易丽君

关于《阿凡达》中纳美人讲的纳美语的来源,大家至今还不太清楚。本期我们将一起揭开纳美语的诞生之迷。詹姆斯•卡梅隆(James Cameron)为提升《阿凡达》故事的真实性,找到了语言学家,专为纳美人创造了一种自己的语言。南加州大学的语言学教授保罗•弗朗莫(Paul Frommer)就是创造纳美语的人。

The linguistics expert(语言学专家) from the University of Southern California(南加州) is the brains behind the language used by James Camerons 10-foot-tall alien tribe(外星人部落) in the much-anticipated science fiction epic(科幻小说史诗), Avatar.

南加州大学的语言学专家是詹姆斯•卡梅隆导演的科幻小说史诗《阿凡达》中的十英尺高的外星人语言的创造者。

“James Camerons production department(制作部门) at Lightstorm Entertainment was looking for a linguist(语言学家) that would be able to help him develop an alien language,” explains Professor Frommer.

“在Lightstorm工作室,詹姆斯•卡梅隆的制作部门正在寻找可以帮助他开发外星人语言的语言学家。”弗朗莫教授说道。

“At that time, it wasnt even called Avatar—it was Project(计划) 880—but the e-mail was forwarded(发送) to me and I saw it and jumped on it. I was very excited about it. A week or two later, I was called in for a talk.”

“那时,这部电影还不叫《阿凡达》——而叫Project 880。我收到了卡梅隆Lightstorm 工作室的邮件,看了后,我感到非常兴奋。一两个星期后,我被他们邀请过来一起谈论此事。”

The language enthusiast(爱好者) managed to persuade Cameron that he was the man to create a functioning language for a story the director had dreamt up a decade earlier.

这位语言爱好者极力劝说卡梅隆他是能为这个故事创造功能语言的最佳人选,而且这也是导演十年以来的愿望。

“I spent wonderful 90 minutes with Jim and at the end of it he shook my hand and said‘welcome aboard” says Professor Frommer.

“我和吉姆畅谈了一个半小时后,导演握着我的手说道‘欢迎加入”,弗拉莫教授说。

The pair worked together for four years to develop the Navi language(纳美语). The director had already come up with about thirty words, for the characters names and body parts. But he was looking to the professor to give the language an authentic(真实的) but exotic feel(异星球情调). Whats more, it had to be a language that could be articulated(可说).

此后,弗朗莫教授和卡梅隆花了四年时间一起开发纳美语。导演在创意之初,脑中就已经有了大约三十个纳美语单词的设想,弗朗莫将其扩展出一套完整的语言,听起来即有异星球情调,又有真实感,还可读可记。

“This is an alien language but obviously(明显地) it has to be spoken by human actors,” explains Professor Frommer. “It has to be sounds that human beings(人类) are comfortable(舒服的) producing.”

弗朗莫教授解释道:“虽然这是一种外星语言,但仍然需要人类演员来演绎,因此必须要容易发音。”

It is an unique(独特的) language, with its own syntactic(句法) and grammatical(语法) rules. Its creator says some of Camerons original(最初的) words had “a vaguely(模糊地) Polynesian(波尼西亚) feel”. Others have suggested that it sounds like German(德语) or Japanese.

纳美语有自己独特的句法和语法,创造者说最初的那些单词听起来有点波利尼西亚语的感觉,也有人觉得它们听起来像德语或日语。

As well as creating the language, Professor Frommer taught the actors how to speak it.“I met with each of the seven principal(主要的) actors who use the language beforehand(事先). I helped them with the pronunciation(发音).”“I also created some sound files, MP3 files. I guess some of them downloaded them onto their iPods so they could listen to them at the gym.”

在影片拍摄的过程中,弗朗莫一直在摄制组中,教扮演外星人的7位主要演员讲纳美语。他还将发音录成MP3文件,让演员们可以在闲暇时边听边学。

The language currently runs to about a thousand words. It does not have a huge vocabulary, but Professor Frommer is still working at it. He is also still trying to master his own language.

截至目前,纳美语大约有1000个单词,词汇量不是很大,全球能够掌握其语法的人只有弗朗莫一人,而且就算他本人也仍然在学习如何更流畅地说纳美语。

“I wish I could speak it fluently,” he says. “As for who at this point understands the grammar and such, I think probably Im the only one. I wish that eventually that might not be the case.”

他说:“我希望我能流畅地说纳美语。”“如果说谁能懂纳美语的语法,我想我可能是唯一的一个。我希望最终这种语言能够发扬光大。”

In fact, one day, Professor Frommer hopes Navi will match Klingon(克林贡语), as the “gold standard” alien language.

事实上,弗朗莫教授希望纳美语能够比拼“克林贡语”(《星际迷航》中的外星语言,也是除了世界语之外最完善的人造语言,甚至Google搜索都有克林贡语版本。)

“Theres a translation of Hamlet into Klingon,” says Professor Frommer. “There are Klingon clubs that meet all over the world. “If anything happened like this with Navi, Id be delighted.”

弗朗莫教授称:“你可以找到克林贡语译本的《哈姆雷特》”。“全球也有大量的克林贡语俱乐部。而且如果纳美语也能发展成这样,我肯定会非常高兴。”