Huizhu Sun: Does this play need translation?

Ji

Source: People's Daily

When China's operas go abroad, they will first encounter the problem of foreign language translation. The 20th

Huizhu Sun: Does this play need translation?

Ji

Source: People's Daily

When China's operas go abroad, they will first encounter the problem of foreign language translation. The 20th century is the century of westerners. When the word "traditional opera" is translated into English, it becomes "China (traditional) opera", while Peking Opera is translated into "Peking Opera". By analogy, Henan Opera and other local operas are translated into "Henan Opera", and Yue Opera is "Yue Opera". Although China opera is a comprehensive art with unique China style and charm, the stage presentation of singing, reading, acting and acting is different from that of western opera, but in order to facilitate the understanding and acceptance of westerners, such translation is understandable. It's like the East describing butterfly lovers as Romeo and Juliet, and the East describing Tang Xianzu as Shakespeare, all of which are based on Western expressions.

China's traditional opera art has a long history, which has produced such great operas as Guan Hanqing, Wang Shifu, Tang Xianzu, Hong Sheng and Kong, as well as such famous works as Yuan, The Orphan of Zhao, The Romance of the West Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Palace of Immortality and The Peach Blossom Fan as early as 6540. At the same time, a group of outstanding drama theorists, such as "taking the lead", "closing the gap", "Xiao's role", "correcting the sound", "putting structure first", "cultivating" and "learning art", have emerged, and a set of China drama theories and terms have been formed. However, with the introduction of western drama into China at the beginning of the last century, drama and other "new dramas" dominated the right to speak on the stage of China's drama, and the Stani system of the Soviet Union also "dominated". Traditional drama has become an "old drama" and has been blindly criticized and reformed. China's traditional drama theory was basically replaced by western drama terms. This is just as Huizhu Sun, a drama scholar, said in the article "China Opera and Modern Culture": "However, the western theory that accompanied Ibsen-style drama dominated the right to speak in the drama world and pushed our own national quintessence to the edge-almost pushed it out."

On the other hand, Westerners seem to be a little paranoid about their own culture. Last year, Global Times published an article written by foreigners, China Lost in Translation, which shocked me. According to the article, many western observers smugly know nothing about China's language, refuse to quote China's terminology in their reports about China, and instead describe or explain China's culture with western concepts. The New York Times recently published "Confucian Constitutionalism in China" by "Confucian Philosopher" Bei, but China's terminology can't be found throughout. He is not the only one who has done so. Germans require all their "China experts" to be "very German", and books about China should be written in pure German vocabulary. Germans call it "China Impression", but it is actually "China without China elements". In history, billions of East Asians have been thinking and creating various terms. Why do European countries, which only account for 0.8% to 1.2% of the world's total population, reject all oriental originality? What's wrong with introducing China concepts such as "civilization", "sage" and "gentleman" into Europe? ..... Most western scholars often use the translation of biblical teachings or western philosophy to replace China's original concept. They want the image of China to be "a country without any originality". You will find that common western words such as "China religion", "China saint" and "China god" are all translated from China's words such as "religion", "saint" and "god", but they are not similar to the above western words in history or significance.

Westerners' persistence in their own culture may stem from their confidence in their own culture. Compared with the persistence and prejudice of westerners, we can clearly see our own shortcomings. China has a profound cultural tradition and its own unique charm. There is nothing wrong with absorbing foreign cultures to enrich and enrich ourselves, but we must not lose our cultural consciousness and self-confidence. A few days ago, the National Centre for the Performing Arts staged a drama "Big House Gate". Director Guo Baochang shouted loudly that "decadent and backward operas are amateurs" and that "the aesthetic concept of freehand brushwork has been ahead for 200 years, and I believe it will still be ahead in another 200 years". I quote Guo's words here, not because of blind self-esteem, but to remind colleagues that we should not underestimate ourselves and feel inferior. Brecht, a German dramatist, was deeply influenced by China's operas.

China has entered the world of 2 1 century, so we should not continue the naming and translation habits centered on western culture forever. Just like Mei Lanfang sang in Europe and America, China's current operas captivate the world with its unique oriental charm. It is time for the translation of the word "opera" to return to Chinese expression. The theme of the 33rd World Drama Congress held by the Chinese Dramatists Association and the International Drama Association in Xiamen is "Journey of the Blending of Drama and Culture", which was proposed by the International Drama Association. The foreign translation of the word "opera" is a very important thing. We listened to the advice of academic experts and adopted the method of direct transliteration. The word "drama" is translated into "traditional opera", Beijing opera is "Ju Jing" and Henan opera is "Henan opera", which is unanimously agreed by the International Theatre Association and colleagues from all over the world. In fact, the translation of Japanese Kabuki "Kabuki" and Nogaku "Nogaku" has already entered and enriched English vocabulary according to the above translation methods. Why can't our traditional Chinese opera and Beijing opera work? ! Chinese and western cultures and Chinese and western dramas have their own strengths. We should be familiar with and learn from international expressions, but we must not compromise because of accommodating the West, let alone let China's culture and drama lose themselves in translation.

On the Short Theory of Redundancy

In the spread of China traditional culture, translation is the first important threshold. Is it based on western expressions? Or on the basis of reference, seek and establish an expression that fully reflects the traditional cultural characteristics of China? The translation problems of China traditional operas put forward by the author of this paper will also be encountered in the translation of other cultures in China. This seemingly small problem cannot be bypassed.