Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 1 The Reappearance of the Preface Style Is the Essence of the Translation of Classic Works (1)
Literary style is like a person's temperament and appearance. Without it, a work loses its uniqueness and individuality.If the style of the original work is not fully reproduced in the translation of a world famous work, the value of this world famous work will be damaged, and it will lose its individuality of "this one" from "that one".Therefore, in the process of translation and retranslation of masterpieces we are currently carrying out, we should put the reproduction of style in the most important position, so that our translation of masterpieces can be greatly improved compared with before.Because although our translators have different translation principles, there is one thing I think all of us can agree on, that is, to reproduce the style and content of the original work as fully and perfectly as possible in the translated work.Especially when there are several translations of an original work, if the translator wants to translate this famous work again, he must deeply see the shortcomings of each translation and deeply study the style of the original work, so as to be able to Try to overcome the shortcomings of these translations as much as possible, learn from the strengths of others, and give full play to your own strengths, aiming to reproduce the style of the original text to the greatest extent, which is different from the existing translations.Only in this way can we truly achieve "let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" and truly promote the development of translation.And only in this way, your translation will have its own value, and will not be eliminated by the waves.

The above text can be said to be an opening remark, and it can also be said to be some feelings I have after I finished translating "The Great Gatsby" and this "Pride and Prejudice".Next, I will make a brief analysis of the style of the book, and then compare some translation examples of Mr. Wang Keyi, Mr. Sun Zhili and my translation to see what is good and bad in terms of the reproduction of the style. .

This work describes the life and communication of decent people. It seems ordinary and trivial, but the author's style is elegant and not vulgar.Her elegant and exquisite style can be proved from the following three aspects: 1. This is a style that the author deliberately pursues and maintains. Odins compares his art to carefully painting on "two-inch ivory". Description", if you want to make a fuss about two-inch ivory, it is obviously a kind of meticulous carving.Therefore, when we translators translate this work, we must also use extremely delicate brushstrokes to reproduce her style. 2. The book narrates the lives, behaviors and conversations of high-class people. Although it also mentions servants and servants, it is only in passing, and there are few descriptions of their words and deeds. Only the old housekeeper of Darcy's family praises Darcy Mr.'s remarks are an exception, and that is mainly to provide a basis for Elizabeth's emotional development. The group of characters described in the work determines its current elegant and comfortable style. 3. The speech of each main character is very rich in their personality characteristics, and they are all in line with their respective social status and identity. The dialogue is lifelike and ready to come out. You will not recognize the wrong person based on their speech alone.And the author's sarcasm runs through the lines of the book, and it is precisely from the speeches of these distinctive characters that they are most fully reflected.

Translation example comparison:

1. "Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in Vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves."

“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old-friend. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.”

"Ah! You do not know what I-suffer."

“But I hope you will get it over, and live to see many young men of four thousand a year come into the neighbourhood.”

Translation by Mr. Wang Keyi:

"My good lord, why are you willing to spoil your own daughter like this? You are deliberately annoying me so that you can please yourself. You don't understand my nervous breakdown at all."

"You have misunderstood me, my dear lady. I have great respect for your nerves. They are old friends of mine. I have heard you speak of them solemnly for at least the last twenty years."

"Ah! You don't know how I suffer!"

"But I hope your problem will get better. Then, rich young masters like this with an income of four thousand pounds a year, you can watch them move in as your neighbors one by one."

Translation by Mr. Sun Zhili:

"Mr. Bennett, how can you spoil your own child like this? You just like to anger me, and you don't understand my fragile nerves at all."

"You've got me wrong, dear. I have a lot of respect for your nerves. They're old friends of mine. I've heard you speak of them seriously for at least twenty years."

"Oh! You don't know how much I suffer."

"I hope you will be well. I have seen a lot of rich young men with an income of four thousand pounds a year move to this area."

My translation:

"Bennet, how can you berate your child like this? It's your pleasure to annoy me like this. You have no sympathy for my poor nerves."

"You've got me wrong, dear. I have a lot of respect for your nerves. They're old friends of mine. I've listened to you mentioning them for at least 20 years."

"Ah! You don't know my pain."

"But I hope you'll get over the pain and live to see a lot of lads with four thousand pounds a year living in the neighbourhood."?
Mr. Bennet is full of wit and humour, and his contempt for his whiny wife, who is plainly intellectual, makes him always use his philosopher's concise language to mock her when he talks to her.Therefore, sarcasm and brevity are the biggest characteristics of his conversations with his wife.

In order to save space, we only compare the underlined part: the first two translations put the adverbial of time placed at the end of the original sentence at the beginning of the sentence, artificially lengthening the sentence, which will inevitably affect the Bennet succinctly talks about the reproduction of wind.In the second underlined part, the pen thinks that the literal translation of the two phrases "get it over" and "live to see" seems to be able to show more of Bennet's mocking tone.In addition, in terms of the delicacy of expression, the author thinks that Wang's translation is slightly better than Sun's.

2. "I admire the activity of your benevolence," observed Mary, "but every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason. And, in my opinion, exercise should always be in proportion to what is required."

Translation by Mr. Wang Keyi:
At this time Manli said: "You are completely brotherly, I admire you very much, but you must not be emotional, you have to be rational, and I think you should try your best not to go too far."

Translation by Mr. Sun Zhili:

"I admire your kindness," said Mary, "but you must not act on your emotions, and your emotions should be restrained by your reason. In my opinion, there must be a sense of proportion in doing things."

My translation:

"I applaud your affectionate gesture," said Mary, "but every emotional impulse should be governed by reason; Match what you need."

Mary is a girl who doesn't ask about current affairs, rarely participates in social activities, and blindly gnaws at books. When she speaks, she chews on words, piles up words, and has little content to express.The author's imitation of her speech is just a mockery of this kind of people.The author has mentioned earlier that the author's delicate writing style is also reflected in the fact that the characters' conversations are similar to the characters' personalities. Therefore, the author believes that it is consistent with reflecting the original text to reproduce as many sentences as possible and the words that Mary spoke. Delicate style is beneficial.In this translation, I have copied the sentence patterns and some words from the original, so here is my translation which is the longest, and the readability may be affected a bit, it depends on how the translators choose.Mr. Wang and Sun chose readability, and I chose delicacy.

(End of this chapter)