former...的形式，而是將其分解為兩部分內(nèi)容翻譯，即對(duì)于“diglossias”而言，they are only practicing their skills at linguistic and expressive levels；而對(duì)于“bilinguals”而言，they have already merged themselves in two languages in terms of thinking and way of life，以表述得更加清晰。同時(shí)，“靜止的”也并未采用standstill，motionless， still，static，statio nary，standing，fixed，frozen，halted，im mobile，unmoving等詞語(yǔ)，進(jìn)而并未譯成However, this is not a process of standstill but it is changeable. 而是將其稍加變通，使其更有“動(dòng)感”：The two processes,however, have never been held up but are still on the move of transformation.

在[5]中，“語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)者所學(xué)習(xí)的實(shí)際上是一種社會(huì)關(guān)系”，這里的“學(xué)習(xí)”，不是一般意義上的learn，其義主要為to gain knowledge of a subject or skill by studying it——那樣過(guò)于“單純”了；“社會(huì)關(guān)系”是一種更為復(fù)雜的學(xué)習(xí)對(duì)象，其掌握過(guò)程也要更為費(fèi)時(shí)，故擬用nurture，其本質(zhì)為to help an idea or feeling etc. to develop during a considerable period of time。對(duì)于“因而，他所面對(duì)的不僅僅是語(yǔ)言學(xué)的，而更是多重、變換著的社會(huì)身份問(wèn)題”，若譯為T(mén)he problem they are confronted is not only a linguistic one but a multi-faceted and changeable issue—social identity固然不錯(cuò)，但似乎頗帶“書(shū)卷氣”，在社會(huì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)意義上顯得有些突兀，故不妨換一句式。