“龙”的英文应该翻译成 loong

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The long should instead be known as "loong"

—— Chinadaily(中国日报)讨论译龙问题

  2012年是龙年,新闻媒体都会应景写一篇关于龙的文章。中国日报的这篇文章题为 A beast of benevolence,字面意思是“仁慈的野兽”。

  文章一开头用两张图片说明了龙和杜拉根兽(dragon)存在明显的差异:The Chinese dragon, long, is hugely different from the Western dragon(中国的 dragon(龙)和西方的 dragon 有巨大的不同)。

  文章随后做了进一步的阐释。

  The dragon, a reviled baddie in the West, is revered in China. It even gets to have a year named after it.

  (在西方,dragon 是一个受人唾骂的坏蛋,而在中国,dragon 却备受尊敬。甚至有一年以它来命名。)

  They know it as a fire-breathing, malevolent creature, with a lizard-like form used to depict the devil himself. So many in the West may continue to be surprised at how the dragon is revered as a symbol of power and majesty at the top of the animal order in Chinese thought. The mythical Chinese dragon or long is so important that the year it lends its name to, such as 2012, is widely considered to be one of the most auspicious in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. The differences in cultural perceptions of the legendary beast are so complex that many say they still serve to illustrate some of the biggest gaps that still exist between the East and West.

  (他们知道它是一种喷火的、恶毒的生物,有着蜥蜴般的外形,这种外形常被用来描绘魔鬼。许多西方人可能会继续对此感到惊讶:在中国人的思想中,dragon 是权力和威严的象征,是至高无上的动物。中国神话中的 dragon 即龙非常重要,因此龙年被普遍认为是中国生肖十二年循环中最吉祥的一年,比如 2012年。人们对这个传说中的野兽的文化认知差异是如此复杂,以至于许多人说,这些差异仍然是东西方之间存在的一些最大鸿沟的体现。)

  "To me, dragons are like big reptiles with razor-sharp teeth and rough skin. They are fierce, fire-breathing creatures," says Aleksandra Kawakawa, 23, from Poland.

  (“对我来说,dragon 就像有着锋利牙齿和粗糙皮肤的大型爬行动物。它们是凶猛的、会喷火的生物。”来自波兰的二十三岁的亚历山德拉-瓦拉瓦拉说。)

  "Dragons are something out of medieval times, with castles and moats and knights. They are monsters that terrorized the Earth, out of fairy tales," says Wendy Fung, a 24-year-old from the United States.

  (Dragon 是中世纪的产物,和城堡、护城河和骑士在一起。来自美国的二十四岁女孩温蒂-冯说。)

  The dragon's character has been the focus of a fiery debate in China in the past week. China Post issued a stamp to mark the new year, which falls on Jan 23 this year, and on it is depicted a dragon that many say simply looks too ferocious.

  (过去一周,龙的性格一直是中国激烈辩论的焦点。今年 1月23日是龙年的第一天,中国邮政为庆祝新年发行了一枚邮票,邮票上描绘的是一条龙,很多人认为这条龙看起来太凶猛了。)

  Chinese scholars argue that the Western name used for the Chinese long alone is problematic. Long has been translated into "dragon" for a long time, but Guan Shijie, a professor at Peking University who studies inter-cultural communication, says that is wrong. "The Chinese long and the Western dragon are different in image, denotation and connotation. We should find other words to translate them."

  (中国学者认为,用这个西方名字 dragon 来称呼中国龙是有问题的。“龙”被翻译成 dragon 已经有很长一段时间了,但是北京大学研究跨文化交流的教授关世杰认为这是错误的。“中国龙和西方 dragon 在形象、外延和内涵上都有所不同。我们应该找其它词来翻译它们。”)

  Guan says the long should instead be known as "loong", after the famous kungfu star Bruce Lee's native name Lee Siu Loong.

