Translating Chinese Culture: The process of Chinese--English translation

by Valerie Pellatt, Eric Liu, Yalta Ya Chen

Translating Chinese Culture is an innovative and comprehensive coursebook which addresses the issue of translating concepts of culture. Based on the framework of schema building, the course offers helpful guidance on how to get inside the mind of the Chinese author, how to understand what he or she is telling the Chinese-speaking audience, and how to convey this to an English speaking audience. A wide range of authentic texts relating to different aspects of Chinese culture and aesthetics are presented throughout, followed by close reading discussions of how these practices are executed and how the aesthetics are perceived among Chinese artists, writers and readers. Also taken into consideration are the mode, audience and destination of the texts. Ideas are applied from linguistics and translation studies and each discussion is reinforced with a wide variety of practical and engaging exercises. Thought-provoking yet highly accessible, Translating Chinese Culture will be essential reading for advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students of Translation and Chinese Studies. It will also appeal to a wide range of language studies and tutors through its stimulating discussion of the principles and purposes of translation.

202 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2013

Reviews

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is aimed at students of translation who are fluent in Chinese and learning about how to tailor their translations to both the context of the original work (art criticism is different from poetry is different from folktales and so forth) and to their expected audience. I am not a translator nor a student nor able to read or speak Chinese, but none of that mattered -- I found it fascinating for the range of Chinese texts is discussed and all the thinking around a translator's choices felt very relatable to my own thoughts on writing, especially the writing of poetry.