Page 64 - Translation Journal July 2015
P. 64
府，都会被卷入其中，来去参与这个大的国际网络运作中去。
The key word in discussion here is the predicative “enmeshed”, a past participle for “enmesh”, meaning “to involve or to entangle
as if in a mesh”, which was metaphorically used by Dr. Levin to describe interdependence among European states. The author was
informed of this term from the slides in advance and was thus better prepared for analysis and delivery. It is both a figure of speech
and a “specialized use of an ordinary word”, borrowing from Nolan’s analysis, to enliven the discussion of how Sweden gradually
lost its own hold and fell into the grip of a supranational organization. But it meets no identical twin in the Chinese language. There
are Chinese words for “internationalized”, or “globalized”, but they are both subtly different in meanings from “enmeshed”. So the
author decided to keep the word in its original and describe it by using a different part of speech, i.e., a verb as in “陷入国际网
络” instead of a past participle adjective as in “enmeshed”. Aware of its novelty, Dr. Levin paraphrased the word and offered more
metaphors, using such expressions as “interwoven into ... networks” and “nodes”. This was very helpful, since the clarification
conveniently justified the author’s proposed strategy for dealing with “enmeshed”.
Source: Some scholars argue, one of my colleagues who wrote this book argues that what happens in that liberal groups are
formed that are called “enclave”, you know what enclave is? Very tightly knit groups that cover cross-ministry areas. So that means
people from Justice, Agriculture and Finance will meet together and form an informal group that frequently travel to the same
meeting and then report on their meeting. So the Swedish government is not just deeply enmeshed but also broadly enmeshed:
the Swedish government offices are represented in over a thousand different working groups/parties in international organizations.
Target: 这里经常会出现的一个现象就是一些官员，他们会自由组成一些工作小组，工作小团队，但这小组覆盖跨部门的内容。也
就是说，来自司法部，农业部和财政部的官员可以聚集起来，组成非正式团体，在布鲁塞尔频繁接触。所以呢，瑞典政府不仅仅
是深度陷入国际网络中，而且还是广泛参与到网络的各个层面，为什么这样说呢，因为瑞典办事处，er, 瑞典的各种行政机构，
在上千个，er, 在国际组织里面上千个不同的工作小组都有代表人员。
The word “translatability” is misleading since it rules out the possibility of an exact or complete translation. But it is not necessarily
so. For example, “enclave” in this case may variously mean “distinctly bounded area enclosed within a larger unit”, or “a group
of the same things different from the surroundings”, thus making the interpreter wonder which to choose. It may also seem
“untranslatable” because, even though the Chinese language does have a special term “飞地”, a jargon used in diplomacy that
corresponds to the its first meaning in the dictionary, the term would not make sense if it is uttered within the context. And since
meaning is largely contextual, the author decided to skip the word and paraphrase it. By focusing on the sense of the word and
its associations rather than on the word alone, apart from “工作小组” or “工作小团队”, as translated by the author, the best
Chinese equivalent for “enclave” would be “小圈子”, since it suggests a group of civil servants who shared lots of interests,
habits and working practices in common and their dialogues become increasingly exclusive and informal because of the coterie-
based relationship.
It can be seen from these two cases that “untranslatability” itself is not a problem in interpreting, since a word itself may seem
“untranslatable”, but its idea is not; what is really problematic is that the interpreter does not create the necessary associations in her
mind to seek approximate alternatives. The principle of intelligibility is thus proposed to encourage the strategy of paraphrasing the
term based on the overall sense of its context, describing the term by considering different parts of speech, keeping the term in its
source language or simply skipping it, for the common goal of getting the meaning across.
3.3 Coherency: re-organizing ideas that matter
If the principle of formality helps set the tone and that of intelligibility to help convey the ideas, then the principle of coherency is
established to keep the ball for that tone and those ideas rolling. It is in consideration of the nature of the consultative style (already
defined and illustrated in 3.1) in Dr. Levin’s presentation that this principle is proposed. Apart from being solemn and concentrative
typical of a formal style, Dr. Levin also attempted interaction, so as to mobilize the attention of the target audience. To enable
interaction and coherency as a facilitator, the interpreter is expected to re-organize what is being said into message-based and logic-
clear utterances, by putting in missing logical links, cutting redundant words, and even reversing the sequence of notes. Four cases are
presented as follows to elaborate on the principle.
Source: OK. So, you could get a lecture tomorrow on Swedish public administration and you have also received my article, er, on
Swedish public administration. Er, honestly, how many of you have found time to read the article?
Target: 我之前发了一篇文章给你们，是关于瑞典公共行政管理这个话题的，老实说，你们当中有谁看过这篇文章？
Source: Not yet, OK, good. So I assume you know nothing about the Swedish public administration.
