《聖經．現代粵文譯本》計劃說明
The Holy Bible. Modern Yue Translation (MYT) Project
Introduction
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如果不算是個聖經譯本，那麼這計劃的目的是甚麼？
If this is not a Bible translation, what is the objective of the project? |
本計劃的主要目的是研究在翻譯聖經的過程中，若目標語（譯入語）正處於發展初期，譯者會碰到甚麼挑戰和機遇。
The main purpose of this project is to study the challenges and opportunities that translators face when translating the Bible into a target language that is still in its infancy. 語文隨着時代演變，但步伐總會時快時慢。《官話和合譯本》在1890年至1919年期間翻譯，清末民初期間，白話文運動剛起步，遣詞用字天翻地覆地變化。 Languages evolve at varying paces. The Chinese Union Version in Mandarin was translated between 1890 and 1919, during the early days of the Vernacular Language Movement. At that time, the vocabulary and grammar were undergoing rapid change. 我們現在如何可以親身體驗昔日譯者遇見的挑戰和機遇呢？今天的官話白話文已發展成熟了，即使我自己把聖經重譯成中文，也不能體驗前人翻譯《官話和合譯本》的經歷。在這個客觀背景下，《現代粵文譯本》計劃便誕生了。 How can we experience the challenges and opportunities that the translators faced in the past? Today, Mandarin Chinese is a mature language. I could not have experienced what the translators of The Chinese Union Version went through by translating the Bible into Mandarin Chinese on my own. In this context, the Modern Yue Translation Project was born. 為甚麼我想經歷這種體驗呢？這是因為其他語文也曾經歷過類似變化。舉例說，在十二世紀的英格蘭，英文只是平民的語言，貴族用法文交談，律師操怪誕方言，即所謂「法律法文」，宗教和學術文章則用拉丁文。中古英文的地位不言而喻。後來英文的地位，花了幾個世紀爬升。莎翁(William Shakespeare)的作品和 The Tyndale Bible 和 King James Version 兩本英文聖經，就正好見證英文登上大雅之堂。 Why would I want to experience this? This is because other languages have also undergone similar changes in the past. For example, in the 12th century, English was the language of the masses in England. The upper classes spoke French. Lawyers used a weird dialect, so-called law French. Latin was used for theological and educational texts. The status of Middle English seems to be self-evident. The English language took several centuries to recover its prestige. The clearest indication of the extent to which the English language had risen in the social scale is the publication of William Shakespeare's works and the English translations of the Bible, The Tyndale Bible and The King James Version. 在民初的白話文運動中，《官話和合譯本》可否算對白話文的發展有類似貢獻呢？我不知道，但我想做個實驗，挑選一種正處於發展初期的語言或方言，用來翻譯聖經，把整個過程紀錄下來，與各位分享，讓我們想想，聖經翻譯和語文發展之間的關係。 Is it fair to say that The Chinese Union Version played a similar role in the Vernacular Language Movement? I do not know, but I would like to experiment. I would pick and choose a language or dialect in infancy for translating the Bible. I will document the process and share it with you. I want to explore the interplay between Bible translation and the rise of a language. 就是說，這項計劃，焦點是「語文」，而不是「經文」！ In other words, the focus of this project is on language, not the Bible verses! 因此，成果不太重要，過程才是最重要。所以，譯本的註腳用了很多篇幅，就是為了紀錄我的翻譯過程。 Therefore, the product is less significant. The process is what matters most. That is why the footnotes to the translated text are rather verbose. That is the way I tried to document the process. |