《2019 广东国际青少年交流周活动手册》译龙为 Loong

　　江西财经大学外国语学院谢子彬同学在其硕士学位论文中介绍说，《2019 广东国际青少年交流周活动手册》的英文版把“龙”翻译成了 Loong。

　　翻译者起初译龙为 dragon，但是他在征求目标读者——外国十几岁的青少年——的意见时，惊讶地发现，他对中国文化负载词的翻译并没有考虑到外国青少年读者的感受。有外国小朋友告诉他，他们无法根据译文理解中国的 dragon 和西方的 dragon 之间的差别。

　　翻译者考虑了这些目标读者代表的意见，把龙改译为 Loong，并在后面增加了注释：A Loong is a Chinese dragon, powerful but not aggressive, which can be used to symbolize the emperors in ancient China（Loong 是中国的 dragon，它强大但是没有侵略性，在中国古代，它可以被用来象征国王。）

　　以下英文描述摘自谢同学的论文：

(3) Ask teenagers from abroad for advice

The Guide Book is made for teenagers from abroad, so it is advisable that the author asks the target readers for suggestions. Upon inquiries, the author was surprised to find that some of his translation of the Chinese culture-loaded words he still did not take the feelings of teenagers from abroad into account. For example, the author first translated 龙 into "dragon". However, some teenagers from abroad told the author that they had failed to understand the difference between Chinese 龙 and western "dragon" through this translation.

The author attached importance to the teenagers' proposal and revised his translation. Eventually, he used the strategy of transliteration to transform the 龙 into "Loong", and added an annotation "A Loong is a Chinese dragon, powerful but not aggressive, which can be used to symbolize the emperors in ancient China". In this way, the author's target text reserves the pronunciation of 龙 and interprets the accurate nature of this creature.

　　有必要指出的是，这一注释仍然把中国的龙（Loong）和欧美文化中的杜拉根兽（dragon）联系在一起，并不合适。翻译者完全可以再勇敢一些，把 Loong 描绘成一种“中国神话虚构动物”，而根本不必提及 dragon。杜拉根兽的体型一般是粗壮笨重的蜥蜴身体，还有两只巨大的蝙蝠肉翅。龙的外形和它截然不同。两者内涵更是天差地别。因此没有必要借用杜拉根兽来帮助外国小朋友理解龙，实际上也达不到这个目的。如果硬要把两者联系在一起，外国小朋友可能反而要被搞糊涂了。外国小朋友对中国文化的认识几乎是一张白纸，一开始就让他们建立一个独立的中国龙的概念，不仅有利于向世界传播中国文化，也降低了外国小朋友的学习成本。

　　在翻译其它涉及龙的概念时，手册的翻译者也译龙为 Loong 了：

　　中国龙狮龙舟运动名城
State-Level Sporting City of Loong-Boat Race and Loong-and-Lion Dance

　　赛龙舟
Loong-Boat Race (Dozens of racers on a boat strive together to achieve success, which reflects the strong cohesion of the Chinese people)

　　瑞龙献宝
An Auspicious Loong Presenting Treasures (A Loong is a Chinese dragon, powerful but not aggressive, which can be used to symbolize the emperors in ancient China)

　　谢同学还选择了两个实例进行了分析讨论：

Case 8:

Source Text: ……其身长二百三十四点四米，犹如一条龙……

Author's Target Text: ... and its length is 234.4 meters, like a Loong (A Loong is a Chinese dragon, powerful but not aggressive, which can be used to symbolize the emperors in ancient China)...

Version 2: ... and its length is 234.4 meters, like a dragon...

In the case 8, 龙 is the research Chinese culture-loaded word.
龙 is a supernatural animal in Chinese legends. In ancient times, it’s even used as the symbol of Chinese emperors, which reflects the sanctity, justice and majesty of it.

Under the guidance of Skopos Theory, in the case 8, transliteration is adopted by the author to avoid incorrect interpretations.

龙 is a creature which only exists in Chinese culture. Though in western nations there is one kind of creature named "dragon" which is similar to 龙, they are not identical in reality. "Dragon" is a large aggressive animal with wings and a long tail, and can breathe out fire. To distinguish the Chinese 龙 from the western "dragon", the author supposes that his target text can not show the factors related to "aggressive". With a view to this, he transliterates 龙 into "Loong", adding an annotation "A Loong is a Chinese dragon, powerful but not aggressive, which can be used to symbolize the emperors in ancient China". "Loong" is similar to "long" in pronunciation. Using this translation can reflect the long body of 龙.

