今日佳句

While the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth.


即使禁制取代了對話，文字將永遠保有其力量。文字傳達著意義 ，並對願意瞭解之人陳明真相。

《V怪客》 V for Vendetta

公司成立緣起

本文於2010年三月寫作，有感於文學研究者沒有盡到推廣文學讀者群的責任，故作本文以商業、知識及經濟三個面向分別論證其重要性，特別是在今日學術圈內規範叢生，使得許多傑出的研究者往往有志難伸。


Hasting's thoughts after the book exhibition, or an Argument for Professional Participation in Promoting Literature, as such Participation is both Necessary and Beneficial 

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Dear Literature Lovers,

First, I hope you have been all well through the winter vacation, and look forward to your success for whatever matter in this term or semester.

At first, my responsibilities for my current job did not require me to visit book fairs, but last year some of the publishers began to adopt our material to their children's books, so I went there to look for feedback of customers and, at the same time, to look for new ideas and business connections.

Such opportunities brought me dangerously close to books, to you, and to writing to you about what I think about the utter lack of our English professionals in promoting the readership for Anglo-American Literature, as I knew about some of the activities, such as recitation of parts from Divine Comedy in its Italian original. Surely there is not so much depth to talk about in such efforts, and I certainly know there have been tremendous efforts on paper: in research, translation, and introduction written to accompany translations. These certainly are very good, but they aren't enough. Even if I am not precise, one could see more or less such efforts should be redirected to promoting these efforts. I know we should not be very concerned about appearances (while we still bother about clothing and makeup), but should this moral statute prevent us, ladies and gentlemen, from advertising the goodness of literature? Whenever I see missionaries looking for proselytes, I more or less remind myself of the literary studies in the not-so-positive state I had lived with. (By both entering the field, doing a not-so-satisfactory job in studying, and leaving you, I would not exculpate myself a bit.)

If you, ladies and gentlemen, are not yet satisfied so far, let me offer you three reasons for our participation of enlarging the readership of literature, starting with the least palatable and weakest one: 

(a) Business-wise, my real appeal (as well as your mandate!) is to appeal to the readers directly. What we have is something like a shop selling shoes in not-yet-so-modern African shoeless tribes (at least that was the story). And what we have to do is to tell the people why wearing shoes would be a good idea. Of course the effort may be fruitless or even risky (as the first salesman in the story says), but don't you think it is at least worth a try in this emerging market? Even if it fails, what do we have to lose? 

And let's be more honest: were it not for the government subsidies (thanks to taxpayer money or legal tender produced from the central banks) we probably wouldn't even have the shop. Should I say our passive attitude confirms the saying "That which nobody owns nobody will care for," as we own no departments?

(b) In intellectual terms, this participation also makes a lot of sense. In the duration for you reading the sentence, there are tons of academic papers and research efforts produced throughout the world. But how many of these are worthwhile rereading? And would they have been accepted had it not been for the limited academic interests totally insulated from public opinion? And specifically in literature, are literary theories, with their inexplicable intricacies and unsound beliefs, just as the monetary, economic, and financial systems in the entire world economy professed by bankers and corporatists, not some part of the academic strategy to bewilder the general public and, in doing so, to serve whoever under the banner of theory, regardless of the virtues in individual researchers and their research output? If we care for the quality of literary research produced here, we then must try our best to bring literature to the greatest many.

Of course I cannot guarantee a success will turn the tables overnight, but are we going to do nothing and have nonsense safely ensconced in academia?

(c) Economically, we have to do this if we want to support ourselves by education we have had. I believe we have heard a lot of complaints about how this liberal education we have is irrelevant (and we voiced a lot of them too), especially when we talk about making the means for living. I am always touched when remembering some opinion for preferring teaching literature to mere English, because, as you honorable ladies and gentlemen can testify and agree by your own experience, the best way of learning English is literature. It seems too much trouble to bring literature in some intellectual weakling learning English, but, as Liddell Hart says, "in strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way": it certainly works brilliantly, and you ladies and gentlemen are the most illustrious living examples.

Therefore, we have to seriously consider literature, hitherto some luxury enjoyed by some elite high school students, for the general students. Not only we can enjoy our work a lot more, but also there would be a much brighter economic future for whoever choose to work hard and strive for excellence in the field.

Of course, you may argue against this and say it is in our interests to keep literature within the privileged few of elite and academia, as by serving them we may be paid with a greater lump sum of money while doing much less work. My answer to them is to look at how the successful computer industry works. LCD television sets (as well as any kind of computers, cell phones, and whatever) used to cost a lot more than they are today, but we all know companies producing them earn a lot more today: what was lost in margin quantity more than makes up for it.

With these in mind, what more excuses should we think for not promoting literature in the general public, save inertia and utter reluctance to change? Continuing the footsteps of our teachers and relying on academia for sustenance could be comfortable (as these honorable teachers have shown), but as the second law of thermodynamics suggests, this might change, with more vain pursuit for money and fatuous regulations in academia; we may just want some viable alternatives. And my purpose for all this is to present my humble intention to have us start looking for them in store when we need to weather ourselves through the winter of our discontent, which may not be far away.

A word for skeptics. Why should a reprobate of literature and traitor in academia like me, instead of silently sliding back to the shithole (excuse the expression) of chemistry and business and enjoying all the money, choose to lecture someone still working for both? I have to say that without education and your benevolent guidance I cannot be what I am, and you, represent the foundation stone of education, or the future literally. As a result, I have vested interest in education, no less than you do, and I, if hoping for a bright future, have to invest in that. Otherwise, to say nothing else, is there any meaning in money and material enjoyment? If you, with all your professionalism, are willing to listen to someone who knows a little bit more of something else, I owe you all love, gratitude, and support.

