He Zhaowu, the third generation of translator of "Chinese Translation World Academic Books"

"Beneficial knowledge can affect your lifetime"

He Zhaowu (History Department of Tsinghua University)

▲ Mr. He Zhaowu rarely goes downstairs at that time, and can only read the newspaper, with the book as the companion.

I am old, people's functions are declining, my ears are not good, and walking is not good. I rarely go downstairs. My previous book was adopted into the "Chinese Academic Refident Book", but I couldn't remember how many books, and I didn't know how much influence I was.

I am a history of thinking, and translating these academic works use my major. At that time, I worked at the History Research Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences. I worked in the institute during the day and went home to do translation at night. It seems that it should be called "underground factory". In addition to family members, colleagues in the unit actually know. At that time, there were regulations that all Marx could be translated as a reference for historical data. So I picked some of Marx's previous works. In my opinion, the so -called western masters are well spoken, and some are not suitable for today.

I have an old friendship with the Business Press. The earliest translation for them was after liberation, 1951 or 1952. The Business Press is the largest and oldest publishing house in modern China. It has spread Western ideas from early early. Not only is it academic, but the influence of society and politics is relatively large. There is also a guarantee of publishing. Unlike some publishers, the quality is very bad, and it should not be deleted. This should not be.

During the "Cultural Revolution", because of translating Russell's "History of Western Philosophy", they wore a hat of "counter -revolutionaries". In fact, there is nothing bad in that book. When they are "clever," they give a charges as "recruiting soulism for China." I think this matter is ridiculous. The translation of this book was explained by Chairman Mao. The people of the Workers' Propaganda team did not know. Later, I did not hear who asked.

For this series of books, I think, especially some important classic works to translate. Every nation in the world is different, and the thoughts are gradually accumulated. There are Confucius and Lao Tzu in China. Some of their things still need. The times are different. People may not be fully acceptable to the old things, but from an academic perspective, these are worth studying. I am an old man now, and sometimes I think of what I learned in elementary school and middle school, indicating that beneficial knowledge can affect my life. Truth should be common. There are good things in foreign classics, we must pay attention to and absorb and make up for our shortcomings.

Translation academic masterpieces are mainly interested, and it is also a kind of ideological satisfaction for yourself. It seems to have done a little serious thing. When translating "Social Contract theory", I borrowed the original French version of the French version in the Beijing Library. My foreign language is not good, but at that time I was free. If you want to learn what you want, no one cares, and the learning efficiency is relatively high. If you are interested in one thing, you must be able to learn. On the contrary, if you come to your head, it will definitely be better.

"Cindaa" is the pursuit of the translator. I didn't pay much attention when I was translated, because I did not reach that level. My method is to turn the dictionary, grasp the size, and carefully figure out how the original content is expressed in Chinese. Of course, you need to check the information to see how others used this book. When translating, it is difficult to translate. It spent an hour or two in a night, translated more than 1,000 words, and rested after turning it. A book always reads a few times from the beginning to the end. I occasionally there will be translation errors, or when I am out of mind. I have never asked others to see it, I will give it to the Business Press when I verify it, and then continue the next one after a while.

You ask me the most satisfied translation, maybe there are, but now I can't say it, and I dare not say that I translate well.

Author: He Zhaowu

Source: Wen report

Reporter: Huang Chunyu

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