Translator Yan | Hu Zongfeng: How can regional literature "go to sea" accurately "convey feelings and intentions"?
China News Service Xi'an, December 18 Title: Hu Zongfeng: How can regional literature "go to sea" accurately "convey feelings and convey feelings"?
China News Service reporter Bian Feng Alina
Shaanxi writer Chen Yan's novel "Loading The Stage", which was adapted into a TV series, won the popularity with its strong "Shaanxi flavor" fireworks. At present, the novel has been translated by Hu Zongfeng, dean of the School of Foreign Chinese at Northwestern University, and Robin Gilbank, a British scholar, and will be published in English soon. Previously, the works of more than a dozen Shaanxi writers, including Chen Zhongzhong and Jia Pingwa, have been translated by Hu Zongfeng's team to "go to sea".
What is the significance of regional literature "going to sea"? How to retain the regional characteristics of dialects and folklore in translation? How can literary works be translated to better present a pluralistic China? Hu Zongfeng recently gave an exclusive interview to China News Agency's "East and West Question" to answer this question.
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
China News Service: Why do you want to translate regional literary works? What is the significance of promoting the "going out" of regional literary works?
Hu Zongfeng: As a subsystem of Chinese literature, the translation of regional literature is an important way for us to present China's multiculturalism to the world. China's regional literature has achieved fruitful results and profound literary traditions. Taking Shaanxi as an example, the team of writers composed of Liu Qing, Lu Yao, Du Pengcheng, Chen Zhongzhong, Jia Pingwa, Ye Guangqian, Gao Jianqun and others is known as the "Literary Shaanxi Army", and their works are literary models for understanding and studying modern China.
The works of "Literary Shaanxi Army" are literary models for understanding and studying modern China. The picture shows the drama "White Deer Plain" adapted from Chen Zhongzhong's original work. Photo by Li Haijun, China News Service
At present, we have translated and published the works of more than ten Shaanxi writers such as Chen Zhongzhong, Jia Pingwa, Chen Yan, Ye Guangqian, Hong Ke, Mu Tao, Wu Kejing, etc., with a wide range of categories and strong regional flavor. The translation and research of these works can become an important way for readers around the world to read Chinese texts and channels, which will help foreign readers to fully understand China from different aspects and different angles, and promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Engaged in Shaanxi literature translation work for nearly 30 years, I feel that more and more foreign readers pay attention to Chinese culture and literary works. From the beginning of independent translation, to now being invited by foreign publishing houses to translate, on the one hand, more and more foreign readers want to understand China through literary works, on the other hand, because our translations are recognized.
Works translated by Hu Zongfeng's team. Courtesy of Hu Zongfeng
China News Service reporter: What is the difficulty in translating regional literature? How to accurately "convey the feelings" when translating, and present the cultural elements contained in it?
Hu Zongfeng: The translation of regional literature lies in understanding accurately and expressing it in place. This requires translators to have a deep understanding of regional cultures. The main member of our team, Robin Gilbank, is a doctor of English medieval literature, he has worked and lived in Shaanxi for more than ten years, and is familiar with the customs and customs of Shaanxi. I am a native of Shaanxi and have been in contact with many Shaanxi writers for twenty or thirty years. Whenever I translate a writer's work, I coordinate team members to chat with the writer to make the translation more accurate.
Shaanxi culture is very distinctive, such as the dialect "Nian Shi (last year)", "Ada (where)", "gossip (chat)", etc., many foreigners do not understand its meaning. The works of Shaanxi writers also often appear in special cuisines, such as bud grain grits, churned dumplings, lamb steamed buns, etc. According to different situations, sometimes transliteration, sometimes paraphrasing, try to convey it accurately through its connotation. For example, bract grain is made of broken bract grain, which translates to "Cracked-corn Porridge". The churn is something like the yakuza flour, which translates to "Jiaotuan", followed by the annotation "cornmeal jelly", which is a paste made from the bracted grain noodles. Lamb steamed buns are directly used for "Yangroupao", but followed by "mutton broth with cubed bread", which is to cook small square buns with lamb broth.
Xi'an Muslim Street is home to local delicacies, which often appear in Shaanxi literature. Hu Zongfeng's team translated "lamb steamed bun" as "Yangroupao", followed by "mutton broth with cubedbread". China News Service reporter Zhang Yuan photographed
For example, the English version of "Loading the Stage" that we plan to publish next year, the protagonist Diao Shunzi is an ordinary laborer, he has his own spiritual persistence and value pursuit, no matter what difficulties he faces, this inner spirit can support him and encourage him not to fall into the "decadence". For thousands of years, many people in the land of China have been ordinary laborers like Diao Shunzi. When we translated "Loading Stage", we translated it as "The Stage Shifters". However, when translating Diao Shunzi's name, it does not use Hanyu Pinyin, but uses "Smooth", which is the same as the Chinese character "Shun", which has the meaning of "smooth", but also contains the meaning of "smooth", which is complementary to the protagonist in the work.
China News Service: As a "matchmaker" of cultural exchanges, how do translators view and deal with cultural differences, so that foreign readers can better understand and accept them, and achieve effective "going to sea"?
