1st Edition
Translating Chinese Culture The process of Chinese--English translation
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.
Introduction—Chinese, Translatability and the Problem of Linguistic Determinism. 1. Translating modern and contemporary Chinese art and artists: art and artists as culture-specific entities 2. Chinese characters: national, cultural and personal identity 3. Calligraphy: physical and spiritual aspects of writing 4. The meaning of clothes: cultural, political and historical significance 5. The role of the Chinese nursery rhyme in disseminating traditional values in a modern world 6.Transcreation as a means of delivering poetry to an Other audience: rap adaptation and sinophonic poetry 7. Absurdity and irony in modern Chinese literature 8. Drama translation: a case study of collaborative translation 9.Translating Films Appendix Bibliography
Biography
Pellatt, Valerie; Liu, Eric T.; Chen, Yalta Ya-Yun
"This is a wonderfully conceived book which I cannot wait to have on my bookshelf and use in my advanced-level translation classes. As in their previous works, the authors have a knack for selecting the most relevant and theoretically-interesting topics in Chinese-English translation, this time exploring the issues of literary translation, artistic translation, translation of irony and humour, translation for the stage, and others – all pertinent issues that are not only relevant for Chinese-English translation, but also shine a light on the general theory of translation.
Through a work like this, the student of Chinese-English translation will better appreciate issues in translation theory, the canonical works of which often do not give examples from Chinese. The furnishing of examples (authentic texts and translations) from different fields to illustrate each theoretical point is also immensely useful. The authors provide wonderful close readings of each text that provide context and aid in the thinking process for translation, staying true to the book’s title "The Process of Chinese English Translation" – this, to me is the most attractive, most useful, and the best written part of this book." Chris Wen-chao Li, San Francisco State University, USA