  (关教授说龙应该被称为 Loong,依据著名功夫明星李小龙的本名 Lee Siu Loong 命名。)

  该文随后介绍了中国的龙文化,需要向外国人介绍中国龙文化的朋友可以参考这篇文章。

  A beast of benevolence
  By Chen Yingqun (China Daily)
  Updated: 2012-01-06 08:01
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2012-01/06/content_14390315.htm

------------

  稍晚的另外一篇文章也讨论了译龙问题。

  In truth, the dragon is an archetypal representation of evil in most Western mythological tales and is thus prone to negative stereotyping by China detractors who find fault with the inexorably rising nation.

  (事实上,在大多数西方神话故事中,dragon 是邪恶的典型代表,因此,译龙为 dragon 助长了对中国的负面的刻板印象,诽谤中国的人总是批评这个正在崛起的国家,他们塑造了这种负面的刻板印象。)

  For this reason, some scholars in China have floated the suggestion that the Chinese dragon adopt another English moniker, perhaps a transliteration like "long" or "loong".

  (出于这个原因,一些中国学者提出建议,中国龙应采用另一个英文名,可能音译为“long”或“loong”。)

  But it is not as effortless to change an unofficial national symbol as a corporate logo.

  (但要改变一个国家非官方的标志并不像改变一个公司标志那么容易。)

  Besides, a transliteration carries risks of its own. First of all, it essentially wipes out wholesale the usefulness of the icon from overseas influence of Chinese culture, as few would bother to learn it anew. Second, even if the new translation gains traction, English speakers may freely associate it with length (long) or dementia (loony).

  (此外,音译本身也有风险。首先,音译从中国文化在海外的影响力中几乎完全抹去了 dragon(龙)这个符号的历史积累作用,因为很少有人愿意费心去重新学习龙的新译名。其次,即使新的翻译方法获得了广泛的关注,讲英语的人也会随意地把它与“长,久”(long)或“痴呆”(loony)联系起来。)

  Stamping out a fire
  By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
  Updated: 2012-01-26 10:40
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2012-01/26/content_14493433.htm

-------------------------

  文章中说改译龙之后,中国文化在海外的影响力中 dragon 对应的部分就失去了。但是,这笔资产几乎完全是负资产,所以,抛弃它是一件好事情。至于 loong 被恶搞为 loony,的确是一个问题,但是它的负面影响远远小于中国人自称是 dragon。反对中国的人借助拼写相近,恶搞中国,只能体现恶搞者自己的无计可施,但是中国人自称是恶魔的后代,性质则完全两样。

  当然,如果能找到其它译龙方法,没有任何缺点,那就最好了。

  北京奥运会前夕,就东西方文化差异问题,中国日报对时任中国人民大学新闻学院院长的赵启正进行了参访。文章的标题是 Not everyone likes flapping fish head(并非每个人都喜欢啪啪甩动的鱼头)。

  文章介绍了赵启正的情况和观点。

  "There won't be a standard mode for culture," said Zhao, "because there won't be an organization like the WTO to set such standards."

  (“文化不会有一个标准模式,”赵院长说,“因为没有一个像世界贸易组织这样的机构来制定这样的标准。”)

  Zhao is a keen observer of cultural differences and a brave practitioner of cross-cultural endeavors. While he was an official in Shanghai, he received many foreign visitors, especially over the weekend.

  (赵启正是文化差异的敏锐观察者和跨文化努力的勇敢实践者。他在上海任职期间,接待了许多外国访客,尤其是在周末。)

  "When we Chinese show our hospitality, we should understand how certain acts would be interpreted in other cultures."

  (“当我们中国人表现出热情好客的时候,我们应该知道某些行为在其他文化中会被如何理解。”)

  He cites the dish where the fish is fried but the head is almost kept alive and breathing. "Doesn't it add a macabre touch?"

  (他以“油炸活鱼”这道菜为例,在这道菜中,鱼是油炸的,但鱼头几乎是活的,并且仍然在呼吸。“这不是增添了一种可怕的感觉吗?”)