Hu Zongfeng: Cultural exchanges must respect cultural differences. In fact, there are also "Local Colourism" (local colors) abroad. The same vernacular literature has many similarities or similarities, so when translating Chinese regional literature, you can also learn from some expression techniques of foreign regional literary works and tell stories in each other's context. For example, our team translated Jia Pingwa's "Tumen" published in the United Kingdom, and the works of the British writer Hardy describing the urbanization of Britain have similarities, which we will learn from in the translation. China has dialects, And English-speaking countries also have dialects, and the two also have similar expressions, such as the Shaanxi Western dialect sometimes refers to the wife as "the head of the house", and the English also has the slang expression of "her indoors". Chinese poetry and singing passages have rhymes, and English also pays attention to the format of rhymes, and when we translate Chen Yan's script, we translate the singing sections according to the rhyming form of English, and sometimes refer to some expression methods of Shakespeare's plays.
An early print of Shakespeare's work, exhibited in Beijing in 2017. Shakespeare's plays are a typical paradigm of English literature, and Hu Zongfeng's team will refer to the rhyming form and expression method of Shakespeare when translating Chinese plays into English. China News Service reporter Ying Ni photographed
For example, when translating Chen Yan's script "The Tree Moves West", it is mentioned that Shaanxi people learn to speak Shanghainese, Shanghainese learn to speak Shaanxi dialect, and when translating the English version, we will translate it as an expression such as Yorkshire people learning to speak London dialect, and Londoners learning to speak Yorkshire people, so that the meaning and sense of humor in the character dialogue can be expressed.
High-level translation is actually a re-creation, not a simple language conversion. We have always adhered to the Chinese-foreign translation model, requiring Chinese and foreign translators to have a certain degree of literary literacy, and foreign scholars are native translators. Translators whose mother tongue is translated have the advantage of understanding, translators whose mother tongue is translated into the language have the advantage of expression, and the biggest advantage of Chinese and foreign co-translation is that they can give full play to their respective advantages, so that understanding and expression can reach an ideal height.
Hu Zongfeng collaborated with Robin in translating Chen Yan's works. In the Sino-foreign translation model, the translator whose mother tongue is the translated language has the advantage of understanding, and the translator whose mother tongue is the translated language has the advantage of expression. Photo courtesy of Hu Zongfeng, China News Service
Creation and translation are reciprocal, the ancients "have a common heart and literature", Chinese and English languages are different, cultural backgrounds are also different, "or the reason is in the square inch and the domain table, or righteousness is within reach and thinking across the mountains and rivers." But as long as the hearts of the text are connected, we can achieve the realm of "mountaineering is full of love for the mountain, and viewing the sea is meant to overflow the sea".
China News Service: How can we promote mutual trust and understanding between the East and the West through literary translation, tell Chinese stories well, and spread Chinese voices?
Hu Zongfeng: In terms of foreign translation of Shaanxi literature, we believe that in addition to considering the attitude of foreign readers towards the culture of others in translated literary works and the aesthetic attitude towards translated literature, it is more important to insist on being yourself, not to be a cloud of people, not only to meet the aesthetic and reading expectations of foreign readers when translating abroad, but also to maintain the distinctive characteristics of Chinese literature, so that foreign readers can understand the real China through reading literary works, in order to achieve the cross-cultural reconstruction of Chinese literature in the foreign language world.
Our choice of works is to tell the Chinese story well, spread the Chinese voice, explain Chinese characteristics, display the image of China, and pay attention to the works that can reflect the great changes in China and refract the struggles of groups and individuals. Over the years, our team has translated works involving novels, essays, plays and poems of Shaanxi writers, and in the future, we will increase our efforts and breadth to translate Qin Scripts and works related to Shaanxi's intangible cultural heritage, traditional Chinese cultural customs, Chinese folklore, and traditional Chinese virtues.
In August 2018, the Fifth International Symposium on Literary Translation of Sinologists was held in Guiyang. The seminar helps translators from all over the world to keep abreast of the development trend of contemporary Chinese literature and build a platform for dialogue and exchange between writers and translators. China News Service reporter He Junyi photographed
Over the years, the team has been preparing several translations of famous works on Chinese culture, and has translated and published the English version of Mr. Zhang Yizhi's "Fifteen Lectures on Chinese History", as well as the English and Chinese and English versions of "Chinese Traditional Culture and Customs", the English version of "Chinese Traditional Virtues" and the Arabic version of "Chinese Traditional Culture and Customs". Next year, it will also begin to translate and publish traditional and contemporary Qin scripts such as "Three Drops of Blood", "The Orphan of Zhao", "Qin Cavity", "Liu Qing", and "Lu Yao's World".
Translation is a bridge to different languages and cultures, making complex worlds "simple". In the future, our team will inherit Chinese culture through translations, so that foreign readers can understand Chinese culture and the spiritual core of the Chinese nation through these translations, enhance mutual trust and understanding between The East and the West, and promote exchanges and cooperation. (End)
Expert Profile:
The picture shows Hu Zongfeng. (Courtesy of me)
Hu Zongfeng, member of the Central Cultural Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, director of the China Translation Association, president of the Shaanxi Translation Association, director of the Snow Research Center of Shaanxi Province, vice president of the Shaanxi Foreign Literature Society, dean, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Foreign Languages of Northwest University, has published works such as "Tumen", "Sun Palace", "Lao Dan is a Tree", "Mountain Story", "Wolf Howl", "Blood Sun", "Unreasonable Things", "Exploring China", "Dr. Robin Looks at Shaanxi", "My Chinese Dream" and other Works in English and Chinese, "Selected Essays of Jia Pingwo". Traditional Chinese Culture and Customs" and other Bilingual works in English and Chinese.