龍年譯'龍'： 龍(Long)不是抓根（Dragon)；抓根不是龍！

   --劉繼海 2024-02-17 修改自我2000年時寫的一封英文信

自從東西方文明交流以來， 不同語言之間的翻譯， 就一直是個充滿挑戰的難題。從古至今，既有許多的翻譯貼切傳神，也有許多翻譯詞不達 意（lost in translation）, 有些甚至完全錯誤。把“龍”，翻譯成風馬牛不相及的“抓根”（Dragon），以及相應的，把“抓根” （Dragon）， 翻成八竿子夠不著的“龍”，依我的一孔之見，就是這樣一個完全失真的錯誤。

爲什麽這樣説呢？ 讓我們從以下幾個方麵對比一下“龍”和“抓根”（Dragon）：

• 起源：龍（Long） 和抓根（Dragon） 起源不同：  龍是中國神話，抓根則是西方傳説。二者沒有關聯。
• 外貌：龍（Long）和抓根（Dragon）長相不同： 抓根長得有點象Dinosaurs (呆拿鎖)， 龐大的身軀，粗壯的腿，走路時，十分笨拙。它還有一雙蝙蝠一樣，巨大且難看的翅膀。一個抓根的身體，可以長出幾顆頭顱。它們身體的顔色十分單調，像呆拿鎖一樣，不是深灰，就是深棕。 龍呢？長的既不像呆拿鎖，也不像蝙蝠。它頭上支著漂亮的鹿角，身上披著閃光的魚鱗， 腳下蹬著強健的虎爪。它的身軀既苗條又靈活，它身體的顔色也象彩虹一樣，絢麗多姿： 可以是白色，金色，紅色，青色，或任何一種其它顔色。而且，不像抓根，龍隻長一顆頭，我剛剛查過[Smile]。
• 聲音：龍（Long）和抓根（Dragon）聲音不同： 像呆拿鎖一樣，抓根唯一掌握的聲帶技能，就是嘶吼。它不會説話。 龍呢？會像人一樣説話：特別是當它變成一個人的時候。對不起，我還從沒聽過龍的吼 叫。且慢，那天邊的雷鳴，是不是龍的吼聲呀？
• 能力： 龍和抓根神通不同： 抓根可以從它的鼻孔中噴火。 它也可以煽動自己蝙蝠般的大翅膀，在天空中嗖嗖地飛行。除此 之外，它沒有太多技能。 龍呢？它無需翅膀，就能自由地翺翔於天地之間，騰雲駕霧，禦風而行。它無需魚翅，就能暢遊於水麵之上（這是爲什麽我們有龍舟比賽），深潛於水麵之下。最令人驚嘆的是，龍可以瞬 間變成人或其它事物。隨心所欲，出神入化。
• 品行： 龍和抓根品行不同： 在西方傳統神話中，抓根基本上都是邪惡的角色。它們凶殘，醜陋，愚蠢，笨拙。雖然好 萊塢近年出了幾部電影，其中的抓根不那麽壞，但總體來説，在西方文化中，抓根 （Dragon）仍然是黑暗勢力的象徵。 龍呢？就複雜多了。它們像人一樣，有自己的品格，有好有壞。也像人一樣，龍多數是好 的，但也不乏缺點，有時也可能做壞事。在智商方麵，它們雖然比不上愛因斯坦或諸葛亮，但也非鰐魚般的愚昧之輩。
• 意義： 龍和抓根象徵著不同的意義： 抓根基本上象徵著黑暗勢力。龍則是東方文化的象徵。光明，活潑，強壯，是東方民族喜 聞樂見的吉祥物。關於龍的成語大多是喜氣洋洋的，向上的，鼓舞人心的。人們甚至經常 用“龍”給自己的孩子起名字，並自稱是龍的傳人。

