Mavis Carbin

近日逛天涯看到一篇讨论帖,标题为:
纽约时报--打破文化屏蔽的中国字幕组(转载)

依照原帖和跟帖中发布的信息,Mavis追根溯源,找到了原始报道.

不过纽约时报(The New York Times)原文需要客户端登录,没有注册过,因此没看到全文.而International Herald Tribune(国际先驱导报)亚太版对此进行过转载,本文英文原文即来源于此.点此查看.标题是:Love of U.S. TV spurs Chinese thefts(对美剧的热爱促使中国偷窃行为).

(此页面右侧有一段先驱报广告很有趣,只要你移动鼠标把广告上的1010二进制码统统扫一遍,这些10就会变成相应的文字,合起来是:Understand The Latest Technology At iht.com technology)

而纽约时报的标题是"打破文化屏蔽的中国字幕组",又与国际先驱导报的标题不太相符.

Mavis厚着脸皮,深夜把国际先驱导报这篇文章翻译了一下.技术有限,不当之处敬请包涵(因不了解当事人,故文中人名未翻译).

By Howard W. French The New York Times
Published: August 8, 2006
来自纽约时报的霍华德W法兰西,2006年8月8日发表的署名文章

SHANGHAI For the past year and a half, said Ding Chengtai, a recent university graduate, his friends have wondered why he seems to have disappeared.

[上海报道]Ding Chengtai说,作为一名毕业不久的大学生,很多朋友都想知道在过去的一年半时间里,自己为何失踪了.

Ding, a 23-year-old Internet technology expert for a large Chinese bank, chuckled at the thought. He keeps himself in virtual seclusion during his off hours, consumed with American television programs like "Lost," "C.S.I." and "Close to Home."

23岁的Ding是中国一家大银行的网络技术专家,说到这里他笑了.他把自己置于虚拟世界中,一下班就开始消灭那些美国电视剧,比如”Lost”, “CSI”或”Close To Home”.

He is no ordinary fan, though: none of the shows he watches can be seen on Chinese television. Instead, he spends night after night translating subtitles for current sitcoms and dramas for a mushrooming audience of Chinese viewers who download them from the Internet free through services like BitTorrent.

他可不是一个普通粉丝,因为他所看的节目没有一个在中国的电视台播映过.他花费一夜又一夜的时间,翻译现时播映的电视剧集字幕,以满足迅速增长的中国观众的胃口.这些剧集和字幕通过诸如BT这样的网络服务被免费下载.

What is most remarkable about the effort, which involves dozens of translators working in teams all over China, is that it is entirely voluntary. Ding's group, which goes by the name Fengruan, is locked in fierce competition with a handful of similar outfits that share the same ambition: making American popular culture available in near-real time free to Chinese audiences, dodging Chinese censors and American copyright lawyers.

在全中国存在许许多多这样的字幕组.最为人称道的成就是:这些工作是完全自发的.Ding属于一个名为”Fengruan” (Mavis注:风软美剧小组) 的字幕组,和其他相似的小组一样,为了共同的目标激烈竞争:尽可能在最短的时间里将美国流行文化免费传递给中国受众,并且避开中国(官方)审查以及美国的版权律师(诉讼).

"We've set a goal of producing 40 TV shows a week, which basically means all of the shows produced by Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC," said Ding, fairly bubbling over the project. "What this means is that when the Americans broadcast shows, we will translate them. Our speed surpasses all the other groups in China, and our goal is to be the best American transcription service in the world."

“我们的目标是每周制作出40部电视剧集,基本上来讲,这样就能覆盖到包括Fox (Mavis注:福克斯电视网), ABC (Mavis注:American Broadcasting Company, 美国广播公司), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System, 哥伦比亚广播公司)和NBC (Mavis注:National Broadcasting Company, 国家广播公司,上述提到的四个电视机构是美国最主要的电视机构)了,”Ding对这个幻想中的计划充满信心,”也就是说美国一旦播映剧集,我们就马上翻译.我们的翻译速度超过了中国其他翻译小组,而目标是做世界上最好的美剧字幕组.”

Locked as he is in a sometimes nasty competition with local rivals, Ding seemed blind to the fact that his group may have already attained its proclaimed goal. Although there are clubs in other countries that watch American television programs with translated subtitles online, the systematic effort of groups like Fengruan to reproduce American prime-time entertainment free of charge and in its entirety for a booming audience of Chinese fans is unique.

