The Secret of Thomas Mann’s Translator

A new novel about Thomas Mann’s longstanding American translator portrays a woman ahead of her time and, despite her shortcomings, important to leading Mann to a Nobel Prize.

 托馬斯曼翻譯家的秘密

一部關於托馬斯·曼（Thomas Mann）長期擔任美國翻譯的新小說描繪了一位領先於時代的女性，儘管她有缺點，但對帶領曼獲得諾貝爾獎至關重要。

她採訪了家人，並查閱了約翰·C·瑟爾沃爾（John C. Thirlwall）寫的《用另一種語言》一書，講述了曼恩和洛波特之間的長期關係，其中包括她的兩篇關於翻譯的文章。 儘管洛·波特以自嘲的方式將翻譯稱為“這門小藝術”，但她完全不這麼認為。 她告訴訪談者，她不僅從一本字典開始，而是「一整套參考書架」（還有《浮士德博士》中的留聲機，用於重複播放貝多芬第 32 號鋼琴奏鳴曲、作品 111）。

She described days spent agonizing over her ability to do justice to Mann’s complex, nuanced prose, then, as she put it in her preface to “Buddenbrooks,” “transferring the spirit first and the letter so far as it might be.”

For Salas, “Mrs. Lowe-Porter” remained its own act of translation. In a letter to Time magazine in 1944, Mann was on his most decorous behavior as he expressed “the good fortune of finding a translator of the devotion and linguistic talent of Mrs. Helen Lowe-Porter.”

Salas wanted her novel to leave the two under warmer circumstances.

“Without Mrs. Lowe,” says Mann as he toasts his translator at one of their last dinner parties together in Princeton, “I am an unknown German only. To Helen Lowe-Porter!”

午後の曳航, romanized: Gogo no eiko, 三島由紀夫說漢字之重要；美；標題/雙關語難譯。Furi-kana/Furigana (振り仮名, yomigana (読み仮名) and rubi (ルビ) "yatsuhashi"

  午後の曳航, romanized: Gogo no eiko, 三島由紀夫說漢字之重要；美；標題/雙關語難譯。Furi-kana/Furigana (振り仮名, yomigana (読み仮名) and rubi (ルビ)   "yatsuhashi"

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Sailor_Who_F...
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (Japanese: 午後の曳航, romanized: Gogo no eiko, lit. 'Afternoon tow') is a novel written by Yukio Mishima ...

"The Japanese title couldn't be translated well," said the novelist三島由紀夫, ..."In Japanese the book is called 'Gogo No Eiko,' which literally means 'Afternoon's Tow,' referring to a tugboat taking a ship through a harbor. 'Eiko' is a play on words: It means either 'tow' or 'glory.'

"Romaji is awful," Mr. Mishima said flatly. "The visual effect of a Chinese character is very important." He slashed out the rounded, multi-stemmed character for "rose," and looked at it admiringly. "See how the rose appears physically in the shape of the Kanji," he said. "A writer loves to give such an effect to his readers."

 "but I don't mind small mistakes." He was amused, not angry, when the translator of an earlier novel rendered the word "yatsuhashi" as "eighth bridge,
八つ橋

Yatsuhashi baked cinnamon mochi - Japan Centre

Japan Centre

https://www.japancentre.com › Inspiration › Recipes

One of the best known 'meibutsu', or famous regional products of Kyoto, these baked treats are made by rolling cinnamon-infused mochi rice dough and baking to a ...

八橋" which is a perfectly correct alternate reading of the characters that the author intended to mean a kind of cake sold in Kyoto. "The translator really had to struggle with that sentence to have it make sense with a bridge in it," he said, chuckling.

September19, 1965 NYT

How to Write in Japanese

By ROBERT TRUMBULL

Mr. Trumbull heads The Times Tokyo bureau.