  赵启正赞扬了姚明抵制鱼翅的做法,他还认为应该警惕所谓“文化全球化”现象(globalization of culture),应该珍惜文化多样性(cultural diversity)。

  他还谈到了翻译问题。

  While cross-cultural efforts are admirable, there is no perfect translation between two languages, Zhao said. He is uneasy with some of the English words for Chinese icons. For example, he feels Peking Opera is so different from Western opera that it should be transliterated into "Jingju". "You don't call Kabuki Tokyo Opera, do you?"

  (尽管跨文化的努力值得赞赏,但两种语言之间并不存在完美的翻译。他对一些代表中国特征的英文单词感到不舒服。例如,他认为京剧(Peking Opera)与西方歌剧(Western opera)截然不同,应该音译为“Jingju”。“你不会把歌舞伎(Kabuki)叫做东京歌剧(Tokyo Opera)吧?”)

  The dragon is another headache. The Chinese symbol of power and fortune carries mostly negative connotations in the West. The Chinese "long" and the Western dragon vary greatly, even in shape.

  (dragon 是翻译者遇到的另一个令人头疼的问题。中国的权力和财富的象征“龙”(dragon)在西方大多带有负面的含义。中国的龙和西方的 dragon 差别很大,甚至在外形上也是如此。)

  We shouldn't equate "dragon" with "long", and by the same token, we should probably call ours "loong" since "long" already exists as a word, he suggested.

  (他建议说:我们不应该把 dragon 和龙等同起来,同样地,我们应该把我们的龙叫 loong,因为 long 这个单词已经存在了。)

  Not everyone likes flapping fish head
  By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
  Updated: 2008-01-02 09:50
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-01/02/content_6364366.htm

-----------------------

  很多人担心外国人不认识 Loong,中国日报的几篇报道通过使用短注释或同位词来解决这个问题,早在 2007年就开始这样做了。

  Down the ages, "Loong" (Chinese dragon) and "Phoenix" are the traditional totems embedded with people's blessing and hope.

The Torch Relay Graphic of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
(torchrelay.beijing2008.cn)
Updated: 2007-04-27 10:48
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/2008/2007-04/27/content_861864.htm

----------

  The artists normally sit before a wooden stand where there is a polished slab of marble in the middle. On the side of the stand is a revolvable bamboo arrow and a wooden plate painted with various patterns in a circle such as a loong (Chinese dragon), bird, dog, flower basket and so forth.

A sweet art — sugar painting
By Wen Yi (chinaculture.org)
Updated: 2009-05-26 17:00
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2009-05/26/content_11570093.htm

---------------

  Xuyi, a small county with mountains and rivers, has a deep culture. In Xuyi, the Huaihe River stretches for thousands of miles and flows into Hongze Lake. Dabie Mountain lies on the Xuyi lands like a Chinese Loong (Dragon).

Beautiful landscape of Xuyi
By Wang Jingjing
Updated: 2011-11-21
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/jiangsu/xuyi/2011-11/21/content_14135833.htm

---------------

  The sinuous geometrical design of the pavilion is inspired by ancient chinese landscape painting, the Sacred Mountain of China, and has been made possible by a covering of more than 4,000 red ceramic tiles, produced in Sassuolo and able to change hue and color depending on the light, which recall the scale skin and the shape of Loong, which is Chinese dragon, in charge of rain and harvest in ancient Chinese culture.

First pavilion delivered to 2015 Milan Expo created by Vanke
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2015-04-01 14:29
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015-04/01/content_19972837.htm

--------------------------

  外国书报每天都会出现新词,第一次出现时加一个短注释,读者就明白意思了。我们中国人不能有种族主义思想,不能歧视外国人,以为他们的智商很低,看不懂注释,记忆力也很差,前看后忘记。

(黄佶,2021年1月28日)

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