语言的局限

∷林巍 文／译

原 文

[1] 人们一般认为，“言为心声”，即有何种思想感情便有怎样的语言表达。然而，语言在许多情况下，又是有限的，不能尽如人意。

[2] 在我国古典文学作品中，不乏这样的表述。例如，刘禹锡的《视刀环歌》: “常恨言语浅，不如人意深”；黄庭坚的《品令》：“口不能言，心下快活自省”，《妙法莲华经·方便品》：“止、止不须说！我法妙难思”，以及“余欲无言”、“解人难索”、“辞不达意”等等。

[3] 更为典型是陶潜的《饮酒》：“此中有真意，欲辩已忘言”，而陆机的《文赋》：“恒患意不称物，文不逮意”，透露的则是一种作者与言语之间永恒的挣扎。

[4] 著名学者钱钟书论道：“谈艺时每萌此感。听乐、读画，睹好色胜景，神会魂与，而欲明何故，则已大难，即欲道何如，亦类贾生赋中鹏鸟之有臆无词。巧构形似，广设譬喻，有如司空图以还撰《诗品》者之所为，纵极描摹刻画之功，仅收影响模糊之效，终不获使他人闻见亲切。是以或云诗文品藻只是绕不可言者而盘旋”（《管锥编》）。

[5] 当代作家章诒和亦有一段刻骨铭心的描述：“我拿起笔，也是在为自己寻找继续生存的理由和力量，拯救我即将枯萎的心。而提笔的那一刻，才知道语言的无用，文字的无力。它们似乎永远无法叙述出一个人内心的爱与乐，苦与仇”（《往事并不如烟》）。正如刘勰在《文心雕龙·神思》中所说：“思表纤旨，文外曲致，言所不追，笔固知止”。

[6] 同时，语言一旦形成，又有其相对的独立性和多面性。例如，墨子的说“言多方”，“行而异，转而危，远而失，流而离本”（《墨子·小取》）；吕不韦言：“言不可以不察”，“多类非而是，多类是而非”（《吕氏春秋·察传》）。而这从另一方面证实了语言的“不可靠性”。

[7] 总之，理解语言的局限性，其实有利于我们更深刻地认识和掌握语言。

译 文

[1] It is said “words are the voice of the mind”, that is to say whatever thinking and emotions one may have will finally be re flected in his or her language. However, in many cases, language is limited and may not be as powerful as one may expect.

[2] Concerning the issue, there is no shortage of descriptions of this kind in Chinese classical literatures. For examples, Liu Yuxi (772—842)wrote: “How lamentable it is that words are so powerless to express one’s deep feelings; there is no match between the two” (“Shidao huange”);Huang Tingjian (1045—1105) had a poem: “While my mouth may not be unable to utter what I am feeling, my heart is really content with what I have appreciated”(“Pinling”). Also, a Buddha in the Lotus Sutra:“Stop, stop! There is no need to utter anymore since my dharma is so marvelous and it is impossible to convey it to anyone” (Miaofa lianhua jing, “Fangbian”). Meanwhile, expressions of this kind are: “my feelings can hardly be described in any language”, “it is hard to find someone who can really appreciate what I have meant”, “my language fails to express my idea” so on and so forth.

[3] More typically, Tao Yuanming (365—427) said in his “Poems after Drinking Wine”: “There are certain things that move me deeply,which I would like to tell but at the very moment I lose the words”. The critic Lu Ji (261—303) had a comment in his Rhapsody on Literature:“My constant concern is that my ideas may not have re flected the objects accurately, and my writing may be de ficient of my abundant ideas”, revealing a constant struggle between an author and his language.

[4] As the well-known scholar Qian Zhongshu points out,“Discussing literatures or arts often causes the same frustration. When listening to music, viewing a painting, or enjoying fabulous scenery,your heart and soul are merged with the things that have been perceived. Yet it is almost impossible for you to describe and convey what you have been moved by at the spot; if you do that, you may end up resembling the roc in Jia Yi’s poem where he could not put his thoughts into words properly. Or, if you imaginatively construct a delicate framework of analogies where abundant metaphors and figures of speech are presented, as Sikong Tu did in his Modes of Poetry, you may have drawn or carved a replica vividly, but still only fashioned a resemblance which never affects others to have the same aesthetic experience as you had.That is the reason why it has been widely agreed that literary criticism, for instance, should basically never be expressed in words; it can only be circled around in the field (Limited Views).

[5] The contemporary writer Zhang Yihe has a heartbreaking writing: “By writing this book, my desire was to relieve my dying heart and to gain some strength and purpose for my survival.However, I was dead wrong! The moment I picked up the pen,I realized how powerless and useless the words, the language!... I doubt they can ever convey a person’s true love, joy, pain or hatred” (The Past Events Have not Vanished like Smoke). This has proved literary critic Liu Xie’s (465—522) point in his Dragon Carvings on the Literary Mind: “The delicate nuances of language lie at the boundaries of thought and the subtle meanings of a sense of feeling beyond any written words: this is where a speech is held back from its further pursuit and a pen halts without a clear realization”.

