清明節的英文:the Tomb Sweeping Day
端午節的英文:the Dragon Boat Festival
中秋節的英文:the Moon Festival
從小學英文就被這樣教,也沒覺得什麼問題,但是看看西洋人自己的節日
Halloween:萬聖節
Epiphany:主顯節
有什麼不一樣嗎?
那就是只用一個字,不會去一堆字說那天在作什麼。
當我們第一次學到Halloween時,要查字典才知道他的意義,為什麼不是用"the trick or treat day" 或"the scary costumes day"呢?
端午節就該叫"端午節"(duan-wu-jie 或 duan-wu),這是台灣人及中國人傳統的節日,即使是那天有划龍舟的習慣,也不該被翻成the Dragon Boat Festival,而是外國人在看到duan-wu-jie 這個字(或這三個字),查了字典才知道這個節日的由來,人們在這天作什麼,端午節的意義,估且參考yahoo知識上網友的資料(http://tw.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question?qid=1005040402594)
其實來源很多也很複雜,連我們自己都不知道,對外國人就用一個the Dragon Boat Festival代表,反而有以偏蓋全誤導之虞。
就像Halloween這個字,其實它也有來源及典故,參考下面網站
http://www.alphadictionary.com/就有它的考據
Today's word was originally All-Hallow Even "All-Saints Evening", when hallow meant "holy" and "saint". So Halloween is the evening before Catholic All Saints Day, when all the saints are celebrated. Some still spell it Hallowe'en, the apostrophe indicating the elision of the V in "even". However, now that even has been replaced by evening, the apostrophe becomes pointless. Hallow comes from Middle English halwen, the descendant of Old English halgian. It derives from the same source as hale, as in hale and hearty, and the greeting, Hail! Hail is akin to heal and, more distantly, to German Heil "health, salvation", a word used in those most unholy of salutes, Heil Hitler! and Sieg Heil! "Victory Hail!" used by the Nazis during World War II.
外國人就用"Halloween"代表這一天,它的來源、典故及人員那天在作什麼,在字面上並不明顯,可能只看得出和"Hallow"崇敬某事物有關,也看不出那天人們要化妝扮鬼。
不知這幾個節日最早是如何翻成這樣,也許是中國人自己翻的要讓外國人馬上腦中可以顯出鮮明的畫面,但這些節日背後有著很深的文化意義,如此翻譯反而失去了文化的主體性。
清明節、端午節及中秋節是屬於我們自己的節日,有著很深的文化背景,若是採意譯的方式會流為簡化,把"端午節"變成"龍船節",那為什麼不翻成"粽子節"?這樣的話若"中秋節"也可以翻成"烤肉節"(BBQ Festival")好了。
Saturday, September 12, 2009
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