The Task of the TranslatorMade by Kyky and Canney( 张琦 与 吴樱)Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 The author 1.2 About the book 2. Specifics Kyky 2.1 Translatability 2.2 Kinship 2.3 Pure Language 2.4 The task 2.5 Translation principles 2.6 Some problems Canney 3. Conclusion1.Introduction About the author 瓦尔特本雅明 (Walter Benjamin, 1892-1940)德国人 ，思想家、哲学家与马克思主义文学批评家，是 20 世纪初最具创造性与最富争议的批评家之一，出版 有发达资本主义时代的抒情诗人与单向街 等作品。 有人称之为“欧洲最后一位文人”。在颇具传奇色彩的 一生中，他涉足了多个领域的研究，他独树一帜的 理论思想对后现代主义、解构主义、接受美学等学 派影响深远。 About the book 1923 年，本雅明为其翻译的法国诗人波德莱尔( Charles Boudelaire, 1821-1867) 的诗集巴黎画景 （Tableau Parisiens）写了一篇导言。这篇导言就是 后来被译学界视为翻译研究圣经的译者的任务( The Task of the Translator)此文虽是最具影响力的翻译 理论之一。 本雅明借翻 译之名 , 讨论的是他一直关注的 “ 纯语 言 ” 问题 。 而本雅 明赋予译者的任务 , 是通过翻 译 找 到两种语言的亲缘关系 , 弥合纯语言的碎片 , 重新 找回失落的上帝语言。 Consideration of the receiver never proves fruitful. Art posits mans physical and spiritual existence. No poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no symphony for listener. Is a translation meant for readers who do not understand the original? Its essential quality is not statement or the imparting of information. Bad translation 1. intends to perform a transmitting function, cannot transmit anything but informationhence, something inessential. 2.unfathomable,the mysterious, the “poetic”, only if he is also a poet. If a translation undertakes to serve the readerTranslation is a mode translatability To comprehend it as mode one must go back to the original, for that contains the law governing the translation: its translatability. Dual meaning 1.在所有的读者当中，是否有完全合格的译者？ (Contingently) 2.这个作品本身是否需要翻译，也即，从这种方式意 义看，需要翻译？ (Apodictically，不容置疑) The translatability of linguistic creations ought to be considered even if men should prove unable to translate them. Translatability life translatability Translatability an essential quality of certain works. which is not to say that it is essential that they be translated; it means rather that a specific significance inherent in the original manifests itself in its translatability. By virtue of translatability its original is closely connected with the translation. A translation issues from the originalnot so much from its life as from its afterlife (来世). Translations mark their age of continued life. The concept of life is given only if everything that has a history of its own, and not merely the setting for history. The range of life must be determined by history rather than by nature, least of all by such tenuous (贫乏) factors as sensation) and soul. The philosophers task consists in comprehending all of natural life through the more encompassing life of history. The history of the great works of art tells us about their antecedents, their realization in the age of the artists, their potentially eternal afterlife in succeeding generations. 如果一部译作不仅仅是传递题材内容，那么它的面世标志着 一部作品进入了它生命延续的享誉阶段。与拙劣译者的看法 相反，这样的翻译不是服务于原作。而原作的生命之花在其 译作中得到了最新的也是最繁盛的开放，这种不断的更新使 原作青春常驻 。Kinship (亲缘性；亲族关系) (P17) Purposeful manifestations of lifehave their end not in life, but in the expression of its nature, in the representation of its significance. Translation thus ultimately serves the purpose of expressing the central reciprocal relationship between languages. As for the posited central kinship of languages, it is marked by a distinctive convergence. Languages are not strangers to one another, but are, a priori and apart from all historical relationships, interrelated in what they want to express. traditional theory of translation X image theory (image of reality, likeness of original) x Translation (afterlife): transformation, renewal, original undergo changes Kinship (not accomplish through alikeness)Pure Language 任何超历史的语言间的亲缘性都产生于每一种语言各自的 整体性意图（totality of intentions）。不过这种意图并不是 任何语言单独能够实现，而是实现于所有这些意图的互补 的总体之中。这个总体不妨叫做纯语言。 Without distinguishing the intended object (意向性对象 ) from the mode of intention (意向性样式 ), no firm grasp of this basic law of a philosophy of language can be achieved. E.G.: Brot（德文，意为“面包”）与pain（法文“面包”）“意指 ”着同一个对象，但它们的意向性样式却不同。(P18) complementary 各种语言（碎片）之间有一种内在的亲缘关系，这 种内在的亲缘性是以一种特殊的趋同性为标志的， 但这种趋同性却并非相似性或可代替性，而是一种 互补性。 同一事物，在作为整体的每一种语言中被意指，但 此事物又无法被任何单一的语言所企及，而要通过 所有相互补充的语言意图之总体性，方可到达。这 个由各种相互补充的语言意图所构成的总体，就是 纯语言(pure language)。 语言的“终极本质”(ultimate essence)；各种语言通 过各自意义的形式互补、交融达到与谐(harmony of the languages) ，使各种语言相互融合臻至完满 。 Translation : provisional way of coming to terms with the foreignness (外来性) of languages. 翻译同艺术作品不同，它无法宣称其作品的永恒性。 like a fruit and it skin, the language of the translation envelops its content like a royal robe with ample folds. The task Finding that intended effect(intention) “echo“ 用不同的表意方式表达同一个意指 symbolized symbolizing symbolizing ( d