Furi-kana。我們也使用 Hira-gana，它總是用於外來語。”

Furigana (振り仮名, Japanese pronunciation: [ɸɯɾigaꜜna] or [ɸɯɾigana]) is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana (syllabic characters) printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known as yomigana (読み仮名) and rubi (ルビ, [ɾɯꜜbi]) in Japanese. In modern Japanese, it is usually used to gloss rare kanji, to clarify rare, nonstandard or ambiguous kanji readings, or in children's or learners' materials. Before the post-World War II script reforms, it was more widespread.^[1]

「源氏物語」豐子愷1980?，林文月1975?；林水福2024版本

 ***  林水福巨作源氏物語 新譯

（中央社記者邱祖胤台北17日電）日本經典文學「源氏物語」歷久不衰，中文版過去曾有豐子愷、林文月著手翻譯，翻譯家林水福耗時近4年，完成90萬字譯本，預計今年下半年出版。

林水福今天接受中央社記者訪問表示，「源氏物語」是最能代表日本的作品，連諾貝爾文學獎得主川端康成都曾表示「沒有一部作品可以超越源氏物語」，可見其重要性。

林水福表示，經典禁得起時間考驗，總是一再有人翻譯，賦予新的解釋，因此「經典不死」，他希望自己的翻譯能讓更多人認識「源氏物語」及日本文學之美。

林水福從教職退休以後開始翻譯「源氏物語」，每天約翻譯2000字左右，每天工作時間比退休之前還要長，但他卻樂在其中。

林水福說，「源氏物語」90萬字多達400多名出場人物，故事橫跨4代，對後世影響非常大，不管是在藝能、文學還是各領域的美學，千年來備受日本人重視，而且讓日本人引以為傲，幾乎每隔20年就會有人以現代語再翻譯1次。

「源氏物語」以日本平安時代（794～1185年）為背景，描述出身皇室的光源氏曲折的情史，以及死後其子孫間的愛情故事。

林水福是許多日本經典的翻譯者，包括川端康成、谷崎潤一郎、遠藤周作、大江健三郎等人的重要作品，都因他的譯筆而在台灣受到重視。

林水福說，他並不是這幾年才忽然想翻譯「源氏物語」，事實上在他鑽研的平安朝文學中，「源氏語語」相關的研究是最久的，對於其中相關問題亦時時關心，可說是他最想翻譯的作品。

雖然有豐子愷、林文月版本在前，林水福表示自己在赴日求學之前，就曾在日本教授原土洋的指導下學習「和歌」1千多首，而「源氏物語」中之有多達700多首和歌，此翻譯正好將他多年研究派上用場。

The Universe

 

底下的文字遊戲當成翻譯。

張華記:

John Hollander寫過一首有名的單行詩

A One-line Poem （標題）

The universe 

universe可拆為uni-verse,意思是單行詩，與標題互爲表裏，有一行詩一宇宙的豪氣。彭鏡禧譯為：

單行詩

道於一

Man for Himself ( Erich Fromm 新潮文庫版本待查)到Leonard Bernstein於196年一段話((並討論翻譯)

 Man for Himself ( Erich Fromm 新潮文庫版本待查)到Leonard Bernstein於196年一段話((並討論翻譯)

自我的完全 潛能的發揮 Man for Himself ( Erich Fromm 新潮文庫版本待查)到Leonard Bernstein於196年一段話((並討論翻譯)

"Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality." ~ Erich Fromm

Book: https://amzn.to/4aOEfMc

Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics by Erich Fromm

Man for Himself 的另外一種說法，或許更“專業”

 思考google 翻譯的末句為何錯誤

我的改譯：「人不是為了效果而工作，也不是想在藝術家行業中立足。他經由研究、學習、工作和思考，將自己發展成為一個聰明、敏感的人、並有做為人的意識：並根據不斷增長的智慧、敏感性和人的意識等資源來創造音樂。」 -Leonard Bernstein, April 1967

 「一個人不是為了效果而工作，也不是在藝術家行業中立足。一個人透過研究、學習、工作和思考，將自己發展成為一個聰明、敏感、有意識的人：並擺脫不斷增長的束縛。」人類的智慧、敏感性和意識資源創造了音樂。”~~Google

"One doesn't work for effects, and one doesn't set up in the artist business. One studies and learns and works and thinks to develop oneself as an intelligent, sensitive, and aware human being: and out of the always-increasing resources of intelligence, sensitivity, and awareness, the human being makes music."

