Lost Art of Translation

A couple weeks ago I finished up the second issue of Terracotta Typewriter. This means that I'm now in the process of soliciting new submissions, which involves posting ads on writers' Web sites and the like. In response to one of these simple posts, I received the following e-mail:

Hi, are you looking for Chinese translator? I can help...

There are a few things that bother me about this short message. The first is that a translator that supposedly specializes in English to Chinese doesn't quite comprehend written English. The second is that their sales pitch is severely lacking--it certainly doesn't make me want to learn more about the company because they neglect to provide any information other than their Web address and e-mail. And third, they use a free Web-hosting service, weebly, for their "professional" company (and their site has plenty of mistakes on it to go with its boring design).

My guess is that this company just uses Google translation tools to get its work done.

Review: Wolf Totem

Recipient of the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize, Jiang Rong's novel Wolf Totem is a cultural and environmental journey through a fictional region of Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution. While the translation by Howard Goldblatt is culturally enlightening and filled with beautiful descriptions, it is tedious and slow moving.

Wolf Totem centers on a group of students from Beijing who are sent to live in Inner Mongolia. Chen Zhen takes the lead role in learning nomadic Mongolian lifestyle and educating the locals in Mandarin. Chen and the other students also pass around foreign books to read and pass the time, without any concern for the fact that they are banned by the government. He and the others are taken care of by the village elder, Bilgee and his family. Bilgee takes a particular interest in teaching Chen about Mongolian beliefs and respect for the wolves and nature.

Chen's fascination with wolves leads him to capture a newborn and raise it. His plan is to study the wolf and, with luck, mate it with the Mongolian dogs to breed a stronger dog for sheep herding. The young wolf's life then follows a similar pattern to that of the nomadic people and the modernization of the region.

As time passes, more Han Chinese move into the grassland and damage the ecosystem, causing more problems with wolves, which leads to the near extermination of wolves in Inner Mongolia. The students and locals raise their concerns about the forced life changes that they must make in order to welcome all the new people and work for the government. Of course, their concerns and objections are ignored and the grassland turns to desert.

Jiang Rong's novel is rather anti-Han. Aside from the Beijing students, every other non-Mongolian is villianized for the destruction of the grassland and disrespect toward the Mongolians. At one point, Chen asks a Han migrant what he'll eat next year if he continues to kill all the animals. The migrants response is, " 'Didn't you people call us migrants? Migrants, migrants, mindless immigrants....We go where there's food and never worry about the year after that.' " There are plenty of instances of the students witnessing what they perceive as disrespect for the land. Each time they see something they don't like, there is a confrontation that ends with the Han migrants acting apathetic.

The novel begins with strong scenes and explanations of life on the Inner Mongolian grassland, but does not maintain that same level of interest throughout the 524 pages. Much of the narration becomes tedious and repetetive--it's unfortunate that so much needs to be explained about the Mongolian life in order for huge sections of Wolf Totem to make sense to a reader, thus making it read like a textbook.

Olympic Communication Part 2

Direct from the Olympic Security English textbook comes lesson 10: Interrogating People （pages 107-109). In this lesson, the police officer encounters a minor out at midnight. The youth is stereotypically rude to authority figures and rather unwilling to provide information when asked. They provide no reason to interrogate the juvenile other than it being so late. The beginning is quite dull, so we'll jump right into the middle of the conversation:

Police: You seem to have a bad temper. Is it because you quarreled with your parents and left home?
Minor: Leave me alone. I don't want to go home.
Police: Then come along with us to the police station.
Minor: No, I won't.
Police: We can't leave you alone here. Tell us your name, your home phone number.
Minor: How annoying! All right. My name is Helen. I live in Jian Guo Men Apartments for Aliens.
Police: Good! Now we'll take you home and leave you under your parents' care.

I really like the name of the apartment building. Apparently, the translator decided that 外交(wai jiao) is aliens rather than foreign affairs. I suppose this is what they think of the apartments that foreigners rent--they're really meant for extra-terrestrials. Or, it could just be another reason why so many people stare at the foreigners around here.

The other lessons on "How to Stop Illegal News Coverage" and "Frighting" are posted here and here.

In Bloom

I have been reminded that today is Bloomsday. I have also been informed by Danwei that James Joyce's Ulysses was translated into Chinese in 1994. Amazingly, it was a bestseller.

I read Ulysses in English during the second half of my Modernism class in grad school. It was rather difficult to understand then--and most of the class had an annotated version to help along. I don't think even if my Chinese was up to par that I would ever attempt this epic. I never really planned on reading it again in English.

