按：卫报中文（译言）版今日正式上线，这是我们做此事的“为什么”。
为什么译言社区要进行卫报翻译？
蒂莫西.加顿.艾什在《媒体是理解的桥梁》一文中谈到，“当今紧密关联的世界中，国与国之间的相互理解前所未有的重要”。艾什进一步阐述，媒体是达成这种理解的“公共财富”。虽然他主要针对的是西方媒体有必要扩展其国际报道，增加对中国报道的深度与广度，但这一观点同样适用于另一个面。那就是中国读者获取国外媒体内容、从西方媒体眼中观察中国与世界的重要性。在这方面，艾什的结论同样适用：如果没有这样一种自西向东的“公共财富”存在，其后果也会相当危险。
2008年见证了中国民众与西方媒体之间前所未有的碰撞。在一定程度上，这种碰撞的背后是中西方文化与价值观的差异。西方民主是否具有普世性，是否适用于中国？稳定、和谐、经济发展的重要性，是否可以超越对环境和个体权利的关注？而反过来，失去稳定是否会对环境和人权造成更大的破坏？
简单地对上述问题做出“是”或“非”的回答，都会遭到反方观点的强烈反对；操之过急做出任何判断也只能陷入困局。唯一清晰的是，在对很多问题的理解上，中国与西方存在着巨大差异。这种理解上的差异有可能引起更强烈的碰撞，甚至将我们引入更危险的地带。而避免这种鸿沟进一步扩大的唯一途径，恰恰是认识和揭示其存在。而这一点，正是译言社区的译者们，通过协作翻译可以做到的。
随着历史进入被金融风暴席卷的2009，西方媒体面对伦敦G20峰会上中国展现出的崛起之姿，或赞叹，或质疑。而在我们所翻译的卫报G20峰会报道中，最吸引读者的，却是对于G20抗议活动中的一位旁观者――伊恩.汤姆林森遭警方不当暴力致死事件，卫报所进行的独立调查。
对这一事件及调查的看法，在中国读者中也再次产生了分歧。有人评论道，这一事件再次证明西方民主就是个笑话；另一些人却认为，恰恰相反，事件的发展说明在英国，公众至少能够有效地对国家机器进行监督。而还有一些读者则同时能够看到这两个方面，并进一步通过卫报关于此案的社论《需要回答的案件》注意到，英国有超过百年见证与应对公众异议事件的经验，这本身对中国就具有建设性和价值。
认识到上述这些价值，译言社区汇集起我们每个人原本微小的力量，逐步为弥合中西文化、认知中的差异做出建设性的努力。在过去一年间，我们翻译了超过1500篇卫报文章。卫报本身也对译言的社区翻译模式报以开放的心态，给予大力支持。而今天，这一努力将翻开新的一页――UGC（由用户生成的）卫报中文版。
这一项目将面临的最大挑战在于，保持翻译的高品质，以传递卫报高水准的新闻与分析。为此译言将结合社区机制和专门投入的资源，尽最大努力为读者带来高质量的卫报译文。而与此同时，与任何一个成功的UGC项目一样，如维基百科，U （用户）的成果将永远处在一个不断完善的过程中。期待读者们也能加入译者的努力之中，将我们共同的作品推向“信、达、雅”的最高境界。
作为一个在中国运营，成员大多身在中国的网络社区，译言将尽最大可能，把卫报内容中对中国最有价值的部分传递给我们的同胞。相信通过共同的努力，我们会筑起一座理解的桥梁，通向更开放的未来。
- 如果您有兴趣参与卫报社区翻译，请点击这里。
- 如欲了解译言如何能帮助您的内容或机构跨越语言与理解的鸿沟，请给我们来信：contact@yeeyan.com
Why is Yeeyan translating the Guardian into Chinese?
In his April 16th CIF piece, Mr. Timothy Garton Ash rightly pointed out that “in today’s interconnected world, it matters more than ever that countries understand each other”. He further argues that media is the “public good” by which this understanding may be achieved. Though his argument mainly refers to the necessity for western media to expand and enhance its foreign reporting, particularly about China, it can and should be extended to the need for Chinese readers to access foreign reporting about China, as well as about other parts of the world, in order to get a perspective through the eyes of Western reporters. Mr. Ash’s conclusion can also be applicable in another respect which is that with less of the global public good of this kind, the results could also be “downright dangerous”.
The year 2008 witnessed some of the greatest clashes between the Chinese people and Western media. To some extent, the differences between Chinese and Western cultures and values were part of the causes. Is Western democracy a universal value applicable to China? Is the priority for stability, economic development, and harmony that Chinese government values important enough to overlook environmental considerations and the human rights of the individual? Or will the loss of stability further trample environment and human rights?
A simple yes-or-no answer to such questions easily generates fierce opposition from the other camp. Making hasty judgment leads each party into muddy ground, bringing to stark clarity only the fact that there are great gaps between the way China understands things and the way the West does. These chasms of understanding can potentially lead to greater clashes and even more dangerous territories, while the only way to prevent the gap from widening is by recognizing and exposing the gaps. That is precisely what Yeeyan’s bilingual community believes we can collectively achieve by translating.
As the page turned to the financial storm swept 2009, Western media viewed the seemingly meteoric rise of China, as seen in the G20 submit, with both applause and doubts. Interestingly, during our intensive translation of the Guardian’s exhaustive G20 reporting, one of the stories that stood out was the investigation of the death of Mr. Ian Tomlinson, a bystander of the G20 protest.
Again, divided opinions emerged from readers of the Chinese translations of those stories. Some saw the event as evidence that Western democracy is indeed a joke; others were of the opinion that it was positive proof that Britain’s state apparatus was effectively scrutinized by the public. Some readers, however, did hold both views simultaneously. And some further noticed that the 100-plus years of Britain’s experience in seeing and handling public dissidence, as described in the Guardian’s editorial on this incident, can itself become constructively valuable for Chinese society.
Recognizing these values, the Yeeyan community has been making constructive progress by gathering bilingual members who individually would have little impact in making a difference in diffusing these tremendous gaps in cultural understanding. With the Guardian’s openness toward the Yeeyan community’s translation model, there have been more than 1500 Guardian stories translated in the past year. And that effort will continue its legend in the form of a groundbreaking new service – the Weibao powered by UGC (User Generated Content).
The great challenge to this project will be to provide the best possible Chinese representation of the Guardian’s stories, in conformity to the high standards the Guardian imposes on its news gathering and presentation. Yeeyan solves the challenge by a combination of community mechanisms and dedicated resources. At the same time, like any UGC effort, such as the admirable Wikipedia project, the works of the ‘U’ are subject to continuous improvement. We encourage our future readers to participate in our efforts to push the translations to its ultimate level of xìn dá yǎ (faithfulness , expressiveness and elegance).
As a website operated within China and with the majority of the community living in the country, to the best of our effort, Yeeyan will bring to our fellow Chinese readers the most valuable translations from the Guardian. We believe our collective effort will form a bridge of understanding that leads to greater openness.
- Click here to join the Guardian community translation
- To learn how Yeeyan can help your content or institution to bridge the language and undterstanding gaps, please write to us: contact@yeeyan.com
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Posted By GFW Blog to GFW Blog at 5/19/2009 02:10:00 A
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