Target: 嗯，好的，那我假设你们都不了解瑞典公共行政管理了，我现在就给大家作介绍。
64 | Translation Journal - July 2015
The key word in discussion here is the predicative “enmeshed”, a past participle for “enmesh”, meaning “to involve or to entangle
as if in a mesh”, which was metaphorically used by Dr. Levin to describe interdependence among European states. The author was
informed of this term from the slides in advance and was thus better prepared for analysis and delivery. It is both a figure of speech
and a “specialized use of an ordinary word”, borrowing from Nolan’s analysis, to enliven the discussion of how Sweden gradually
lost its own hold and fell into the grip of a supranational organization. But it meets no identical twin in the Chinese language. There
are Chinese words for “internationalized”, or “globalized”, but they are both subtly different in meanings from “enmeshed”. So the
author decided to keep the word in its original and describe it by using a different part of speech, i.e., a verb as in “陷入国际网
络” instead of a past participle adjective as in “enmeshed”. Aware of its novelty, Dr. Levin paraphrased the word and offered more
metaphors, using such expressions as “interwoven into ... networks” and “nodes”. This was very helpful, since the clarification
conveniently justified the author’s proposed strategy for dealing with “enmeshed”.
Source: Some scholars argue, one of my colleagues who wrote this book argues that what happens in that liberal groups are
formed that are called “enclave”, you know what enclave is? Very tightly knit groups that cover cross-ministry areas. So that means
people from Justice, Agriculture and Finance will meet together and form an informal group that frequently travel to the same
meeting and then report on their meeting. So the Swedish government is not just deeply enmeshed but also broadly enmeshed:
the Swedish government offices are represented in over a thousand different working groups/parties in international organizations.
Target: 这里经常会出现的一个现象就是一些官员，他们会自由组成一些工作小组，工作小团队，但这小组覆盖跨部门的内容。也
就是说，来自司法部，农业部和财政部的官员可以聚集起来，组成非正式团体，在布鲁塞尔频繁接触。所以呢，瑞典政府不仅仅
是深度陷入国际网络中，而且还是广泛参与到网络的各个层面，为什么这样说呢，因为瑞典办事处，er, 瑞典的各种行政机构，
在上千个，er, 在国际组织里面上千个不同的工作小组都有代表人员。
The word “translatability” is misleading since it rules out the possibility of an exact or complete translation. But it is not necessarily
so. For example, “enclave” in this case may variously mean “distinctly bounded area enclosed within a larger unit”, or “a group
of the same things different from the surroundings”, thus making the interpreter wonder which to choose. It may also seem
“untranslatable” because, even though the Chinese language does have a special term “飞地”, a jargon used in diplomacy that
corresponds to the its first meaning in the dictionary, the term would not make sense if it is uttered within the context. And since
meaning is largely contextual, the author decided to skip the word and paraphrase it. By focusing on the sense of the word and
its associations rather than on the word alone, apart from “工作小组” or “工作小团队”, as translated by the author, the best
Chinese equivalent for “enclave” would be “小圈子”, since it suggests a group of civil servants who shared lots of interests,
habits and working practices in common and their dialogues become increasingly exclusive and informal because of the coterie-
based relationship.
It can be seen from these two cases that “untranslatability” itself is not a problem in interpreting, since a word itself may seem
“untranslatable”, but its idea is not; what is really problematic is that the interpreter does not create the necessary associations in her
mind to seek approximate alternatives. The principle of intelligibility is thus proposed to encourage the strategy of paraphrasing the
term based on the overall sense of its context, describing the term by considering different parts of speech, keeping the term in its
source language or simply skipping it, for the common goal of getting the meaning across.
3.3 Coherency: re-organizing ideas that matter
If the principle of formality helps set the tone and that of intelligibility to help convey the ideas, then the principle of coherency is
established to keep the ball for that tone and those ideas rolling. It is in consideration of the nature of the consultative style (already
defined and illustrated in 3.1) in Dr. Levin’s presentation that this principle is proposed. Apart from being solemn and concentrative
typical of a formal style, Dr. Levin also attempted interaction, so as to mobilize the attention of the target audience. To enable
interaction and coherency as a facilitator, the interpreter is expected to re-organize what is being said into message-based and logic-
clear utterances, by putting in missing logical links, cutting redundant words, and even reversing the sequence of notes. Four cases are
presented as follows to elaborate on the principle.
Source: OK. So, you could get a lecture tomorrow on Swedish public administration and you have also received my article, er, on
Swedish public administration. Er, honestly, how many of you have found time to read the article?
Target: 我之前发了一篇文章给你们，是关于瑞典公共行政管理这个话题的，老实说，你们当中有谁看过这篇文章？
Source: Not yet, OK, good. So I assume you know nothing about the Swedish public administration.
Target: 嗯，好的，那我假设你们都不了解瑞典公共行政管理了，我现在就给大家作介绍。
64 | Translation Journal - July 2015