綜上所述，我們可以看到，龍和抓根完全不同。改用一句美國俚語：如果龍看起來不像抓根，聽 起來不想抓根，走起來不像抓根，那我們酒喝多了嗎（請原諒我的“法語”[Smile] ）？爲什麽非要叫他“抓 根”不可？ 英語對事物的分類非常細。每一樣東西都有自己專有的名字。 許多相近的物種都有自己完全不同 的名字。比如“rat” 和“mouse”, “car” 和 “truck”. 等等。其實即使中文中，我們也會區分“獅子”和“老 虎”，“驢”和“馬”的，雖然它們是相近的物種。既然如此，我們爲啥還非要把龍和抓根，混為一 談？真是咄咄怪事！我們不會把一隻驕傲的美國鷹叫做火鷄，對嗎？可是，指龍為抓根比指鷹為 火鷄更荒唐，比指鹿為馬更離譜。因爲，龍和抓根的差別比雄鷹與火鷄，鹿與馬的差別還大得多！ 痛心的是，長期以來，中國人接受了並使用著這個抹黑中國文化的錯誤翻譯。部分是因爲中國人 對抓根的傳説，形象，喻意，並不瞭解，而且許多人逆來順受，對精神層麵的文化也不夠嚴謹認 真。但是，謙虛雖然不錯，我們也不應該明知故犯地抹黑自己的文化。我們不應該把糞便（請再 一次原諒我的“法語”[Smile] ），塗抹在中國人的臉上。順便説一句，許多人奇葩地認爲，因爲自己是中國 人，就可以隨意侮辱中國人，隨意歧視中國人。不，你不能。你當然可以隨意侮辱自己，可是你 隻代表你自己，並不代表中國人，你毫無權力，去侮辱其他中國人。就像你毫無權力，去侮辱外國人一樣。 這個侮辱性的錯誤翻譯，多年來，被全世界採用，成爲全球通用的慣例。但慣例並不一定是正確 的。不是嗎？不久以前，太陽圍繞地球運轉，不還是天經地義的“真理”，人們認知的慣例嗎？ 我們人微言輕。但請不隨大流，人雲亦雲。但請盡一己綿薄之力， 在這座歷史形成的，根深蒂固 的，威嚴的鐵壁銅墻上，鑿上那麽一個，微微的小坑（dent）。 讓我們努力，為龍正名。也許我們應該把“龍”，翻成，what else? “Long” （我們不是成功地把 “Peking”， 改成拚音“Beijing“ 了嗎？韓國不是成功地把“漢城”， 音譯成“Seol” 了嗎？“錫蘭“不是成 功地把國名改成”斯裏蘭卡“了嗎？）， 把“Dragon” ，翻成“抓根”。 我們還可以把史前動物 “Dinosaur”，音譯成“呆拿鎖”（當然，我們可以找到其它的，更像動物名稱的名字，但絕不是“恐 龍”。請問，它有哪一點像龍呢？）。請記住，今年，不是Year Of Dragon, 今年，是 Year Of Long。 從來沒有什麽西方“龍”，西方有的，是“抓根”，不是龍。也從來沒有什麽東方“Dragon”， 東方有的，是“Long”， 不是“Dragon”。 我們的努力，也許就像一個小小的勇士，和一頭巨大，醜陋的抓根決鬥一樣的毫無勝算，以羊搏 虎，以卵擊石。但我們盡力。正本清源，糾正錯誤，不能單靠名人，隻能靠自己。我們每一個草 根，都必須把自己文化的話語權，掌握在自己手中。 改變歷史的錯誤，雖然很難，但我仍然懷有一絲微弱的希望。就像林肯總統説的：謊言可以永遠 欺騙一些人，也可以暫時欺騙所有的人，但不可能永遠欺騙所有的人。 真相，終究會被大衆接受。

