Chinese Whispers: A Story Translated from Italian to English to Japanese and, Finally, to Chinese

Abstract

晚清文人包天笑（1876-1973）翻譯了不少教育小說，其中最著名的便是《馨兒就學記》，此書由日譯本轉譯而來，原著為義大利小說Cuore。包天笑翻譯的第一本教育小說《兒童修身之感情》同樣取材自Cuore的故事，也是轉譯自日譯本，只不過根據的是另一個日譯本。目前已知此日譯本為原抱一庵（1866-1904）翻譯的《三千里》，此書是根據哈普古德（Isabel Florence Hapgood，1850-1928）的英文譯本轉譯而來，而此英文譯本則是根據原著翻譯而成。如此層層轉譯的文本，成為翻譯史研究一個有趣的案例。在傳統的忠實翻譯觀影響之下，間接翻譯向來被投以懷疑或否定的眼光，因而這類研究相對來說顯得較為稀少，但不可否認的是，在中國晚清及日本明治時期，轉譯確實發揮了引介西學的功用，因此轉譯史的研究有其值得研究的價值。研究者可以針對單一文本追本溯源，仔細探究轉譯過程發生了什麼事，文本起了什麼變化，譯者承襲了什麼風格，而這些演變又反映出什麼現象。本研究以《兒童修身之感情》的轉譯過程為個案，試圖回答上述幾個問題。經過文本細讀與仔細比對，本研究從這個故事的轉譯過程，歸納出四個主要的觀察結果：一、相近的兩種語言之間更容易產生逐字逐句直譯與挪用類似用字的情形；二、各個譯者不約而同展現出對古雅風格的偏好，顯示出轉譯者之間存在某種相近性；三、重複語句所造成的誇大效果，會因為層層轉譯而逐漸增強；四、前一位譯者出現的漏譯或誤譯，下一位譯者幾乎一定會承襲下去，除非此錯誤非常明顯，致使後來的譯者可能發現而改正。若以「傳話遊戲」為譬喻來看，可以發現在這遊戲過程中，儘管有些小小的差異或疏漏，三位參與者皆盡力重新再現前人的訊息及風格，語言類似而偏好相近的參與者，把這個遊戲玩得很好，因此最後的中文譯本與最初的義大利原著基本上內容仍能保持一致，所以轉譯的最終成果未必與原著大相逕庭，長久以來大家對轉譯的負面印象其實有修正之必要。

Bao Tianxiao ( 包天笑, 1876-1973) translated a number of education novels ( 教育小說) during the late Qing dynasty, among them Xin`s Journal about School Life ( 馨兒就學記) being the most renowned. It is known that the novel was translated indirectly from a Japanese translation of the Italian novel Cuore. Bao`s first education novel, Children`s Moral Cultivation ( 兒童修身之感情), is also based on a story in Cuore, though it was translated indirectly from another Japanese translation by Hara Hōitsuan ( 原抱一庵, 1866-1904), which was itself translated from an English translation by Isabel F. Hapgood (1850-1928) of the 39^th Italian edition of Cuore. These successive translations constitute an intriguing case in translation history. Under the influence of the traditional concept of faithfulness, the notion of relay translation has often been laden with negative connotations, thus the study of relay translation has received little attention. However, it is undeniable that relay translation greatly contributed to the introduction of Western knowledge to late-Qing China and Meiji Japan, suggesting that the study of relay translation is indeed valuable. Prospective research may trace the translation route and attempt to depict the details of the relay process, whether the texts have been changed, what styles the translators have inherited, and what phenomena the evolution reflects. This study attempts to answer these questions through close reading and text comparison. It concludes with four observations as the primary results: 1) literal translation and appropriation happens more readily between similar languages; 2) preferences for archaic style indicate similarity among the translators; 3) effects of dramatic repetition have been accumulated and magnified; 4) omissions and mistranslations of one translator are unavoidably repeated in the following translators` works, except when such mistakes are too obvious to ignore. The game ＂Chinese Whispers＂ is used as a metaphor to describe the relay process in which each player tries to re-present the information and style of the player before them. Closer similarity between languages and players` preferences may contribute to a better re-presentation of the message, which may be one analogy suggesting why the final Chinese version does not differ largely from the Italian original. However dismissive our impression of relay translation has been, it undeniably has opened up more paths for cultural exchange, while not necessarily resulting in major differences in the end products. Looking deeper into the circumstances of these indirect translations may give us reasons enough to revise our long-held negative view of relay translation.