8位翻譯官的自述
很多人都會問"翻譯這份工作到底好在哪里?" 下面我們就來聽聽翻譯官是怎么說。
一、Corinne McKay | French to English
哥琳娜·麥凱|法語-英語
A colleague recently commented that, ‘translators know things that almost nobody else knows’, and that’s what I love most about my job. I’ve translated brochures about pneumatic trash collection systems, cards for a zombie-themed role-playing game, reports about polio vaccination programs and the autobiography of a Sherpa from the 1950s. Very few people ever learn about these topics, much less get paid to read and write about them; that’s why being a translator is the best job for people who love languages!
我有個同事最近評價：“一個翻譯知道的東西，別人幾乎都沒聽說過”，這就是我最喜歡翻譯的地方。我曾經譯過氣動垃圾收集系統的簡介，僵尸主題的角色扮演游戲卡片，小兒麻痹疫苗項目的研究報告，甚至還有一位50后夏爾巴人的自傳!這些課題甚至很少有人聽過，更別說有人付錢請你去閱讀和書寫了。所以，對語言愛好者來說，翻譯是最好的工作!
二、Carolyn Yohn | French and Hungarian to English
卡羅琳·約恩|法語/匈牙利語-英語
They say reading offers you windows to other worlds. With translation, I get to build those windows for other people, one sentence at a time. Sometimes, I even get to build doors – for refugees looking for a safer place to raise a family, for inventors seeking buyers or producers for their new technology, for international couples preparing to commit to a life together. It’s an honor to be involved in such pivotal moments of strangers’ lives.
人們說閱讀打開一扇窗。作為翻譯者，我寫的每句話都有可能為別人打造一扇窗，甚至可能是門。對于那些在尋找新家園的逃難者，那些需要買家的發明家、需要生產商的新技術，那些準備建立跨國婚姻的情侶，這些陌生人的重要時刻我都參與其中，想想也是很美的。
I also have the rare privilege of walking freely through these worlds that non-translators only catch glimpses of. Translation requires an intimate knowledge of both cultures involved. In an odd anthropological twist, I almost have to become the Other in order to properly comprehend the subtleties of the ideas I am asked to transmit across the language divide. This adds thrill to travel and to my everyday experiences: at all moments, in all places, I am both local and foreign.
作為翻譯者，我還有自由穿行在不同世界之間的特權，而其他人則只能管窺一二。翻譯需要你對兩種文化都有透徹地了解。為了跨越語言的鴻溝，我幾乎要變成另一個人去理解細微的思想，真是奇怪扭曲的人類學。這為我的旅行和日常生活都增加了刺激，因為我永遠都同時是本地人和外鄉人。
This privilege may become less rare. Forty-five percent of Californians now speak a language other than English at home. The lines between local and foreign are blurring for the average monolingual American, too. This is beautiful and exciting. As translation grows in importance to the mainstream, there are so many windows and doors being built – so many opportunities!
這個特權以后也許不再那么稀有，僅加利福尼亞就有45%的居民說英語以外的語言，對普通的單語美國人來講，語言的界限也變模糊了。這也很讓人興奮，主流人群對于翻譯的需求增長了，中間需要很多的窗和門，意味著大把大把的機會!
三、Rose Newell | German to English
露絲·紐維爾|德語-英語
Hard question! As a reader, I love the diverse range of texts I have the opportunity to read. As a writer, I love the chance to tease original ideas out of one language and weave them into another. As a human being, I love the interaction I have with my clients and hearing their delighted feedback. Clients often even send me copies of the final, printed products or links to the finished websites, and let me know how they got on. I love that.
唔，不容易回答!作為讀者，我喜歡讀到的不同文字展現的巨大差異。作為作者，我喜歡從一種語言中梳理出思想原型，再把它編織成另一種語言。作為普通人，我喜歡和客戶之間的交流，聽他們喜悅的回饋。客戶經常會給我寄最終定稿的復印件、打印好的產品或落成的網站鏈接，讓我知道最新動向。我愛死這些了!
To answer the question, I think what I love most is success: not just my own, but helping people I form a connection with to succeed. Nothing feels better than knowing you helped a great idea gain traction with a broader, international audience. Translators help great ideas grow.
回到問題上，我想我最愛翻譯的地方就是成功：不僅我自己成功，還可以幫助別人成功。我可以使他們的創意獲得更廣泛和國際化的關注，沒什么比這更有成就感了!