 -Leonard Bernstein, April 1967

[Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt]

 思考google 翻譯的末句為何錯誤

我的改譯：「人不是為了效果而工作，也不是想在藝術家行業中立足。他經由研究、學習、工作和思考，將自己發展成為一個聰明、敏感的人、並有做為人的意識：並根據不斷增長的智慧、敏感性和人的意識等資源來創造音樂。」 -Leonard Bernstein, April 1967

 「一個人不是為了效果而工作，也不是在藝術家行業中立足。一個人透過研究、學習、工作和思考，將自己發展成為一個聰明、敏感、有意識的人：並擺脫不斷增長的束縛。」人類的智慧、敏感性和意識資源創造了音樂。”~~Google

"One doesn't work for effects, and one doesn't set up in the artist business. One studies and learns and works and thinks to develop oneself as an intelligent, sensitive, and aware human being: and out of the always-increasing resources of intelligence, sensitivity, and awareness, the human being makes music."  -Leonard Bernstein, April 1967

untranslatability. 《戰爭與和平》英譯

 

 感動 (101)：新港素園 非親屬關係的 愛的一家人。阿公李遠和浪花兄弟：都是基因惹的禍；紙風車劇團去年台中清水演出 人山人海 ；  曹永洋師生贈(2024.1.9)：《戰爭與和平》(戰爭與群眾)  、《山色如此》(李美慧)、《紅土印象》、《齊白石》(何懷碩畫)、《芥川龍之介的世界》...... 《荒野之狼》 (赫塞著 施智璋譯-贈我2本書，詳後天文《維根斯坦》《風華再起  大稻埕百年》)志文出版社新潮文庫108黃哲斌推薦選情   衛報社論台灣選舉 FT 摘要三點

https://www.facebook.com/hanching.chung/videos/725157383157325

https://hcmemory.blogspot.com/2024/01/ft.html

Culture and Lifestyle

Ellie Smith for The New York Times

Writing Is Doomed to Fail. That’s Why Hisham Matar Loves It.

Matar won a Pulitzer Prize for his memoir, “The Return,” mourning his homeland and his father. In his new novel, he turns to the untranslatability of exile.

轉貼：【我的二〇二三小回顧】馬世芳 ChatGPT等

 

馬世芳

【我的二〇二三小回顧】

圖文版 https://reurl.cc/QebORq

二〇二三是AI爆發之年。我刷卡成為ChatGPT付費用戶，它在「英翻中」的工作上確實幫了不少忙——以文學藝術類型的文字來說，它並不能直接取代人工翻譯，但能避免誤譯的陷阱，初步理清夾纏長句的邏輯順序。接下來我最期待「一鍵生成逐字稿」功能更完善，這樣我歷年的廣播節目就能利用AI生成完整的文字紀錄，未來也能從錄音檔瞬間生成節目、講演、授課內容的文字版，妙用大矣。

不過事情總有好壞面向：我的學生開始有人用ChatGPT寫報告。我的課「文藝發展與流行音樂文化」不點名、不考試，但要求學生根據課堂內容發揮延伸心得，不能照抄老師講過的話，若引用現成資料必須註明來源。今年收到幾份報告，完全沒有錯別字（這是非常難得的事），連標點符號也正確無誤，然而堆砌形容詞，辭藻華麗卻廢話連篇，同一大段感想拿來用在任何領域形容任何事物都說得通。我疑心大起，請ChatGPT就同一主題寫幾段文字發揮一下，吐出來的東西和報告內容幾乎一模一樣。嗯，把他們當掉之前，我還是給了他們重寫補交的機會。

台大畢恆達老師說：他遇到類似情況，便請ChatGPT寫了一篇「如果同學使用ChatGPT寫報告被抓到應如何懲罰」的文章寄給所有同學，請有嫌疑的自己承認，結果有九位同學自首。我十分贊成同學利用AI協助學習，但機器畢竟不能取代你的好奇、思考、發現、感動。其實絕大多數同學都寫得真誠、用心，AI代筆的突兀，反而凸顯了「個人心得」的無可取代。