[6] Meanwhile, once a saying is formed it becomes independent and multifaceted. As Mozi said that “Utterance has many meanings”,“As the language is being conveyed its meanings may vary gradually; as it changes its course, it may damage someone. When it is carried far away, it will be lost somewhere; when it is set adrift it will deviate from its original route” (Mozi, “Xiaoqu”). Also, the historian Lü Buwei pointed out in his The Spring and Autumn Annals of Lü: “Words cannot go without being scrutinized”. “More often than not words appear to be one thing but turn up to be another”. These comments have illustrated the “unreliability” of a language from another prospective.

[7] In short, by realizing its limitations, we may in fact gain certain insights in mastering a language.

译 注

在[1]中，“言为心声”有几种译法，如speech is the picture of the mind; the tongue speaks what the heart thinks 等，本文用的是words are the voice of the mind， 试加比较。类似的还有：“人的心理真是奇妙，言为心声一点不假”（A person’s psychology is a subtle thing; how true it is that words are echoes of the heart）。

对于“不尽如人意”，未采取一般的译法，如far from being satisfactory; not just as one wishes; not entirely satisfactory等，而是根据上下文，译为 language ... may not be as powerful as one may expect，以更符合原意。其实，该种表述可有多种，因语境的不同而变化，如：“这当然不是件容易的事情，而且我敢说，这总会让人觉得不尽如人意”（Of course this is hard, and I can say I fell short many times）；“农村的生活环境也不尽如人意”（Life in the country may not be much better）；“作为教师，意味着大量的牺牲和付出更多的时间，可报酬却不尽如人意”（Becoming a teacher means a lot of sacri fices and lot of time worked but the pay is not satisfying）；“有时候，尽管我们尽力了，结果还是不尽如人意”（Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the outcome is not positive）；“尽管数量不尽如人意，但质量还是很好的”（Although it’s not suf ficient in quantity, it is perfect in quantity）等等。

在[2]中，对于古代作家的引用，标示出生卒年，为的是让读者对其有一大致时间段的了解，而对于古代典籍引书的处理，则可分为两种：一种是即使翻译过去也没有实际意义的，如《视刀环歌》、《品令》等，便不妨音译出，附于引文后；另一种，有实际意义、易于理解的，便翻译其意，放于引文前，如下述段落中的《饮酒》、《文赋》、《文心雕龙》等。

对于下述经典语句，亦可作出不同的翻译，如：“常恨言语浅，不如人意深”（How regrettable it is that words are so shallow, they never match the depth of one’s feelings）；“口不能言，心下快活自省”（my mouth cannot utter the words, but my heart is quite content with its understanding）；“止、止不须说！我法妙难思”（Stop, stop!There is no need to utter. My dharma is so marvelous and it’s impossible to conceive）；“余欲无言”（there are no words to express what I wish to say）、“解人难索”（it’s hard to find someone who can appreciate my words）、“辞不达意”（the words fail to convey the idea）等等，试加比较。

在[3]中，对于陶渊明、陆机的名句，亦可作出不同的翻译，如：“此中有真意，欲辩已忘言”（these is a fundamental truth in these things and,I would like to utter it out but lack the words）；“恒患意不称物，文不逮意”（my constant worry is that my ideas may not equal my objects and my writing may fall short of my ideas）试加比较。至于“透露的则是一种作者与言语之间永恒的挣扎”，则不妨为：...revealing a constant struggle between an author and his language.

在[4]中，“谈艺时每萌此感。听乐、读画，睹好色胜景，神会魂与，而欲明何故，则已大难，即欲道何如，亦类贾生赋中鹏鸟之有臆无词”，其中的“感”，不是一般的feeling, sensation 等，而此处不妨略为夸张为frustration；“欲明何故，则已大难”、“有臆无词”讲述的都是“臆”与“词”之间的矛盾，故多用了 impossible,not appropriate, describe, put into words 等等。

在[5]中，“我拿起笔，也是在为自己寻找继续生存的理由和力量，拯救我即将枯萎的心。而提笔的那一刻，才知道语言的无用，文字的无力。它们似乎永远无法叙述出一个人内心的爱与乐，苦与仇”，其中的“理由和力量”未必是reason and power，而这里可理解为purpose and strength，或调转词序；“而提笔的那一刻”，其潜台词是“才知我是大错特错了”，故不妨补充道I was dead wrong!“语言的无用，文字的无力”，其实是一种“互文”，即“语言和文字的无用和无力”，故可融合

译之：how powerless and useless the words, the language!

在[6]中，“言多方”除本译文外，似还可译成 language is multifaceted,speech takes many directions, word is always unpredictable 等等，试加比较。

在[7]中，“更深刻地认识和掌握语言”，容易译成more deeply recognize and master the language，其实 insight一词在此更能传意，其意为 the act or fact of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively；同时，不妨将“认识”并于“掌握”（语言）之中，译为we may in fact gain certain insights in mastering a language，以为更加贴切。英汉翻译中，常有这种“合并同类项”，如：“他初出茅庐，没有什么经验”（He is a green hand）；“这听起来好像是童话故事，但它确实是真人真事，不相信也无济于事”（It sounded like a fairy tale—but it was all too brutally real）；就其基本内容而言，这一学说提出的论点包括：光速是宇宙中最快的速度 （Basically,the theory proposed, among other things, that the maximum speed possible in the universe is that of light）；这个国家滥伐森林，造成生态失调（Ecological imbalance has shadowed the country because of its being prodigal of its forests）。可见，译文因此被“简化”许多。