British writer

The atmosphere in the room became a little strange.

Lin Shu didn't expect that the young man in front of him would actually say that.

It’s outrageous!

His face turned ugly,

"Mr. Lu, there is no need to defile yourself, right?"

Lu Shiquan did not hear anything, but still said without giving any face: "Mr. Lin, if you are here to cause trouble, then leave quickly. I don't have so much free time to play with you."

Lin Shu: "..."

He couldn't catch his breath and was almost sent away on the spot.

Gu Hongming tried hard to suppress his laughter, winked at Lin Shu and said, "Look~ what did you just say?"

Indeed, as he said,

Lu is not easy to get along with.

Lin Shu took several deep breaths to calm down his chest that was constantly heaving with anger, and then said: "Mr. Lu, you and I are both translators. We should be sympathetic to each other, how could we..."

Lu Shi raised his eyebrows,

Heart way,

Mr. Lin's translation is actually more suitable to be called a secondary creation.

For example, "La Traviata" was translated in 1897 and published in 1899.

At that time, Lin Shu did not understand French at all.

How was it translated?

He actually asked Wang Shouchang to take the original French work and dictate the contents of the novel, and then he would sort and polish it himself, and compile it into a collection in exquisite classical Chinese.

Modern people all know how unreliable this kind of second-hand translation is.

Lu Shi asked knowingly: "What works has Mr. Sir translated?"

Lin Shu smiled,

"The Legacy of La Traviata in Paris."

He seemed quite content when he answered.

Lu Shi asked again: "So it seems that you are very knowledgeable in French?"

"this……"

Lin Shu only knew a few words and was barely qualified in reading and writing.

He said: "In my translation, telling a good story is the first priority. Accuracy of language and writing is not the primary pursuit."

Lu Shi couldn't help but laugh,

"If the language and text are not translated accurately, how can we tell the original story well?"

Lin Shu's eyes shrank.

At the beginning of the 20th century, joyful literature was popular in the literary world of the Qing Dynasty, and the narrow evil novels, which were variations of gifted men and beautiful women, became very popular.

There are many famous works among them:

"Biography of Flowers on the Sea", "Nine-tailed Turtle"...

These major works of Huanchang literature appeared one after another.

At the same time, "The Legacy of La Traviata", in which the protagonist was a prostitute, was on the forefront of the trend and became a hit at the right time.

This incident inevitably makes people sigh with emotion:

"Chinese and foreign veteran drivers cherish each other."

Of course, "The Legacy of La Traviata in Paris" is different from those pleasure literatures. It belongs to a relatively rare genre of pure love with prostitutes as the protagonists. It is no wonder that it is unique.

After the novel was published, it was a great success, and for a time, paper in Luoyang was expensive.

With this achievement, Lin Shu must be extremely confident in his translation skills.

What's more, when he was translating, he had recently lost his wife and was in a desolate mood. Every time he translated into a place of deep affection and lingering sadness, he couldn't help crying.

From this perspective, he did not allow Lu Shi to question "The Legacy of La Traviata in Paris".

"Mr. Lu is too narrow-minded."

Lu Shi curled his lips, really too lazy to say anything more.

"You said I was generous just now, but now I have become narrow-minded. This is not bad, it just gives me an excuse to see off my guests."

He held on to the door frame,

"please."

Lin Shu frowned.

"Mr. Lu hides his head from behind and dares not discuss it. This is really not what the translator did."

Lu Shi said: "I am indeed a translator. But do I admit that you are also a translator? You are not even a translator, so what are we talking about?"

Lin Shu: "..."

I was shocked and speechless.

Gu Hongming, who was standing next to him, cleared his throat and said: "Little friend Lu, although I don't agree with Qin Nan's provocation, I must admit that his translation skills are still profound. "The Legacy of La Traviata in Paris" is indeed an outstanding translation."

Lu Shi pondered,

After a while, he asked: "Mr. Gu, do you know the author of the original work?"

Gu Hongming said: "Isn't it Mr. Dumas?"

This guy just read French.

Lu Shi coughed slightly,

"Then do you know what two words Mr. Lin translated it into?"

Gu Hongming replied: "It's 'Zhong' and 'Ma'."

Lu Shi went back to the house to get a pen and paper, and carefully wrote down a pronunciation:

ding.

Then, he said: "The reason why I translated it into those two words is because I was influenced by the Fujian dialect. In Mr. Lin's hometown, the word 'Zhong' is pronounced as 'ding', where 'i' is formed by the cracking of 'ü' The result will return to 'ü' when read consecutively."

Gu Hongming tried to read it,

"The pronunciation of 'Dumas' is 'dümma', which is exactly the same as the French 'Dumas'."

On the other side, Lin Shu couldn't help but nod,

"It really is."

Gu Hongming was stunned.

"What are you talking about? You translated it yourself and you don't know?"

Lin Shu was slightly embarrassed and didn't answer.

What we just discussed involves linguistics and phonetics.

How does he understand this?