四、Suyash Suprabh | English, German, and Italian to Hindi
素雅什·素樸讓|英語/德語/意大利語-印度語
What I find most interesting about translation is the fact that it gives you an opportunity to live different lives through different languages. Each language is different and has its own world. Another important thing is that translation helps you to know about both strengths and weaknesses of your native language. Some scientific and technical concepts are easily expressed in English, but require a great deal of effort to express in Hindi. It is not that Hindi lacks the capacity to express such ideas. It is because Hindi doesn’t have the opportunity to be a language of science and technology due to historical factors. Translators keep on finding new ways to express new ideas in their native language. Last but not least, translation has given me the satisfaction of contributing to my native language. Hundreds of sentence structures and idioms have been included in Hindi by translators. It is really surprising that more translators are not aware of this contribution to their native language.
我最喜歡翻譯的地方就是我置身在不同的語言和文化中，每一種語言都是一個小世界。另外，翻譯幫助我了解自己母語的優缺點。有些在英語中可以輕松表述的科學技術理念，用印度語就要費很大勁。倒不是說印度語不能容納這些理念，而是由于歷史因素，印度語未曾與科學與技術密切接觸。翻譯們需不斷尋找新方法來用母語表述這些新思想。最后，因為從事翻譯，我得以為母語貢獻，這也給了我很大的成就感。印度語中因為翻譯新增的句式和習語不勝枚舉。而很多翻譯者居然都沒有意識到，自己對于母語的貢獻有多大。
五、Timothy Barton | French, Spanish, and Catalan to English
蒂莫西·巴頓|法語/西班牙語/加泰羅尼亞語-英語
What stands out for me is the variety of things I learn while working. As a translator I’ve learnt about higher education systems in different European countries, the make-up of African and Latin American economies, the technical and tactical aspects of transatlantic sailing, the history of Spain, the graphic design process from start to finish, how small businesses operate and what services they offer, and a vast range of other fascinating information. What’s more, my translations have given a much wider audience access to this information.
我看重的是在工作中可以學到的豐富知識。通過翻譯，我了解了歐洲不同國家的高等教育體系，非洲和拉丁美洲經濟體的崛起，跨洋航海技術和戰術，西班牙的歷史，圖形設計的始末，小企業如何運作以及他們提供什么服務，這一系列跨越極大的迷人知識。更迷人的是，我的翻譯使得更多人有機會獲取到這些知識。
六、Emma Goldsmith | Spanish to English medical translation
愛瑪·金史密斯|西班牙語-英語 醫學翻譯
I love unravelling a complex medical text in Spanish and putting it together again in English. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. You have all the pieces and a picture of how it should look. You size up the pieces against each other, put some to one side and try others with a different shade of the same colour. You take a step back, to get a better perspective. And all of a sudden you have it: the whole picture.
我喜歡分解復雜的西班牙醫療術語，再用英語拼湊在一起。這就像拼圖游戲一樣!你手上有許多碎片和一幅完整的畫面，你把它們挨個碼在一起，這里用這樣的碎片，那里用同色但不同深度的碎片來試試，然后你往后退一步，看一眼。突然，你就擁有了它，一整幅圖片!
With translation, pieces are missing from the box. I have to look up terms and context in dictionaries and subject-specific resources. But I still get that exciting feeling of achievement when it all comes together and the whole picture has been rebuilt.
當然，翻譯時有些碎片不在盒子里，我需要到字典里、專業資源里去查找術語和上下文。但是當整幅圖出現的時候，心里的成就感是無與倫比的。
That’s what I love about translating.
我就是我愛翻譯的地方。
七、Judy and Dagy Jenner | Spanish, English, German, and French
朱迪和戴幾·詹納|西班牙語/英語/德語/法語
What we love the most about translating is the fact that we play a small part in making global communication possible.
我們最愛翻譯的地方是：我們這些螺絲釘，使得全球都可以交流。
八、Elizabeth Adams | Russian to English translator
伊麗莎白·亞當|俄羅斯語-英語
Working as a translator is like getting paid to solve puzzles all day. Sometimes the puzzles are easy and you speed through them, other days they’re like monster brain teasers that follow you from your desk to the grocery store to the dinner table to the shower. And then something clicks and the answer is right there. You found it! Or did it find you? Either way it’s a good day’s work.
做翻譯就好像是有人花錢來請你解決謎題。有時題很容易，你可以快速通過。而有些卻像腦洞嘲笑怪，它緊緊跟著你，從書桌到雜貨店到餐桌甚至淋浴時。然后有東西閃了一下，突然你就有了靈感。找到答案了!或者答案找到你了?不管怎么樣今天的工作都很贊!
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