中譯英「說服性標記」的翻譯規範－－中文母語與英文母語譯者社論型文章翻譯之比較

Norms in the Use of Persuasive Markers in the Translation of Chinese Editorials into English

中文母語譯者在從中文譯入英文的過程中，往往會出現譯文不夠自然的問題。原因之一是譯者未掌握好英語中「語篇的規範約定」（textual norm and convention）。本研究針對社論型文章的中譯英譯文進行研究，以Biber（1988） 對英文書面語與口語各種文類變化（genrevariation） 的「多面向方法」（Multidimensional Approach） 研究為基礎，採用其第四「面向」之「說服性標記語」（markers of persuasion），作為中譯英社論型文章譯文的語篇規範。本研究旨在探討中文母語專業與非專業譯者及英文母語專業譯者，在中譯英社論型文章時，遵守該文類說服性標記的規範的狀況為何，並比較3 類譯者之間是否存在差異。研究方法採用語料庫量化分析，譯者共35 位（母語是英語和中文的專業譯者分別有10 和11 位、中文母語非專業譯者14 位），每位譯者對10 篇中文原文為政治經濟相關之社論型文章進行翻譯，共取得譯文350 篇。本研究發現中文母語與英文母語兩類譯者總體而言，譯文皆與英語社論型文章使用說服性標記的規範存在差異。另外，本研究引入中文母語非專業譯者（第三類譯者）作為參照，發現3 類譯者之間在遵守說服性標記的規範上並無顯著差異。這說明譯文中說服性標記的規範同時也是一種翻譯普遍性（translation universal）。本研究的發現有助於翻譯教學，以及在實務中提升譯文的品質及可讀性。

When translating from Chinese into English, native Chinese-speakingtranslators often produce translations that don't read naturally. One possiblereason is that they fail to follow textual norms and conventions of the Englishspeakingcommunity. This study is aimed at exploring whether there are normsfollowed by professional translators in the use of persuasive markers whentranslating Chinese editorials into English.This study compared the use of persuasive markers in translations ofChinese editorials and authentic English editorials. The translations wereproduced by 35 translators, among whom 10 were native English-speakingand experienced, 11, native Chinese-speaking and experienced, and 14, nativeChinese-speaking but inexperienced. The study built a translation corpus of350 translations first. The frequency counts of six persuasive markers wereextracted from the corpus based on algorithms specified in Biber's (1988)multidimensional study of linguistic variations across speech and writing. Thesix markers chosen were those that constitute the fourth dimension in Biber'sstudy.The study has found that there seems to be a norm of using persuasivemarkers in the translations of experienced translators, native English and nativeChinese alike. The study also finds that the inexperienced native Chinesespeakingtranslators, as research subjects, follow the norm. As a result, the studydiscusses a number of possible factors which may account for such a result. Itparticularly argues that the norm, under certain circumstances, could representa translation universal and calls for further research into translation norms ina hope to help native Chinese-speaking translators improve the naturalness oftheir translations.