Therefore, when Lu Shi made the summary, he, the authority, suddenly realized.

Gu Hongming nodded,

"Little friend Lu, I think I understand the problem. If a translator cannot get rid of the accent, this weird situation will indeed occur."

But he shook his head again and again,

"But who can completely abandon the accent? This is a bit difficult."

This is a good statement.

The current Qing Dynasty does not yet have a unified Chinese pronunciation system like Mandarin. People in different regions read the same written words completely differently.

Lu Shi said: "However, there is always the issue of majority and minority."

Gu Hongming was puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

Lu Shi replied: "I'll take Fujian as an example. The phonetic systems of Eastern Fujian and Southern Fujian are very different. Southern Fujian has voiced /b/ and /g/, but Eastern Fujian does not; while Eastern Fujian has /y/ (that is, ü), and Southern Fujian has No."

These examples are preserved to modern times with different

In the early 20th century, there were more differences.

Gu Hongming understood,

Fujian has only a small population, and its pronunciation is "split" like this.

So, how many people are confused when "Dumas" is translated as "Dumas"?

Now China has just opened its eyes to the world.

For this reason, translators should try their best to consider the needs of most people, and it is not advisable to entertain themselves.

Lin Shu had many similar things.

He translated "Holmes" as "Holmes" instead of "Holmes" or "Holmes\

,"But the former has been accepted by most people, so the mistake continues;

Of course, there are also situations where mistakes are made without hesitation.

For example, in "Robinson Crusoe", Lin Shu translated "Robinson" as "Robinson" instead of "Robinson".

As a result, the 1989 "English Name Translation Manual" (the second revised edition) compiled by the Xinhua News Agency's name translation information group clearly stipulated the translation of "Robinson", which was officially corrected.

Lin Shu also understood that he did have this problem,

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly,

"Mr. Lu, these details do not affect the accuracy of the translation."

Still confident in myself.

"Tsk..."

Lu Shi couldn't help but be speechless.

"What are you translating lately, sir?"

Lin Shu said: "In gratitude for our government's failure last year, I have been mainly translating "Hei Nu Yu Tian Lu" recently."

Don't look at the crazy and cool name.

In fact, the original work is "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe,

The two names are almost completely unrelated to each other, and they are not up to the level of letter, expressiveness and elegance.

Of course, the five words "Hei Nu Xu Tian Lu" summarize the main content of the novel very vividly.

This translation strategy is very good for some books.

But some are not, and may even be counterproductive.

Lu Shi asked again: "Is there any more?"

Lin Shu continued to answer: "There are many other authors, including Haggard, Doyle, Tolstoy, Dickens, Shakespeare..."

This answer is not surprising,

He translated tens of millions of words in his lifetime, and the content is inevitably complex.

Lu Shi raised the corners of his mouth,

"Doyle means Conan Doyle, right? Are you talking about his Sherlock Holmes series?"

Lin Shu nodded,

"Yes."

Lu Shi continued to ask: "Then which articles have you translated?"

Lin Shu said: "The Case of the British Exploration Stealing the Secret Contract", "The Revenge of the Journalist"...and so on! I also brought the manuscripts!"

The old man seemed to be infused with vitality and quickly ran to the other end of the corridor and went downstairs.

After a while, he came back,

"I have it here."

There are three cases in total,

"The Case of British Exploration and Stolen Secret Contract", now translated as "Naval Agreement";

"Record of the Revenge of the Hunchback", now translated as "The Hunchbacked Man";

"The Stepfather's Fraudulent Daughter Solved the Case", now translated as "The Identity Case".

After Lu Shi finished scanning, he sighed after looking at it.

He complained: "No matter what, the title "Stepfather cheated on his daughter to solve the case" is too outrageous, right?"

Lin Shu frowned and said, "Mr. Lu, you can't refute just for the sake of refuting. Isn't my conclusion inaccurate?"

Lu Shi: "..."

It's very accurate.

But this is a detective adventure novel!

The answer to the mystery is revealed in the title, which is equivalent to reading a "Detective Conan" comic borrowed from the library. Before turning a few pages, I suddenly found a character drawn with a water pen, and wrote "This is murderer" mark,

Then read Hammer?

Lu Shi smiled bitterly and expressed his thoughts.

Lin Shu was stunned.

"Is this a novel? Isn't this a real case?"

Lu Shi: "..."

Completely speechless.

Finally, he came back to his senses and continued: "There is also "The Case of the British Prospecting and Stealing Secret Contract". The original structure of the novel is to set up questions first and then answer them. Why did you directly change the structure and tell it in a straightforward manner?"

Lin Shu said: "The average reader cannot understand that kind of complicated mechanism."

Lu Shi was a little annoyed,

"What's so hard to understand about popular novels? You look down on readers too much."

"Ah this..."

Lin Shu was unable to refute.

Because he found that he seemed to have determined in his heart that there were no smart people among the readers.

Even if there is, he is not as smart as himself.