我的一孔之見。 （翻譯，改自我兩個龍年之前所寫的英文信）2024-02-17 於福桑

又及： 人類是符號的物種。我們與其他動物的一個顯著區別是，符號在我們生活中起著巨大的作用。作 爲人·，我們不僅關心吃喝拉撒住等直接的物質需求，我們還關心真相，尊嚴，社區；我們還關心品格，文化，形象，名聲；我們還會抽象思維，獨立思考，等等等等。因爲，我們的視野，比其它動物深遠，比其它動物 寬廣（至少，我希望如此[Smile]）。 我們的周遭充滿各種符號。紐約的自由女神，產品的商標， 數學用的算符（+-*/=等），書寫用 的文字，彈琴用的樂譜，節日用的裝飾，人們用的名字，等等等等， 不一而足，比比皆是。每一個符號，都 有特定的涵義，都在人們心中，有著或好或壞或中立的形象，寓意。符號的力量是巨大的。它直 接喚醒我們的感情，影響我們的思維，它使我們能夠建設物質生活，豐富文化活動，追求精神世 界。文明不僅創立符號，而且建立在符號之上。 一個好的符號，含有好的寓意，帶給人們信任，希望，等好的情感。比如，那位蒙著雙眼 拿著一杆稱的女士雕像，象徵著公平；奔馳車頭的三星，象徵著質量和社會地位。地震之後，遍 體鱗傷，奄奄一息的你，大概率會尋求帶著紅十字標誌的人們的幫助，甚至信任地把自己和親人 的生命，交到他們手上，雖然你和他們並不認識，素昧平生。二戰時，幾位戰士，在硝煙中，奮 力把美國國旗插上日軍占領的太平洋小島的照片，讓許多人感動莫名，熱淚盈眶。等等等等。 一個邪惡的符號呢？有著相反的效果。它帶給人們猜疑，恐懼，惡心等負麵情緒。比如撒旦的符 號讓人們脊背發涼；海盜黑色的骷髏旗，讓過往的商船心驚膽寒。你大約不會給你的孩子起名“罪 惡”，“醜陋”，“強盜”吧？ 那，你爲何允許人們把“Long“ 改成”Dragon“？ 你也許想，這不過是一 個名字而已。但名字，從來不是一個“而已”。 ”名不正，則言不正“。 不好的名字，讓使用者被人 誤解，歧視。這，就是符號的力量，名字的力量。 有天晚上，我在歷史頻道上看了一個有關撒旦崇拜團體的節目。對，有些人竟然崇拜撒旦！如果 你和普通人一樣，我猜你立馬會感到不適。我也一樣。當瀏覽各臺（channel surfing），偶然碰到 這個節目時，我嚇了一跳，覺得不可思議，世上竟還有這樣的人？ 雖然，我試著用政治正確的 觀點，不斷告誡自己， 我並不瞭解他們，不要有對他們心存偏見，不要用封麵判斷一本書，可我 仍然止不住對他們感到不安，懷疑，厭惡，甚至惡心。雖然我對這些人一無所知，但僅憑他們對 撒旦的崇拜，我對他們，就產生了疑慮。我是絕對不會樂意在晚上，在一條陰暗的小巷裏，和他 們不期而遇的。單單撒旦的符號， 就讓我不舒服，就讓我覺得這些人神秘，奇怪，無法信任，需 要提防，而且，有可能是壞人。這，就是符號的威力。 抓根雖然不及撒旦邪惡，但在西方傳統文化中，也不遑多讓。雖然好萊塢近年在政治正確的指導 下，拍過幾部不那麽壞的抓根電影，但在西方意識（Psyche）中，抓根基本上仍然是一個壞東 西。 設想你是一個星外來客，在讀過許多抓根的邪惡傳説以後，發現東方民族竟然以抓根為圖騰，甚 至自稱是抓根的傳人。驚奇之餘，你會怎麽想？你恐怕會覺得這些人神秘，奇怪，無法信任，需 要提防，而且，有可能是壞蛋。不是嗎？如果後來，你發現，原來你理解錯了，原來，龍是龍， 抓根是抓根，風馬牛不相及。東方尊崇的，是龍，而不是抓根，你於是鬆了一口氣，自忖：“剛才 嚇了我一跳！我原以爲世上竟然還有這樣的民族，令人作嘔。 幸好隻是虛驚一場。現在，我感覺 好多了” **************************************************************************************

