Day 4
Thurs. Nov. 3
Discussion translations of “This is Just to Say…”
Share observations on the language of journalism
Some tips about how to approach Challenge 1
Homework:
➤ Begin Challenge 1
Zhihang and Jiyuan: translation of Option A (女外卖骑手) due 8 p.m. Sunday China time (upload to SharePoint)
Xintong and Yitong: translation of Option B (“A Mother’s Charge”) due next class (upload to SharePoint)
Notes and reminders:
If you’re doing an L2 translation (translating out of your native language) I would suggest budgeting time to show your draft to a native speaker and have them help you solve problems with English expression
(note to Zhihang and Jiyuan—to serve as inspiration for how to render your article in English, you might also read some other newspaper articles in English that adopt a more conventional “news journalism” style.)
If you’re doing an L1 translation (translating into your native language) I would suggest you use a native speaker as an “informant” to help answer questions about the meaning of the original text, and hear how they react to the text
Formatting: please present your text bilingually (English and Chinese side by side). You can do this by copying the file in the folder “Challenge 1 texts” and inputting your translation directly into the righthand column.
➤ Read Challenge 1 Option a translation
Once it’s been posted on Sunday, read the English translation of the 女外卖骑手 article.
1) Please leave at least one comment on the translation draft (edit the document directly on SharePoint). It could be something you think the translation does well, or something you think is a problem, or any other observation that you think would be helpful to the translators if they planned to revise and publish this translation.
2) In particular, think about this question: Does this translation read like a piece of journalism in English? (In other words, does the style of the language fit the genre)? Please come ready to share one example of a place in the translation where you think the translators have done a good job adopting a “journalistic style” in English.
➤ read Classmates’ translations of “Ad” and museum placard
You can find your classmates’ translations of “Ad” and the museum placard on SharePoint. Please read them, and come to next class ready to share your answers to these questions:
“Ad”
Which translation do you think does the best job using advertising language for a satirical effect? Could you give us an example of particular phrases that sound like advertising language or “want ad” language?
Which translation strikes you as most successful as a poem in Chinese?
Museum placard:
Which translation most clearly adopts the style of a museum placard in English? Come ready to share one example of a sentence that sounds “typical” of this museum placard style.
You’ll notice that your classmates make very different choices about which words to use. Ask yourself: which words are “most important”? Come ready to share examples of three key words that you think are very important to “get right” in English.
➤ Supplementary rEading
The essay “译事三难”的迷思 in 《 翻译之镜》discusses the origins of the idea of 信、达、雅 which is often used to discuss translation in Chinese. I’d recommend reading this essay now as it will be relevant to the question of how we assess translations—how do we judge how successful they are?
To see how David Bellos thinks about genre and style, check out “Do You Have a Fish in Your Ear” Chapter 7 (pp. 77-81 in the English edition) and Chapter 26 (pp. 281-285 in the English edition).