去年腦中重播最多次的「新歌」也是拜AI之賜終於問世的The Beatles「最後一首歌」Now and Then：AI把約翰藍儂七〇年代在家彈唱、充滿雜訊噪聲的錄音分離出乾淨的主唱聲軌，遂能讓這首另三位團員在九〇年代曾經嘗試重錄、卻恪於母帶音質而不得不半途而廢的歌，終於得以在二〇二三年完成，距The Beatles解散，已經五十三年。我沒辦法用客觀的耳朵聽這首歌，它掀起的情緒太強大，反覆聽了幾十遍，感覺仍像一場夢。

這一年只看了十幾場演唱會（相較於疫情前平均的三四十場），感動卻還是很多很多。年初黃耀明在Legacy的「邊走邊唱」演唱會非常動人，不愧香港曾經的輝煌與頹靡最最美麗不可方物的見證。夏天兩場大型演出：安溥在北流的「時寐」演唱會和陳奕迅的「Fear and Dreams」小巨蛋演唱會，也都展現了足以涵攝整個大時代的氣場。沈文程出道以來首次大規模個人巡演，讓我對從前相對陌生的音樂場景好好補了一回課。年底MC HOTDOG的小巨蛋演出，則讓我溫習、見證了台灣嘻哈這一路不斷茁壯的強悍能量。放眼整個中文世界，也只有台灣能讓你在一年之中看到所有這些音樂人掏心掏肺、完全不設限的演出，我很珍惜。

這一年，電影看了四十幾場，絕大多數是在國家影視聽中心看影史名作：王童、楊德昌、小津安二郎、增村保造......，看得神魂顛倒。也常往台中高雄跑，北中南看了二十幾場劇場演出。疫情後恢復國際交流，名家名演簡直多到看不過來，台灣製作也迭有傑作，是戲迷大豐收的一年。若只能挑一場最難忘的戲，我想是加拿大劇場大師羅伯・勒帕吉的《庫維爾一九七五：青春浪潮》——極生動的操偶、精巧的舞台與投影設計，演出一則揉合青春躁動與時代動盪的悲傷故事，震撼十足。以後他的作品來一次看一次，絕不錯過。

這一年，沒有評金曲獎、金音獎，倒是應邀擔任台灣文學金典獎和台北國際書展大獎非小說獎的評審，讀了很多若非如此不會看到的書，世界觀也多少拓寬了一些。若只能推薦一本書，我希望每位讀者都能看一看陳列先生的《殘骸書》——這本書不只是年度力作，更是台灣散文書寫的巨碑，迄已得遍了今年度各項文學大獎，實至名歸。此外，詹偉雄先生邀我參與敏隆講堂「《百年孤寂》十講」，讓我重訪馬奎斯的魔幻之地馬康多，中年重讀，收穫大大不同。歲末參與詹宏志先生發起的「週三讀書會」跨年場，二十分鐘短講李怡《失敗者回憶錄》，迴響也令我振奮（實況網上都有）。

最後想提一下二〇二三影響至關重大的me too風暴。舉報、控訴的幾波高潮之後，正式進入法律程序的事件仍屬少數（且不乏加害者控告被害者），頗有一些加害者至今無一語反省，且捱一陣子風頭過去，照樣四處走跳，若無事然。他們寧願頂著一身臭名，也不願認錯道歉。我的工作圈和這種人偶有交集，我只能不看、不聽、不寫、不訪，凡他們現身的場合，我盡量不出席，消極抵制。

Me too相關討論有一句話，讓我這個直男大大受教：「性騷擾、性暴力往往與性欲無關，而是權力與控制的展現。」我相信從此以後，大家對這類事情只會愈來愈不願姑息、容忍。也願我們的社會能朝文明進步的方向挪動，哪怕只是一點點。

（寫給《財訊》）

（照片是聖誕節後一天傍晚的環河快速道路）

The flaps of her cap fell like the fillets of a sphinx. 的翻譯..... Sentimental Education

 

 感動 (91 )：賀龍年(文化、美術)   "天龍"與本土本地創新。龍 vs sphinx： 翻譯之難，以情感教育Sentimental Education中一短句/語The flaps of her cap fell like the fillets of a sphinx. 為例。黃仁勳(Jensen Huang 輝達CEO) 。.   黎智英2日出庭續審 3項指控喊無罪。訃 OBI. 挽中國財新傳媒。張誌家

龍 vs  sphinx

https://www.facebook.com/hanching.chung/videos/904416647504041

https://hctranslations.blogspot.com/....../the-flaps......