There is no year of Dragon, but year of "Long"： "Long" is Not Dragon；Dragon is Not "Long"！

--Davis Liu (劉繼海)，Year 2000, Folsom

Since the dawn of communication between East & West, the language translation has always been a great challenge. The cultural landscape has many good translations and is littered with many bad ones. Equating Western legend of “Dagon” with Eastern legend of “Long”(龍), in my humble opinion, is an example of very bad ones.

Why? Let's do a comparison in several aspects:

• Origin:  "Long" is an Eastern legend, while "Dragon" is a Western myth, they are not related what so ever.
• Appearance: “Dragons” don't look like “Longs”: “Dragons” look like dinosaurs (呆拿鎖)，they are clumsy, have wings that look better fitted on a bat, and may have multiple heads. Their body color is normally a dull brown or gray. “Longs” on the other hand, are made of several animals, none look like dinosaurs or bats. They have majestic deer horns, shinning fish scales, and powerful tiger paws. Their body color can be white, gold, or any color in between. And last time I checked, yep, none of them has grown a second head yet.
• Sound: “Dragons” don’t sound like “Longs”: The only linguistic talent a Dragon has is scream (like a dinosaur would?). It can’t speak at all. “Longs” , on the other hand, can speak, -- especially when they shapeshifted into (變成) humans. I have never “heard” them screen. Or wait, is that thunder their roar? • Capabilities: “Dragons” have different talent than “Longs”: “Dragons” can shoot out fire from their snouts. They can fly using their huge wings like bats. They are clumsy on the ground, and, there is no “record” of a dragon shapeshifting into a human or any other thing. “Longs” on the other hands, are nimble, they can go up into the sky, swim fast in the water ( that’s why we have Long Boat race), or dive deep into the ocean. When they f ly, they don’t rely on any wings, they simply muster the cloud and wind (騰雲駕霧， 禦風而行) for the journey. Another big talent “Longs” have is their ability to transform themselves into human ( such as a charming 小龍女) or anything else in a moment.
• Character: “Dragons” and “Longs” have quite different characters: In traditional Western legends, “Dragons” are bad, as a matter of fact, they are almost always evil. They are mean, stupid, and did I mention this? clumsy. Although Hollywood released a few movies containing semi good dragons recently, they remain largely dark in Western culture. “Longs” on the other hand, are more complicated, like human, some are good and some are bad. Many are in between: mostly good and sometimes capable of doing bad things. Although they are no Einstein or Zhu Ge Liang (諸葛亮), we don’t usually equate their IQs with that of alligators.
• Symbolism: “Dragons” and “Longs” symbolize different spirits: “Dragons” are mostly , symbols of darkness. They are favorite weapons of mean, evil spirits. Longs are symbols for Eastern cultures, symbol for our people, even used in many kids names.