他不时地与国内同行们做着这种不道德的竞争(Mavis注:原文修饰Competition时用了Nasty一词,我觉得应该表示竞争的"肮脏",你知道,对商业行为而言,这种盗版传播是免费和违法的.),Ding看起来对他的小组已经达到其宣称的目标而产生的后果表现出无视的态度.虽然世界上其他国家也有观看美国电视节目并在网上发布字幕的俱乐部,但是像”Fengruan”这样有组织地免费传播美国优质娱乐节目,并且拥有极速增长的中国受众的字幕组,是独一无二的.

To a person, the translators say they are willing to devote long hours to this effort out of a love for American popular culture. Many, including Ding, say they learned English by obsessively watching American movies and television programs. And others say they pick up useful knowledge about everything from changing fashion and mores to medical science.

对个人而言,花费大量时间投入此项工作的翻译者们本身都非常热爱美国流行文化.据很多人,包括Ding,说,他们从强迫自己观看美国电影和电视节目中学习英语.其他人说他们从中学到了很多知识,从时尚文化到医学科技,无所不包.

"It provides cultural background relating to every aspect of our lives: politics, history and human culture," Ding said. "These are the things that make American TV special. When I first started watching 'Friends,' I found the show was full of information about American history, and showed how America had rapidly developed. It's more interesting than textbooks or other ways of learning."

“从(这些节目) 每个细节中我们可以发现生活中与之相关的文化背景:政治,历史和人文,”Ding说,”这些东西就是美剧特殊之处.我头一次看”Friends”(Mavis注:六人行,又名”老友记”)时,我发现其中充满了美国历史的相关信息,看到美国是如何快速发展起来的.这可比从书本上或从其他途径上学习有趣多了.”

On an Internet forum about the downloaded television shows, a poster who used the name Plum Blossom put it another way. "After watching these shows for some time, I felt the attitudes of some of the characters were beginning to influence me," the poster wrote. "It's hard to describe, but I think I learned a way of life from some of them. They are good at simplifying complex problems, which I think has something to do with American culture."

一个电视剧集下载的论坛上,名为”Plum Blossom”的发贴人这样说到另外一个方面.”当看这些节目一段时间后,我觉得其中的一些角色开始影响我的思想.”发帖者如是说,”这种感觉很难形容,但我想我从中学到了一种生活方式.他们善于将复杂问题简单化,我想这和美国文化有关.”

Rendering the slang of American culture into Chinese is a special challenge. In an episode of "Sex and the City," the line "I thought you two would hit it off" became "I thought you two would generate electricity together." From "Prison Break," the warning "Preparation can only take you so far" turned into: "People can only try to do things. It's God's will that ensures success."

将美国文化中的俚语翻译成中文是一项特殊的挑战.在”Sex And The City”(Mavis注:欲望都市)的一集中,这句台词”我想你们两个会合得来”被翻译成”我想你们两个会来电”.而”Prison Break”(Mavis注:越狱)中的一句警句”准备的作用只有这么多”被翻译成”谋事在人,成事在天”.

Whatever the programs say about American culture, translation efforts like these have received a boost from conditions particular to China. This country combines a fast-growing population of more than 123 million Internet users, most with access to broadband service, with a stultifying television culture. The state-owned national network, CCTV, has 16 broadcast channels, but they vary little in their mixture of endless historical dramas, tepid soap operas and copycat game shows.

不管怎样,带着美国文化烙印的节目,以上面所说的这些翻译方式而言,也沾染了中国特色,因地制宜.这个国家聚集了超过123,000,000的网民,并且这一数字还在快速增长,他们的大多数用上了宽带网络,同时,他们的电视节目愚蠢无比.国有的国家电视网络CCTV(Mavis注:大家都明白,再不识时务地注解就太过”Stultifying”了),拥有16个电视频道,但是全都充斥着毫无新意的东西----没完没了的历史剧,淡如白水的肥皂剧和盲目抄袭的游戏节目.

In an e-mail interview, a fan of American television shows who goes by the name of Happyidea and who declined to give his real name, gave this assessment of the Chinese programming: "Our own actors are not bad. Those responsible for making Chinese TV shows pathetic are the directors, screenwriters, editors and the people doing the lighting, music, special effects and makeup. There are bits of poor quality in every aspect, and it adds up to total trash."

通过电子邮件采访,一位不愿透露真实姓名,化名为”Happyidea”的美剧爱好者对中国电视节目做了如下评价:”我们自己的演员并不烂.对中国电视节目超烂负有责任的是导演,编剧,编辑以及灯光,音乐,特效和化妆等人.在每个方面上都低质一点,加起来就彻头彻尾变成了垃圾.”

(Mavis END)

标签： Movie