 The flaps of her cap fell like the fillets of a sphinx. turpentine
的機械翻譯.....

Project Gutenberg's Sentimental Education Vol 1, by Gustave Flaubert

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34828/34828-h/34828-h.htm

turpentine

Turpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principally used as a specialized solvent, it is also a source of material for organic syntheses. Wikipedia

 The flaps of her cap fell like the of a sphinx

Google 莫名其妙：她帽子的襟翼像獅身人面像的魚片一樣掉落

 fillets

A fillet was originally worn in classical antiquity, especially in cultures of the Mediterranean, Levant and Persia, including Hellenic culture. At that time, a fillet was a very narrow band of cloth, leather or some form of garland, frequently worn by athletes. It was also worn as a sign of royalty and became symbolized in later ages as a metallic ring which was a stylized band of cloth. Greeks called it Diadema (διάδημα) and although most Roman Emperors didn't wear it, after Caesar refused it when offered him by Antonius, except in a few cases, Constantine the Great adopted the Greek emblem of royalty. Before the diadem was worn by the Roman emperors as a symbol of sovereignty, it was used as a head-dress by Roman women.^[1]

Later, in medieval times, a fillet was a type of headband worn by unmarried women, in certain monk hoods, usually with a wimple or barbette.^[2] This is indicated in the sign language of said monks (who took oaths of silence), wherein a sweeping motion across the brow, in the shape of a fillet, indicated an unmarried woman.^[2]

Gallery[edit]

• 
  Crown of Nubkheperre Intef, pharaoh of the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt
 
• 
  Relief of Amenhotep III, pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, wearing a filet crown
 
• 
  Procession of Officials from Medinet Habu of Ramesses III, pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
 
• 
  Charioteer of Delphi, wearing a fillet headband, bronze statue (478–474 BCE).

sphinx

Gallery[edit]

• 
  Maned sphinx of Amenemhat III. 12th Dynasty, c. 1800 BC. State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich.
 
• 
  Egyptian sphinx from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. 1st century AD. State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich.
 
• 
  Column base in the shape of a double sphinx. From Sam'al. 8th century BC. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul.
 
• 
  Hittite sphinx. Basalt. 8th century BC. From Sam'al. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul.
 
• 
  Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great during Persian Empire at Susa (480 BC)
 
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  Achaemenid sphinx from Halicarnassus, capital of Caria, 355 BC. Found in Bodrum Castle, but possibly from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
 
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  Head from a female sphinx, c. 1876–1842 BC, Brooklyn Museum
 
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  The Great Sphinx of Giza in 1858
 
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  Typical Egyptian sphinx with a human head (Museo Egizio, Turin)
 
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  Sphinx of Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut with unusual ear and ruff features, 1503–1482
 
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  Ancient Greek sphinx from Delphi
 
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  3000-year-old sphinxes were imported from Egypt to embellish public spaces in Saint Petersburg and other European capitals.
 
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  Park Sanssouci in Potsdam
 
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  Queluz wingless rococo sphinx
 
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  Classic Régence garden Sphinx in lead, Château Empain, the Parc d'Enghien [nl], Belgium
 
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  Park Schönbusch in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, 1789–90
 
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  Ingres, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808, 1827
 
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  Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustave Moreau, 1864
 
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  Sphinx at Plaza de los Emperadores (Parque de El Capricho, Madrid)
 
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  Marble sphinx on a cavetto capital, Attic, c. 580–575 BC
 
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  The Sphinx of Adi Gramaten, Eritrea
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