「通譯」(っぅゃく)一詞係日文口譯者之意,是不同語言間溝通的橋樑。日本治台後,由於語言不同,有礙溝通,乃設國語傳習所甲科培養通譯人材,日、台人都有。為因應初期廣泛的需求,私人亦開設語言補習班讓台人學日語、日人學台語,而「通譯」一職遂成為政府的正式編制,甚至是通往判任官的終南捷徑、本文旨在探討通譯的培養及任用,並指出通譯能載舟亦能覆舟,亦能因綠際會而出人頭地。,1937年七七事件發生後,日人徵用台人通譯赴戰場,不僅有生命危險,也有了認同的糾葛,戰後還有漢奸審判之虞,此時的通譯有不少人是非自願的。本文最後一節舉出六名不同性質、際遇的通譯,日、台人均有,以便讀者對通譯有更深一層的認識。
Tsuyakus (通譯), literally ”Interpreters” in Japanese, are bridges between peoples of different languages. Since Japan ruled Taiwan in 1895, different languages hampered the ruler and the subject. Therefore, the Kokugo Tenshhiushyo (國語傳習所: ”Institutes of Teaching and Learning Mandarin”) were established by Taiwan viceroy office to train Japanese and Taiwanese interpreters. In the early period, even private supplementary language schools had to teach the Taiwanese Japanese or to teach the Japanese Taiwanese because of great demand. From then on, tsuyakus were included in official organization and as a shortcut to Hanninkan (判任官: ”lower officer”) sometimes. This paper intends to study how tsuyakus were trained and employed. They might do good as well as bad, some of them had great contribution and promoted to high ranks. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (or the Luokuochiao Incident) occurred in 1937, the Japanese government recruited Taiwanese tsuyakus to the war front, but not all of them were voluntary. This made them on the verge of death and caused identification problems. Moreover, they had to face the Hanjian (Traitor, 漢奸) judgment after the war. At the last paragraph, this paper takes six cases of different kinds of encounters, including Japanese and Taiwanese, to make readers further understanding about tsuyakus.