Lu Shi added: "There is also this "The Chronicler's Revenge", why should it be rewritten in the order of the facts of the case? If it is written like this, is there any sense of suspense?"

Lin Shu's face became even more ugly.

"I'm still worried that readers won't be able to understand the complex structure."

Lu Shi snorted coldly: "You don't call this translation, you should call it compilation."

Lin Shu's cheek was like a swollen eggplant,

He snapped: "It's interesting to say that I'm not a translator...it's really interesting! In that case, how does Mr. Lu evaluate his translation? Just say "Lord of the Flies", those vernacular words are really unpalatable."

The topic returned to vernacular writing.

Lu Shidao: "A summer insect cannot speak of ice. "Lord of the Flies" is not a translation. I created the Chinese and Japanese versions at the same time."

Of course Lin Shu didn't believe it.

As for the protagonists in the novel,

Masato Goto,

Keiichi Amano,

Which one is not a Japanese name?

But there is no way to question something without evidence, otherwise you are likely to be criticized.

Lin Shu also learned the lesson and whispered: "Well, since they were created at the same time, I am very curious as to why Mr. Lu used vernacular instead of classical Chinese when writing the Chinese version. You know, classical Chinese was used for simplicity and simplicity. Health, obviously..."

Lu Shi interrupted,

"You are mistaken. Classical Chinese was not born for simplicity."

Lin Shu: "..."

I even thought I heard it wrong,

"The simplification of classical Chinese writing is obvious to all. You actually said, 'It was not born for the sake of simplification'?"

Lu Shi said: "Whether Classical Chinese is simplified or not is not discussed for now. But regarding the issue of simplification, you are obviously wrong about the cause and effect. In fact, Classical Chinese itself is a spoken language in the pre-Qin period. Due to the multi-syllable characteristics of ancient Chinese, it can be used in a few words. A rich meaning conveyed in a few words.”

Polysyllabic Chinese characters are not polysyllabic characters, but two or more sounds pronounced in a single Chinese character.

For example,

watt = kilowatt;

Fathom = fathom;

甔=liter.

Gu Hongming was speechless,

"So, classical Chinese was originally a spoken language."

Lu Shi said: "That's right. Classical Chinese was the vernacular of that period, which is what is often said now, 'I write by hand and I speak'."

Gu Hongming asked: "What happens next?"

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"In the Han Dynasty, the Chinese language underwent phonetic changes, and the number of syllables in a single word was greatly reduced, which caused a problem: there were too many homophones. If the pre-Qin grammar was followed, the listeners would often be confused. From then on, the spoken and classical Chinese began to be distinguished."

These conclusions require a large number of archaeological discoveries to support,

At the beginning of the 20th century, those discoveries must not have existed.

But seeing how confident Lu Shi was, Gu Hongming and Lin Shu also believed it.

After all, even if you want to refute it, you can’t produce any evidence.

Lin Shu coughed lightly.

"Okay, I got the cause and effect wrong. Classical Chinese was not born for simplicity, it is just more streamlined than the current vernacular. But no matter what, when translating or writing, simpler classical Chinese should be the first choice, right? "

Lu Shi shook his head,

"I disagree with you on two points. First, streamlining is not necessarily the first choice."

This time even Gu Hongming disapproved.

"Little friend Lu, let's not talk about the big ideas, just the cost of printing. Wouldn't it be better to use less paper and ink? You can make more money by saving costs!"

Lu Shi couldn't help but be stunned,

Then he laughed loudly,

"I never expected that Mr. Gu would start from such a utilitarian point of view."

Gu Hongming was embarrassed,

"Just say what I said is right, right?"

Lu Shi replied: "In addition to reducing expenditure, we can also increase revenue! Abandon the cumbersome literary grammar, write in vernacular, and unify spoken and written language, so that more ordinary people can read books. The more books you sell, the more money you can make. That’s a lot.”

Gu Hongming pondered for a moment and suddenly smiled,

"you're right."

Lin Shu on the side said: "Mr. Lu, you disagree with two points. The second point is..."

Lu Shidao: "Vernacular writing is not necessarily unconcise."

Lin Shu and Gu Hongming looked at each other,

They all thought Lu Shi had a fever.

Lu Shi smiled and said, "Generally, when you arrive in a foreign country, what is the first word you learn?"

Gu Hongming showed off: "Of course it's 'Bonjour (Good morning)' and 'Salut (Goodbye)'."

Lu Shi said, "No. The first thing you learn is usually to curse."

"Ah this..."

Gu Hongming pondered,

"It's true. 'Stupid pig' and 'silly donkey', aren't they just insults?"

It's rare for me to have a sense of humor.

Lu Shi continued: "How do you generally curse people in Chinese? If I remember correctly, the most commonly used one in classical Chinese is 'bi qi niangzhi', right?"

"Ah this..."×2

Gu Hongming and Lin Shu were speechless at the same time.

Indeed, if "bi Qi Niang Zhi" were translated into vernacular, only three words would be enough.