近一个时期来,Virtual Reality (VR) 一词(语)在报刊等新闻传媒上频频出现,十分活跃,从而也引出了对 VR 该怎么翻译好的问题。据《光明日报》载,VR 的译名计有:“虚拟实在”(1996 年 ,10 月 28 日)“临境”、“虚实”、“电象”、“虚拟境象”以及“灵境”(1997 年 1 月 16 日);此外,还有最常见的“虚拟现实”(如《文汇报》1997 年 3 月 12 日“小辞典”)。
对 VR 究竟怎么理解和怎么翻译,笔者不敢妄下结论。不过,从最近一期外刊上读到的一篇文章(载于 Jane’s DEFENCE’ 97,作者为 Ian Strachan,Editor,Jane’s Simulation and Training Systems)在这两方面都可给人以不小的启发。为帮助说明问题,现将此文中有关的部分摘录于下。文章标题和引语是:
VIRTUALLY REAL
Virtual reality is rapidly becoming the training tool of the 21st Century -
but what exactly is it?
将此翻译过来大致是:
可说是真的Virtual reality 正在迅速成为二十一世纪的训练器具--但它确切的含义是什么呢?
文中在讲到 virtual 一词的定义时是这样说的:One dictionary definition of "virtual" is "something which is unreal but can be considered as being real for some purposes."
文章接着对 VR 作了几种实质性的释义:
Cyber-something? To some, VR is putting on a Cyber-helmet (whatever that is) and involves total immersion (whatever that means) in cyberspace (wherever that is).
Collimation? To some, VR is a view through a collimated display system.