Respectfully,

Hasting G. Chen 陳宗佑

告譯者書

論文發表於  第十七屆口筆譯教學國際學術研討會（2013年3月22日於文藻外語學院）

論譯者的責任：一個經濟與實用的觀點

翻譯研究往往著重於翻譯活動中的技術與藝術層面。以譯者的責任而言，班雅明〈譯者的天職〉堪稱此類著作中最有名的例子。但是，即便翻譯目的學派或翻譯產業研究對於翻譯行動的目的著墨甚多，但對於譯者本身的目的至今卻鮮少提及。為了彌補如此的不足，我們必須瞭解譯者於實際生活中不僅只是藝術家或技術人員，也必然是經濟個體，以自己提供的翻譯服務換取他人生產的商品與服務。本文據此互利互惠之基本經濟原理，重讀學界所發展的若干代表性翻譯理論及論述，並由個人主義方法論出發，主張個別譯者在期望改善自身福祉而採取行動之際，不僅需要達到技藝層面的要求，更肩負著更崇高的責任與義務，必須將來自其他語言及社會文化中最有價值的內容引介給本地讀者。此論文接著將討論這個命題在經濟、社會、與知識等方面中的涵義，以及為譯者帶來的挑戰及優勢。同時，本文將探討這些因素與企業家的關係，以及企業家的概念對譯者的意義。最後，本文將探討教育作為此論題邏輯之必然結果，並揭櫫譯者、企業家與教育者三者角色密不可分的關係。

關鍵字：翻譯研究、翻譯者的責任、經濟學、教育、企業家的角色

論文全文（英文）   發表：投影片  講稿

The Duty of the Translator: An Economic and Practical View

For the most part, translation studies examine the artistic and technical aspects involved in the activity of translation. As far as the duty of translator is concerned, Walter Benjamin’s “Task of the Translator” is arguably the most famous example. However, the purpose of translation for translators themselves by far is relatively little discussed. Skopos theory falls short by discussing the purpose of translation, and market research goes only as far as surveying different sectors in the market by statistics and case studies. To address such deficiency, one must take into account that translators in real life are also economic (and not merely artistic or technical) beings. As such they obtain goods and services from others by providing translation services for those who need them in a mutually beneficial arrangement. With this basic economic principle (or Say’s Law as known in classical economics), this paper revisits selected writings on translation and on its theory developed in academic communities from the viewpoint of individual translators acting with the belief to promote their own well-being. With such methodological individualism, a view propounded by Austrian economics, this paper argues that translator has an active duty or responsibility to introduce what he thinks to be the best possible contents from other source languages (or from dissimilar sociocultural contexts) to people who share the same target language (and similar sociocultural contexts) with him. Then, implication and challenges from the thesis regarding economic, social, and intellectual aspects will be discussed. Then, the paper will discuss how these concerns leads to entrepreneurship and education, and what they mean for translator. Though inevitably requiring tremendous time and effort, such duty or responsibility has to rely on its practice by translators in the real world. As a result, appeal will be made at the end to encourage translators to search for their initiative and to perform such duty of their choosing.

Key Words: Translation studies, duty of translator, economics, education, entrepreneurship

游藝創始總綱

motu proprio on 17/5/2012 (and amended on 18/5/2014) as part of the founding document of the company.

一個目標  兩位董事  三項能力  四條信念  五種態度

一個目標

To make learning available, affordable, and accessible to every single individual.
讓每個人學得起，學得到，學得成。


(My own Motto: Calamus gladio fortior.) "The pen is mightier than the sword."

兩位董事

（本公司logo：兩條鯉魚悠游於水中的意象，不僅象徵公司名稱「游藝」，也代表本公司兩位創始董事齊心協力之創業精神）

三項能力

1. 體能：沒有健康的身體，再怎麼傑出的想法也無法付諸實行。而健康的身體有賴於良好的生活習慣，以及平時的體能訓練。
2. 知能：創意必來自於良好的知識，而良好的知識有賴於吸收新知並加以思考，進而轉化為自已知識涵養的能力。
3. 功能：有了創意，需要良好的計劃才能實現。而實行計劃的每個元素（包含個人）必須有明確的功能，方能人盡其才、物盡其用。

四條信念

志於道，據於德，依於仁，游於藝。（論語述而篇）

1. 志於道：要能有所得，必須先有所向，然後決心達成。
2. 據於德：為能確實達成目標，要能堅守於道德原則，如此才能持續堅定不移的往目標前進。
3. 依於仁：堅守道德之外，尚須有人（仁）道的關懷，真切瞭解並服務各個人。
4. 游於藝：君子之最高境界，亦是本公司名稱的來由。達成上述各點，才有可能專精於各種才能或興趣，也才能夠成為模範，進一步將這些才能或興趣普及大眾。

五種態度

1. Artistic Ingenuity: To create new things one must be clever, original, and inventive in mind.
2. Scientific Scrutiny: To appraise the value of these and to discover genuinely new ideas one must examine them critically, taking nothing for granted. 
3. Religious Attitude: To support these ideas one must have a heart of devotion and dedication and be a moral exemplum of them. 
4. Military Discipline: To realize these ideas one must proceed with clear directive, decisiveness, and absolute control over himself and others under his command.
5. Commercial Intellect: To distribute these ideas one must try making them palatable to the greatest possible audience.