接下來,是Audrey關於如何搜索並利用平行文本,提供翻譯靈感的實操套路。
原文
本周三,調查英國在2003年伊拉克戰爭中行為的特別報告終於在推遲多年之後問世。這項調查由曾擔任高層公務員的約翰?齊爾考特(John Chilcot)牽頭進行,審閱了數千份文檔並采訪了上百名目擊者,最終報告的篇幅超過了兩百萬單詞。
拿到這周的翻譯,我快速地瀏覽了下文本。文本篇幅不長,主要圍繞關於03年伊拉克戰爭中英國行為的調查報告來展開,介紹了報告的基本情況、目的以及少許大眾對此的反響。了解大意之後,便開始著手翻譯,無奈發現首段中有壹些表達,例如 “特別報告”、“高層公務員” 等,自己無法確定。
之前在翻譯群的學習中,飛鳥有提過如何查詢平行文本,有壹個很重要的概念——找到了平行文本,其根本目的是為了應用在我們的譯文中,即所謂的“內化”。當不確定用詞、表達甚至是結構的時候,求助權威文章,汲取長處,完善譯文,畢竟它山之石,可以攻玉。
輸入關鍵字,中英關鍵字結合
由於自己不太確定“調查”和“特別報告”,於是便在google裏輸入了“英國伊拉克戰爭報告”+“Britain report on Iraq War”接著頁面顯示:
向下翻發現了wiki,原來這裏的”調查”用的是inquiry(Longman Dictionary:an official process to findout about something),(wiki搜尋平文本的好地方)點進去切換成英文的文本 mittee的主席:Sir John Chilcot?(chairman), a career diplomat and? senior civil servant ?who was previously a member of the?Butler Review.
而senior civil servant可以記下來作為“高層公務員”的表達;senior:having a higher position, level,or rank高級的,高職位的
看到publication壹欄:The Inquiry's? final report? was published on 6 July 2016. Comprising 2.6 million words? in 12 volumes, plus an executive summary, a physical copy was priced at767. Bereaved families received afree copy.[37] It was also published online.
中文文本中提過“最終報告”“篇幅超過兩百萬單詞”,這壹小段英文中出現的“final report”和comprise...words便可以記下來
Wiki百科壹般會有大量的references,不妨找到2016年7月左右的相關報道(報到問世時間),看看其他權威是如何表達的。
找出平行文本,對照,汲取有用表達
由於我並沒有找到結構比較相似的文章,所以下面就主要舉壹些句子和表達來看(僅供參考,歡迎指正)
▲問世
動詞:be published/released/issued/ unveiled
E.g.The Chilcot Report, a British inquiry into the Iraq War,was unveiled on Wednesday.
短語: the publication of/ the unveiling of thereport,這裏可以讓Wed作主語,謂語用mark/witness/see來組句。
平行文本出處:posed of five privy councillors, finally publishedits report onthe morning of 6 July, seven years and 21 days after it was established byGordon Brown with a remit to ‘look at the run-up to the conflict, the conflictitself and the reconstruction, so that we can learn lessons’
平行文本出處:mittee應運而生,我覺得在這個文本裏的Iraq Inquiry可能指的是committee.
▲推遲
delay n.&v.動名詞均可
動詞詞組:drag out (to last unnecessarily long or proceed for anextended period of time)
It dragged out so long.?
it指的是the report,平行文本出處:/news/uk-36442521
▲帶頭
be led by; be chaired by (chair:act aschairman of or preside over an organization, meeting, or public event 擔任組織會議或公***活動的主席,主持,監管)
平行文本出處:/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war
▲曾擔任高層公務員
former/retired highsenior servant/top senior servant
VOA用的是top,但我覺得還是看英國的主流媒體,用senior;組織句子上可以用壹個同位語 The inquiry isled/chaired by John Chilcot, a former/retired senior civil servant
▲審閱了數千份文檔
找到壹篇報道裏的analyse強調分析,所以我覺得不太適用原文
The inquiry has analysed more than 150,000 government documents as well as other material related to the invasion.?
▲采訪了上百名目擊者
interview hundreds of witnesses
另外我還從報道上發現了這樣的表達“從...獲取證據”hear/take evidence from
The inquiry? heard/took evidence from ?a varietyof witnesses.
The Inquiry ?took evidence from? those whom it judged best placed to provide a first-hand account of events either in person or by written statement.
▲篇幅超過了兩百萬單詞
這些都是找到的平行文本,可以參考的表達有:The report runs to(固定搭配“達到壹定的量”) ...words; The report is...long; The report comprises...words
The report's long-awaited publication(出版物)follows 130 sessions of oral evidence, the testimony of more than 150 witnesses and is more than 2.5 million words long .
Comprising ?2.6 million words in 12 volumes, plus an executive summary, a physical copy was priced at 767.
所以妳看,學會使用平行文本,能夠節約大量腦細胞,對翻譯和英語學習者的秀發健康也大有助益。
當然,除了現查現用平行文本,平日裏也要註意收集這些好用的句式與詞組,做好術語庫資料庫管理,這樣真到了翻譯寫作的時候,才可以信手拈來。讀書破萬卷,下筆如有神,說的就是這個道理。