譯業：雞同鴨講

Rudolf Wagner 在 2007 年一篇〈Does This Make Sense --- Reading Sinological Translation〉(這是在胡扯嗎？--- 讀漢學家的翻譯)

https://www.academia.edu/18296102/Does_This_Make_Sense_Reading_Sinological_Translations

提到一篇漢文古書譯成英文的例子。這是 DeWoskin/Crump 在 1994年由美國史丹佛大學出版的一本書，關於晉朝干寶《搜神記》的研究。

A 1996 English translation of the story published by a bona fide academic press reads (DeWoskin/Crump 1994: 8):

Redivivus of Ku-ch'eng District* came from no one knows where. He had died a number of times and come back to life, but many people of the time believed this was not so. Once there were great floods, and more than a few citizens perished. During that period, Redivivus appeared on the top of Chiieh-men Hill, where he cried: "Redivivus still survives!" He predicted that it would rain again and the waters would rise for five days in a row before they stopped. The rains did cease, and people went to the top of the hill to make offerings but found only Redivivus' robes, staff and leather belt. Several decades later in Hua-yin he was made guard of the Marketplace Gate.

*Some texts call him Tsu (gate-guard) Ch'ang-sheng.

The inconsistencies:

a) The claim was that Redivivus "had died a number of times and come back to life," but here other people die, and he simply survives.

b) If "many people of the time" did not believe he had died and returned several times, the story's point would be to show how they ended up believing it. No such information is forthcoming.

c) It is not clear why he should appear on top of the hill, where no one lives, to announce that he has survived. To whom is he speaking?

d) As there is no one to listen - the people only later went up the hill to offer sacrifices - to whom is he making his predictions?

e) He predicts only more rain in the short term and has no merit in the rain's stopping after five days. Even assumed that someone heard about his prediction, why should anybody wish to offer sacrifices to him?

f) The last phrase about his becoming a guard of the Market Place gate after several decades seems to have some relation to his dying and coming back to life, but the link is not made explicit.

Rudolf Wagner 指出，即使不對照原文閱讀，也可以發覺譯文不通之處。所以只有兩個可能結論，或者原文狗屁不通，或者譯者亂譯而狗屁不通。

a. 這位叫 Redivivus 的人死了好多次，每次都活過來，可是其他人死了就死了，死而不能復生。(Redivivus 意為「復活者」)。

b. 假如當時的人不相信他死而復生好幾次，故事應該顯示後來他們因何相信了他。故事沒提到這檔事。

c. 不清楚這位「復活者」為何必須出現在無人的山頂而向人宣稱它復活了。既然是「無人的山頂」，他要向誰宣稱？

d. 既然是「無人的山頂」，他向誰宣稱他的預言？(百姓後來才上山祭拜的。)

e. 他的預言說「大雨只會連下五天」，雨又不是他停下來的，人們為何要祭拜他？

f. 最後說「Several decades later in Hua-yin he was made guard of the Marketplace Gate 幾十年後它成為市場的看門人」，並沒明白講出這和整個故事有何關聯。

讓我們看原文是什麼。

晉朝干寶《搜神記》：

「穀城鄉卒常生不知何所人也數死而復生時人為不然後大水出所害非一而卒輒在缺門山上大呼言卒常生在此云復雨水五日必止止則上山求祠之但見卒衣杖革帶後數十年復為華陰市門卒。」

CBETA 的《法苑珠林》引了這則故事，CBETA 附了「句讀」：

「穀城鄉卒常生。不知何所人也。數死而復生。時人為不然。後大水出所害非一而卒。輒在缺門山上大呼言。卒常生在此。云復雨水五日必止。止則上山求祠之。但見卒衣杖革帶。後數十年。復為華陰市門卒。」(CBETA, T53, no. 2122, p. 521, c3-7)
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

標點應作：「穀城鄉卒常生不知何所人也，數死而復生，時人為不然。後大水出所害非一，而卒輒在缺門山上大呼言：『卒常生在此。』復云：『雨水五日必止。』止，則上山求祠之。但見卒衣杖革帶，後數十年，復為華陰市門卒。」(CBETA, T53, no. 2122, p. 521, c3-7)

將「常生」譯作「Redivivus 復活者」，並不恰當，雖然「常生」本人「數死而復生」，但是翻譯時不應將他的姓忽略。常生，姓常的人，幼為「常童」，長為「常生」，老為「常叟」。

「時人為不然」，是時人不以為然，意為對此特異的事，並未特別在意；並非「不相信」。

「所害非一」，意為「造成很多災害」，不是「死了很多人 more than a few citizens perished」。

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

DeWoskin/Crump 1994. Kan Pao, In Search of the Supernatural. The Written Record. Trsl. Kenneth J. DeWoskin and 1.1. Crump. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.。