Day 12
Thurs. Sept. 29
Workshop: metaphor
Homework:
Final project due date: Please note that the due date for both your translation and your translator’s note is midnight Sunday October 16 (China time).
➤ Decide on your final project
Before the end of this weekend, I would like you to have:
communicated with me and told me what text you’re interested in translating;
sent me the text (if it’s one you’re proposing yourself)
sent me a brief 2-3 sentence statement explaining what you imagine the function of your translation is and who the audience might be (if it’s one you’re proposing yourself)
➤ (Optional: Prepare a draft for peer feedback)
If you would like feedback on a draft of your translation, I will arrange peer feedback for you if you submit a draft to me before next class (Tuesday after National Day holiday). If you’re able to have a draft ready by then, I highly recommend it!
I’ll also be available to give feedback on drafts in 1-on-1 appointments during the last week of class.
➤ Read classmates’ translations of E.B. White and Eileen Chang excerpts
Before next class, read your classmates’ translations and be ready to share with us with one sentence in one of the translations that you think handles a metaphor particularly well.
Also, think about these questions:
When translating a metaphor, do you think it’s acceptable to change the image? (For example, if the original metaphor involves a tree, to change the tree into a dog?) Is it acceptable to change the logic of the metaphor? Is it acceptable to omit some aspect of the metaphor? Please find an example of a classmate’s translation that adds or omits something significant, and tell us if you think that alteration is acceptable in a translation.
➤ Translate Lu Xun or Christian Wiman
If you are an EAP-track student, please translate into Chinese the short poem “Darkness Starts” by Christian Wiman.
If you are a CSL-track student, please translate the following text into English. It is the beginning of the first chapter of a book of prose poems by Lu Xun called 《野草》. This is a very famous text, so if you search it on the Internet you’ll find many different explanations by Chinese readers who have interpreted it to mean various different things. However, it is very open-ended and ambiguous and permits many possible readings; there is no single “correct” way to understand it. There are several English translations, but I recommend you not look at the translations, as it may limit your imagination as to what the text may mean.
题辞
当我沉默着的时候，我觉得充实；我将开口，同时感到空虚。
过去的生命已经死亡。我对于这死亡有大欢喜，因为我借此知道它曾经存活。死亡的生命已经朽腐。我对于这朽腐有大欢喜，因为我借此知道它还非空虚。
生命的泥委弃在地面上，不生乔木，只生野草，这是我的罪过。
[…]
Upload your translation to the folder “13-Lu Xun and Christian Wiman translations.”
➤ Supplementary reading
If you have time, I suggest you read the short academic article “Brief Study on Domestication and Foreignization in Translation” by Yang Wenfen. This article provides a nice, clear, simple summary of one of the most important debates in the academic field of translation studies. If you decide to continue to study translation in a formal way (in school) you will almost certainly hear the terms “domestication” and “foreignization,” so I recommend you read this article to get a sense of what it’s all about. (If you want, you can also Baidu-search the Chinese terms 归化 and 异化 and you'll find many short explanations of this idea.)