Moreover, the word "Loong" is well-known in the world. For example, the English name of the third prime minister of Singapore is "Lee Hsien Loong". The annotation made by the author interprets that "Loong" is a creature akin to "dragon" in western countries but not aggressive at all, which leaves teenagers from abroad favorable impression of 龙.

In the version 2, liberal translation is applied to translate 龙 into "dragon". As the author mentions above, in western legends, "dragon" has the quality of determination and anger to attack other creatures, which is identified as aggressive and terrifying. In view of this, translating 龙 into "dragon" is not advisable.

In contrast, if Skopos theory is the guiding theory, the target text can better show the positive factors of Chinese 龙 such as strength, justice and majesty, so as to improve the popularity of this mythical archetype and the cultural confidence of Chinese people.

Case 9:

Source Text: ……并形成了行通济、佛山秋色、赛龙舟等独具特色的民俗文化。

Author's Target Text: ... and formed the unique folk culture of The Tong (Satisfaction) Ji (Assistance) Bridge Parade for Blessings (People cross this bridge from 15th night to 16th of the first lunar month to pray for a nice Lunar New Year), the Autumn-Harvest Parade of Foshan (A parade held by Foshan people to celebrate the good harvest in autumn around the Mid-Autumn Festival), Loong-Boat Race (Dozens of racers on a boat strive together to achieve success, which reflects the strong cohesion of the Chinese people) and so on.

Version 2: . . . and formed the unique folk culture of Walk Through the Tongji, Foshan Autumn, Dragon-Boat Race and so on.

……

The activity 赛龙舟 aims to commemorate the great poet Qu Yuan in ancient China. Now, with the passage of the times, the spirit contained in this activity is more worthy of exploration.

The author adopts the strategy of transliteration and literal translation in translating 赛龙舟.

In order to carry forward the Chinese spirit of excellence, the author believes that the focus of the translation of 赛龙舟 is to show foreign readers the positive spirit of this race.

To interpret this spirit to readers, an annotation is still advisable. The author mentions in the case 8 that it is necessary to distinguish the Chinese 龙 from the western dragon in translation. Therefore, the author translates 赛龙舟 into "Loong-Boat Race". As the annotation of Chinese 龙 has been mentioned for several times in the Guide Book, the author believes that there is no need to add an annotation of "Loong" again after "Loong-Boat Race". Instead, the author adds an annotation that reflects the excellent spirit of China to infect teenagers from abroad. The team spirit contained in 赛龙舟 endows 龙舟 with rich connotation. This activity embodies a sense of team and cohesion. An annotation "Dozens of racers on a boat strive together to achieve success, which reflects the strong cohesion of the Chinese people" helps to interpret the spirit of unity as well as cooperation behind 赛龙舟 and attract teenagers from abroad by the excellent spirit of the Chinese nation.

In the version 2, 赛龙舟 is translated as "Dragon-Boat Race". However, as the author mentions in the case 8, the western dragon symbolizes aggression, so this translation may destroy the good image of the activity, which is not advisable.

To sum up, it is better to create a translation based on Skopos Theory, because in this way the Chinese excellent spirit behind 赛龙舟 is highlighted.

　　谢同学介绍说手册对“夕/夕兽”也进行了音译。但是这个音译是严格按照拼音字母方案进行的，和中国人的一个常用姓氏的拼写完全相同。由于“夕/夕兽”具有贬义（An evil four-footed devil only appears on Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve），因此这种音译法会造成非常严重的负面影响，可能导致资料无法付诸印刷和发行。

　　这个案例再次证明，在音译中国文化负载词时，不应该完全拘泥于拼音字母方案，要根据实际情况增加字母，例如“龙”不是音译为 long，而是 loong，以避免和英文常用词 long 混淆；或者可以增加后缀，例如 geilivable。笔者也曾经建议“有无”不要音译为“you and wu”，而是“youment”和“wument”。

　　这里的原因很简单，英语等拼音文字基本上是一音一义，而汉字是象形文字，一音多义非常普遍，所以汉语音译成英语时必然经常撞车，因此有必要增加一些区别标记。

　　看过好几篇外语专业研究生的学位论文，我不明白为什么都要用英文来写？答辩委员会里有外国老师？打算去外国发表或出版？

相关链接：

黄佶：连“有无”都音译了，“龙”却不肯音译，这是为什么？

（黄佶，2021年6月29日）

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