Day 7
Tues. Nov. 15
Discussion of The Phantom Tollbooth (observations on genre of literary prose)
Discussion of Pipilu translation
Introduction to “voice”
Homework:
➤ Look at Challenge 2 options and fill out preferences
As soon as possible: Read the instructions and options for Challenge 2 and fill out the Qualtrics survey ranking your preference for the six options available to you.
The first group’s translation will be due early next week, so it’s important that you act on this quickly so that I can set up new pairings and let you get started working as soon as possible!
➤ Read classmates’ edits to “A Mother’s Charge”
Read your classmates’ edits to the Chinese translation in the folder “13-Edits to A Mother’s Charge.” Come ready to share a sentence where you think the student has very successfully rewritten the sentence or passage in a more natural way in Chinese.
➤ Find an example of 议论文 in chinese
Find a published example of an argumentative essay (in journalism terms, an “opinion piece” or “op-ed”) originally written in Chinese (not a translation). Ideally it should be one you like or find interesting.
Post it in the folder “14-Examples of 议论文 genre". (You can link to the article or copy it over into a Word document; either is fine.) In the same Word document, please make one meaningful observation about the kind of language used in the genre of argumentative writing in Chinese. You could, for example, remark on:
Register (formality vs. colloquialism)
Conventional word choice (types of words or phrases that one might often see in Chinese argumentative writing)
Conventional syntax / sentence structure (typical ways that sentences are built)
Any other patterns or common features that you think is relevant
Please copy over a sentence or a brief passage that illustrates your observation so we can see an example of what you’re talking about without needing to click on the link or search around in the text.
➤ Read excerpts from “Ah Q” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
Read this excerpt from “The Real Story of Ah Q” (translated by Julia Lovell) and 赵元任’s translation of the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (If you wish, compare the translations with the originals, which you can find here for Ah Q and here for Walrus and the Carpenter.)
As you read the translations, think about this question of voice. What kind of person is narrator? How does the style of the language reveal the narrator’s personality?
(You could also compare the style of the translation with the original. How is the style of the translation different from the style of the original, and why do you think it is different? How is this related to the idea of “voice”?)
➤ Read the translation Of George Monbiot’s “Days of Rage”
Read Shiran and Kaige’s translation of this article, written by the activist George Monbiot and originally published in the British newspaper The Guardian. As you read the translation, ask yourself:
Is the style of the translation appropriate for the genre (an argumentative essay — specifically an “opinion piece” or “op-ed”)
Based on the translation, how would you describe the voice of the author? Do you get a sense of the author’s personality? If so, what is it about the translation that conveys this feeling?
Come ready to share your observations next class!