翻译 The interpreter

Lǐ Nà zuò fānyì yǐjīng bā nián le. Tā cháng shuō, fānyì bú shì bǎ yì zhǒng yǔyán huàn chéng lìng yì zhǒng yǔyán nàme jiǎndān, gèng zhòngyào de shì lǐjiě shuōhuà rén zhēnzhèng xiǎng biǎodá de yìsi.

李娜做翻译已经八年了。她常说，翻译不是把一种语言换成另一种语言那么简单，更重要的是理解说话人真正想表达的意思。

Li Na has been an interpreter for eight years. She often says interpreting isn’t as simple as swapping one language for another. What matters more is understanding what the speaker really means.

Yǒu yí cì, tā péi yì jiā wàiguó gōngsī de dàibiǎo gēn zhōng fāng tán hézuò. Wǎnfàn shí, zhōng fāng de jīnglǐ jǔ qǐ jiǔ bēi, shuō:"zhè cì hézuò néng bù néng chénggōng, jiù kàn nín gěi bù gěi miànzi le."

有一次，她陪一家外国公司的代表跟中方谈合作。晚饭时，中方的经理举起酒杯，说：“这次合作能不能成功，就看您给不给面子了。”

Once she accompanied a foreign company’s representative to negotiate a partnership with a Chinese firm. At dinner, the Chinese manager raised his glass and said, “Whether this deal succeeds depends on whether you’ll give us face.”

Rúguǒ zhíjiē fānyì,"gěi miànzi"zhège shuōfǎ wàiguó kèrén hěn kěnéng tīng bù dǒng, shènzhì huì wù yǐwéi duìfāng zài shījiā yālì. Lǐ Nà xiǎng le xiǎng, fānyì chéng:"wǒmen fēicháng zhòngshì zhè cì hézuò, yě hěn xīwàng dédào nín de zhīchí."Wàiguó dàibiǎo tīng hòu xiào zhe diǎntóu, qìfēn yíxià zi qīngsōng le.

如果直接翻译，“给面子”这个说法外国客人很可能听不懂，甚至会误以为对方在施加压力。李娜想了想，翻译成：“我们非常重视这次合作，也很希望得到您的支持。”外国代表听后笑着点头，气氛一下子轻松了。

Translated literally, a foreign guest would probably not understand “give face”, and might even think the other side was applying pressure. Li Na thought for a moment and rendered it as: “We value this partnership greatly, and we very much hope for your support.” The representative smiled and nodded, and the mood relaxed at once.

Shì hòu, yǒu tóngháng wèn tā, zhèyàng gǎidòng yuán huà héshì ma? Lǐ Nà rènwéi, hǎo de fānyì jì yào zhōngshí yú yuán yì, yě yào kǎolǜ tīnghuà rén de wénhuà bèijǐng. Zì miàn shàng yí zì bú chà, yǒushí fǎn’ér huì zàochéng wùhuì; zhēnzhèng de zhōngshí, shì ràng shuāngfāng zhǔnquè de lǐjiě bǐcǐ.

事后，有同行问她，这样改动原话合适吗？李娜认为，好的翻译既要忠实于原意，也要考虑听话人的文化背景。字面上一字不差，有时反而会造成误会；真正的忠实，是让双方准确地理解彼此。

Afterwards, a colleague asked whether it was right to change the original words like that. Li Na’s view is that a good interpretation must be faithful to the original meaning but also take the listener’s cultural background into account. A word-for-word rendering can sometimes cause misunderstanding; real faithfulness means helping both sides understand each other accurately.