From above comparison, we can see that “Long” and “Dragon” are two totally different things! Paraphrasing an American idiom: if a “Long” doesn’t look like a “Dragon”, doesn’t sound like a “Dragon”, doesn’t walk (or fly) like a “Dragon”, why in hell (pardon my French ) we call it a “Dragon”?! English is a very classification oriented language, so to speak. In English, each thing gets its own name. Even very similar things frequently get totally different names. e.g., rat and mouse, car and truck, etc. Given that, how can we give two things so vastly different the same name? Very odd, right? We don’t call a proud bald eagle a turkey, do we? The difference between a dragon and Long is much bigger. I guess Chinese accepted this obvious wrong translation for their cultural symbol partially because they don’t know dragon, partially because their meek and quiet character. But, hey, although being humble is good, we should never knowingly smear mud onto our culture; we should never knowingly put pig manure (pardon my French again ) on our face (of course, you can trash your own face if you so wish, but other Chinese’s faces are not yours to trash). I know this translation has become the convention and has been accepted every where for generations. But this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s correct. Not long ago, we had this universally accepted convention that the Sun revolves around the Earth too. Let's do our part to put a tiny dent on it. Maybe we can translate Chinese legend “龍” into English as “Long” or “Loong”; translate Western legend “Dragon” into Chinese as “抓根”； and, translate the prehistoric animal “dinosaur” into “呆拿鎖“. ( I’m sure we can come up with a more neutral, animal like name but not “恐龍”). Our effort may look as hopeless as a tiny warrior fighting off an ugly huge dragon, but we do our best. It’s up to each individual person, it’s up to us, the grassroots, to correct the historic wrong. I have a thread of hope, albeit very thin, rest on the belief of president Lincoln that you can fool all people some time, and some people all the time; but you can not fool all people all the time. Truth will eventually be accepted by people.

Just my 2 cents, 我的一孔之見 [Salute][Smile]

Thanks,

Davis Liu 劉繼海 2000.09.01 Folsom

P.S. Human being is a species of symbols. One thing distinguishes us from other animals is that symbols play significant roles in people’s lives. As human, we are not just interested in good food and nest. In addition to these basic instinct, we are also interested in truth, dignity, community; we are also interested in building good character, good apperance, good reputuation, and good culture; we are also capable of abstract thinking. At least, I hope so [Smile]. Look around, we can find symbols everywhere: the Lady Liberty in NY; crosses on churches; logos on pro ducts; operators in arithmetic formulas, ceremonies on holidays, names of each person, art, music, words, Etc., Etc. Each symbol has certain meaning and conjures up a powerful mental image. The power of symbols is tremendous. They directly speak to our basic emotions. They influence our rational thinking. They enable us to go about our daily lives and spiritual lives. Civilizations build symbols, and are built on them. A good symbol has good connotation, is uplifting, and brings up trust and other good feelings. E.g., the statue of the blindfolded lady holding a scale stands for justice, a three pointed star of Mercedes assures quality and status symbol. After an earth quake, you probably will seek the help of people wearing a red cross, even trusting your life in their hands, although they are total strangers to you. The image of soldiers raising an American Flag over Iwo Jima moved millions into tears. Etc., Etc. A sinister symbol, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. E.g., the Satan’s symbol brings chill down to people’s spines. And a pirate's black skull flag brings horror to merchant ships in the sea. You probably won’t name your child “ evil” or “robber”, right? Then why would you allow people to call “Long” A “dragon”? Yes, it’s just a name. But, 名不正，則言不順。Such is the power of names , the power of symbols. I was watching a program about a group of Satan worshipers the other night on History Channel. Although I had told myself again and again that I should not have prejudice, that I should not judge a book by its cover, I still could not help but feel uneasy in my stomach, I still can’t help but feel disgusted. Although I know nothing about these people, I would never want to face them alone in a dark alley in night. The Symbol of Satan alone, makes me uncomfortable, makes me feel those people are weird, mysterious, untrustworthy, and maybe even bad. Such is the power of symbols. Although not as bad as Satan, although Hollywood has made a few stories about innocent and basically benign dragons recently, Western dragon nevertheless is associated with bad characters most of time. If you were from another planet, and were told all the dark stories about Dragon, how would you feel about a people that elevated it to a level of totem? You probably would feel those people are weird, mysterious, untrustworthy, and likely bad eggs. Right? If then you are explained that it was a total mistake, that “Long” is not “Dragon”, that Asian people admire “Long”, not “Dragon”, would you immediately feel better? “I was scared and disgusted”, you would say, let out a sigh of relief, “but now I know better”.