Translation Station

Anyone who takes their writing seriously knows that an entire morning could be spent – scrunched up in a chair – searching for the perfect sentence. Given the time it takes to produce good writing in a familiar language, the task of producing a beautiful translation of a sentence from another language could well end up condemning a writer to a lonely existence. Jo Lusby, general manager of Penguin China, and Kate Griffin, literature officer from Arts Council England, were well aware of the difficulties associated with achieving quality translations when they decided to organize the first-ever Sino-British Literary Translation Course in an attempt to encourage communication between the normally reclusive translators and also for them to get feedback from the authors whose works they are translating. The course, which involved forty translation students, four professional translators (both English to Chinese and Chinese to English) and four celebrated authors (whose work the students were going to translate) took place over one week in late March at Zhejiang's damp, foggy but graceful Moganshan.

Twenty Chinese to English translators were coached by authorities Howard Goldblatt and Bonnie McDougall to produce excerpts of Chinese authors Li Er and Tie Ning's novels. Our counterparts were twenty Chinese publishing house editors translating British novelists Hari Kunzru and Bernadine Evaristo into Chinese, under the tuition of Fudan University professor Zhang Chong and Shanghai Foreign Languages University professor Shi Zhikang. Former that's Beijing Staff Writer Alice Xin Liu (who attended the course) offers this summary of the advice offered and lessons learned at the course.

What the translation teachers said:

* Professional translators said that translators need agents who fight for better regulated pay and who are free to deal with other issues. A translator is often not an agent, and these humdrum affairs shouldn't be given the opportunity to obstruct one's flow of creativity. What's chasing pay and other nonsense? Instead seek and hire a literary agent.

* Goldblatt and McDougall would agree that a good method for actual translation is to do drafts, as the bona fide writing only really occurs in the third or final "polish." Process is often as important as product. Zooming through the first draft and vomiting words onto the page the first time means that you can let the dust settle afterwards, so that during the second and third drafts you get to pick through the rubble to find the pearls.

* You are effective a writer, not a translator. And more specifically, a writer in English. Avoid characteristics of the Chinese language as it appears on paper; in particular watch out for the repetition of people’s names and pronouns such as "He said" or "She said." Take the liberties that any good English writer would. Be independent about changing an original text: the author is not always on hand (as they were this time) to help one out of wobbly translations where the original meaning eluded the translator. Goldblatt, who highlighted this, has a point; you'd be so screwed if you were translating some dead genius.

What the translation pupils concluded:

* There was the most fervent feeling that translation should remain a private activity. Drafting is almost a pleasure for some people – translators. Language, together with creativity, is subjective. One of the biggest challenges presented at the workshop concerned the translator's conviction being shaken by their peers, who ripped apart individual interpretations of the same phrase.

* Some say that it would help to show your finished work to a native Chinese speaker, and of course having a second eyeball read your efforts might help that seed of doubt, which you already had, grow until you feel that you should change your translation until it improves. But, contrarily, if you had a native English speaker point out what they think is a dodgy use of participle or adverb, you may, conversely, feel compelled to argue loudly, fighting for your own unique textual understanding. Either way, your translation could just come out better because of it.

* Already established is this: translators tend to have strong personalities. So it naturally follows that translators, like writers, have their own voices. Some "established" translations have been insulted – not because of lack of fluidity of language – but because the translator's voice simply doesn’t convey the voice of the author. Translators, ideally, should seek a text by an author who share some resemblance to themselves: be it age, ideology, lifestyle, or diction.

Links and Sources
Paper Republic: Eric Abrahamsen blogs about his experiences at the translation course.
Guardian Unlimited: Crossing literary continents – Rebecca Swift's blog about the course
Guardian Unlimited: A new cultural revolution (an article discussing the importance of creating literary translators and tapping into the Chinese book market.)
University of East Anglia: Pioneering Chinese translation programme launched
that's Beijing: Local Travel: A Refreshing Blast From the Past – Travel piece on Moganshan
Shanghaiist: More on Moganshan