幽默翻譯注定失「笑」？以Good Omens繁體與簡體中文譯本為例

Abstract

本研究以幽默翻譯為主題，旨在藉由功能理論視角探討奇幻小說Good Omens 的幽默修辭效果，並分別從文化引喻、諧擬、文學方言及文字遊戲等修辭技巧辨析翻譯過程的潛在挑戰，深入剖析繁體與簡體譯本的翻譯策略，了解現行譯本成「笑」如何。本研究除討論譯本得與失之外，另以分析結果為鑑在譯例中提出試譯。 研究分析結果顯示，多元的幽默修辭可強化小說命題，加深人物形象並連結讀者經驗；然而現行譯本傾向以直譯作為主要翻譯策略，難以重現幽默效果，無法連結目的語讀者經驗，以致無法產生共鳴引發笑意。此外，譯本大量添加譯注將造成讀者閱讀負擔，削弱小說的趣味風格。研究建議適時增譯文化線索與加強語氣豐富作品生命，並使用在地化改寫建立譯本與讀者連結達到原文幽默修辭的作用，再靈活運用目的語文化與語言發揮創意補償流失效果。

The present study intends to explore humor translation strategies and effects in the Traditional and Simplified Chinese translations of English fantasy novel, Good Omens, through functional approaches. The research analyzed translation texts from various humor rhetoric, such as allusion, parody, literary dialect, and wordplay. It also provides translation advice based on the research outcomes. The study shows that Traditional and Simplified Chinese translation texts tend to adopt literal translation strategies and are incapable of relating to the target readers. Thus, they are difficult to recreate the intended humor effects. Moreover, the frequent use of footnotes in the translation texts obviously interrupts reading experience and weaken the functions of humor rhetoric. Therefore, the study based on the results proposes several humor translation strategies, including adding cultural clues, enhancing the tone of characters, bridging the gap between translation texts and readers through localization, utilizing target culture and language creatively in the text to compensate lost effects.