I am curious as to how accurate the translation of Ulysses might be. How did they handle the absinthe trip through the brothel? I'm reminded of walking through Book City with Jia and coming across some books I didn't expect to be translated (original post). The translation of Kerouac's Desolation Angels may have been well done, but it still doesn't mean that people can understand it.

For anyone interested, Peking University has the Chinese version online.

More Norton Complaints & Some Fun

I've mentioned more than a few times that I'm disgruntled with Norton Internet Security. It just slows my computer down to the speed of a retarded tortoise on depressants.

Last week I received an e-mail from the company saying that I could upgrade to the newest version, which is supposedly faster. I figured, what the hell--I'm already paying for it. I decided it couldn't possibly be slower than the version I purchased.

I spent two hours downloading the new version. Then I let it install for another two. I noticed that nothing was happening with the install and so had to shut it down (a difficult task to accomplish). I tried to reinstall the new version and kept receiving error messages. The next day, I downloaded an uninstall program from Symantec, as per the advice of tech support and ran that. Then I rebooted and reinstalled the new version. After about an hour, it finally worked. In total, I figure I wasted a good five hours of my weekend on this piece of crap--and I don't notice my computer running any faster. I plan to switch to a different program when my subscription is up in August.

On another note, I came across a great Web page today. It has a bunch of Chinese slogans translated into English. This is why I really need to learn to read more--I see loads of banners with slogans everyday and wonder what they say. All I've come across that I can understand are the English sign in Shekou that reads, "Empty talk endangers the nation" and the sign near Phoenix mountain that translated into "Today's special: stupid chicken, duck."

Lost Art of Translation

I've previously written about the quality of foreign books translated into Chinese that Jia and I have found here in Shenzhen (post 1 & post 2). I was quite pleased to find such worthwhile literature for Jia to read--I was looking forward to discussing these books with her to see how faithful the translations were. I also had the goal of learning enough Chinese to read Kerouac's On the Road.

The joy and astonishment has worn off here. I recently read an article (translated from Chinese) about the quality of translations in China. It seems that there are some severe problems with the modern works that have garnered critical acclaim. The ranks of Chinese translators are dwindling, and have been for some time. The article points out the obvious reason: the pay sucks. The average wage for Chinese translators is only 60 kuai for 1000 words (I'm not sure if that's per foreign word or per Chinese character). It is estimated that 1000 words is average for a translator to accomplish in ONE DAY. So, for a full-time translator of literature that comes to an average of 1800 kuai a month (assuming he/she works 30 days a month). Compare that to the minimum wage in Shenzhen, which is between 800 and 900 a month for unskilled labor.

Publishing companies could give a raise to the translators, but we all know that'll never happen. Translations just don't make money--it's the same as in the U.S. The real problem with the publishing industry in China is exactly the same as the problem with the publishing industry in the U.S.--people just aren't reading enough.

More Translated Books

As I have mentioned previously, I have found an interesting variety of foreign literature translated into Chinese. Many of the books have been surprising (such as Lolita, Catcher in the Rye, and On the Road).

The other night, I decided to buy Jia a gift of a few books and search for a new Chinese book for myself. The first book I noticed was Jack Kerouac's Desolation Angels--a book I once picked up in English and thought it incoherent. I asked Jia to read it in Chinese, thinking it might make more sense--her response was, "Kan bu dong," "I don't understand." I guess they did a good job translating.

The next two books were much more surprising than the others I've seen. Hanif Kureishi's Buddha of Suburbia--a wonderfully comic novel that has a bit more decadence than you'd expect for anything in China. I seem to recall a bit of sex, drugs, and even divorce (things that don't go along with a "harmonious society"). The second book we got was the Ray Bradbury classic, Fahrenheit 451. I'm absolutely shocked to find a book about the dangers of government censorship in China. As J. said, "Maybe it's a ploy: Not censoring a book on censorship to make it seem there's no censorship." Anyway, we bought the books so Jia can read them and then discuss them with me to see if they've been censored.

Other news: In Skekou, due to the construction of the new subway line, a few businesses have had to close down because of a lack of customers (these include Subway and Pizza Hut, as well as some smaller restaurants and bars). The construction involved closing a road and building a wall in front of about 10 stores. According to Jia, the business owners have put up a sign criticizing the government because they were not part of the decision to put a subway stop across the street from Sea World. They're mostly unhappy because they are not being compensated for lost business. The wall blocking access to the businesses has been up for about a month.