keninabu!

A Chinese novel lost in translation

It is a pity that there are very few good translations of modern Chinese novels: I once encountered a few English translation of Qian Zhongshu's "Fortress Besieged" (钱锺书先生的《围城》), which is by far the funniest and wittiest Chinese novel I had ever read in Chinese.

The translation seemed the product of either a schizophrenic translator or of a class of English-speakers of various degrees of proficiency: it was tortuous plodding through the translation, which seemed to alternate between a literal translation and a figurative one.

Worst of all, it plainly lacked the style and effervescence of the original Chinese version: the humor and humanity of Mr. Qian was throttled, stifled and buried by the translation efforts of a couple of seeming Chinese bureaucrats.

It is a pity, for the book is one of the best I have ever read. For the longest time, I was extremely averse to reading Chinese, not because I hate the language or the culture, but because there was absolutely nothing in modern Chinese which was not filled with cliches and hackneyed phrases. In the case of the mainland Chinese publications, my experience was that they were filled with politically-correct phrases and sentences: thus, a history of Tibet invariably starts off with a description of "Tibet's backward feudal system" before the "liberation by the heroic People's Liberation Army", followed by a boast of their current state of advancement.

This book, though, is written in flowing Chinese prose that can only be described as beautiful, lyrical and light-hearted. Mr. Qian is perhaps closest to Roald Dahl in writing style and to P.G. Wodehouse in wit and brillance.

The English version feels dead in comparison, especially when the translators do a literal translation of a paragraph or when they try to explain a certain proverb or idiomatic expression: the narrative quickly runs into quicksand and becomes a very dead Swamp Thing.

I remember reading Alastair Reid's translation of Pablo Neruda's poems, and he quoted the great Chilean poet as saying, "I want you to improve my poems, not just translate them." Many translators would do well to heed this advice.
Hence, I argue, it is very important for a translator to have a similar mindset and outlook as the original writer, for they're not just translating the words, but also relaying the meaning and spirit of the work: it is through having a similar mindset and outlook that the same intangibles will be able to come across.

I highly recommend readers to try this book out, if they can handle Chinese. If not, take Chinese classes, but avoid the English translations in the market right now...

That said, a translator faces a peculiarly unique problem in translating Chinese prose: Chinese is extremely succinct and concise, which adds to the poetic effect in the language. This effect can get lost, though, through translation which is necessary to prevent losing the audience.

Everything is lost in translation.... unfortunately.

posted by keninabu @ 10:26 PM