Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Questionable English translation of Karl Marx's words

[English version follows]

马克思关于家庭的一段中文翻译:
“那时就可以看出,妇女解放的第一个先决条件就是一切女性重新回到公共的劳动中去;而要达到这一点,又要求个体家庭不再成为社会的经济单位。”(《马克思恩格斯全集·二十一卷·二、家庭》
https://www.marxists.org/chinese/marx-engels/21/005-03.htm

这句话的英译可能有误:
"Then it will be plain that the first condition for the liberation of the wife is to bring the whole female sex back into public industry, and that this in turn demands the abolition of the monogamous family as the economic unit of society."
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/ch02d.htm
其中汉译的“妇女”是英译的wife(妻子),汉译的“个体家庭”是英译的monogamous family(一夫一妻制家庭)。难道恩格斯在主张废除一夫一妻制家庭?多年来,讲英语的网民似乎的确有这样的看法,甚至维基The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State条也有这样的倾向。

看看恩格斯的德语原文:
"Es wird sich dann zeigen, daß die Befreiung der Frau zur ersten Vorbedingung hat die Wiedereinführung des ganzen weiblichen Geschlechts in die öffentliche Industrie, und daß dies wieder erfordert die Beseitigung der Eigenschaft der Einzelfamilie als wirtschaftlicher Einheit der Gesellschaft."
http://www.mlwerke.de/me/me21/me21_036.htm
其中汉译的“妇女”、英译的wife是德语的Frau,这个德语词兼有“妇女”和“妻子”两个意义。虽然在这段以上的文字中可译作“妻子”,但在这句话中译为“妇女”更恰当。更重要的不同之处在于Einzelfamilie,英语直译即single family或individual family、汉语“个体家庭”,但marxists.org网站收录的英译为monogamous family,意思就非常不同了,可以认为是严重的误译。另外,德语Vorbedingung直译是“先决条件”,英译为condition而不是precondition则稍有偏差。至于德语Industrie被汉译为“劳动”还是“事业”无关紧要。

总之,这段话的汉译高于英译。汉译中唯一可商榷的是头两个字“那时”,也许是“那么”(德语dann,英语then)的笔误。

English version

Frederick Engels' Einzelfamilie was translated as 'monogamous family'. I don't think that's right. The German original is

"Es wird sich dann zeigen, daß die Befreiung der Frau zur ersten Vorbedingung hat die Wiedereinführung des ganzen weiblichen Geschlechts in die öffentliche Industrie, und daß dies wieder erfordert die Beseitigung der Eigenschaft der Einzelfamilie als wirtschaftlicher Einheit der Gesellschaft."

The English translation on the fairly authoritative or at least frequently cited website Marxists.org is

"Then it will be plain that the first condition for the liberation of the wife is to bring the whole female sex back into public industry, and that this in turn demands the abolition of the monogamous family as the economic unit of society."

I think the German word Einzelfamilie should be translated simply and literally as 'single family' or 'individual family'. Engels was proposing that we not treat each family as an economic unit. It's possible that a careless English reader of the above translation would focus on just the phrase "abolition of the monogamous family" and assume that Engels was advocating abolition of monogamous families (and therefore calling for polygamy). That would be a gross misunderstanding of Engels. The word 'monogamous' or its noun means something totally different.

Also, the German word Frau in this context means 'woman' more than 'wife'. But that's a minor point.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Correcting a petition

以前写过一篇Incorrect English in a petition to the White House(或见微博),其中我对一篇请愿书做了改病句、改错词。最近读到内容相似的一篇请愿书,英语相对好很多。文章如下,我的评论在括弧中。

Sun is the sole suspect in a notorious (比上一篇请愿书用famous好多了) and high-profile poisoning case in China. In 1994/1995, Tsinghua University (上一篇该词的首字母误写为小写u) student Ling Zhu was repeatedly poisoned with thallium (上一篇该词的首字母误写为大写T) while she was studying at the university. Sun (此处缺逗号) who was (省略who was更好,因为后面主句动词又用了was) Zhu’s roommate in the dormitory, was the only individual with both access to the toxin and a motive. This act resulted in catastrophic consequences for Ling Zhu, leaving her paralysed with brain damage. Zhu has (简单过去式应略去has) died on 22 Dec 2023 (此处缺逗号) which now makes Sun a murder suspect.

Due to Tsinghua University's inaction and Sun's politically powerful family, key evidence vanished, and (此处缺定冠词the) investigation tamed. (暂未搜到tame的这种用法,也许是澳洲英语?我会用stalled) This unsolved case has evoked considerable public outrage and sympathy for Zhu's family over the past 30 years.

Sun later escaped to the U.S and in 2013, following the U.S. Chinese community's discovery of her presence and (and应改为逗号) a petition was launched with over 151,000 people. (people改为signatures或people's signatures更好)

Sun is now residing in Australia with companies and multiple estates jointly owned by her and her husband Feiyu Xie whom she supposedly divorced.

I appeal for a thorough investigation into whether Sun had provided false information when obtaining Australian visa and if (此处缺she) had arranged a fake marriage with Mr. Kosloski to obtain Australian residency. If warranted, Sun should face deportation. Australia is a nation known for its beauty and integrity, it is no long (应为longer) a dumping ground for convicts! We must not allow individual (应为复数individuals) with such a past in our precious country.

As demonstrated by the public’s voice. We (除非是固定惯例,否则句号应为逗号,We应为we) call for Sun to return to China and face justice.

... If you have additional information and would like to report Sun, you can email andrew.giles.mp@aph.gov.au or via Minster (应为Minister) for Immigration