Colombian sinologist Luo Baolu: From Chinese and poetry to the countryside, China has impressed Latin America in this way

According to the South American Overseas Chinese Daily, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Latin American countries such as Argentina and Mexico. In the past 50 years, the cultural exchanges between China and Latin America have become increasingly close, and Latin American writers represented by Márquez, Llosa, Fuentes, etc. have set off a hot wind in the Chinese contemporary literary scene, at the same time, Chinese poetry, cultural classics, and literary novels have been translated into Latin America, opening up the sinological soil of the Latin American and aesthetic circles, and the Colombian sinologist Pablo Rodriguez Durán is one of the participants and witnesses.

A dual citizen of Colombia and Mexico, the leopard deer has loved to delve into languages since childhood, and has a keen sense of language tentacles. When I was exposed to Chinese in school, I was suddenly attracted by the profound meaning and ever-changing characteristics of Chinese. In 2012, he entered the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Center for Asian and African Studies at the Mexican Institute for a master's degree, continuing his studies in sinology and translation, and began a "soul friendship" with Chinese.

"Looking at the West from the West's Perspective, Looking at China from China's Perspective"

"Unlike English and Spanish, Chinese like Chinese philosophy, there are no fixed rules, they are in flux, and they must be viewed in context and specific situations." This charm fascinates Luo Leopard Deer in particular. For example, the verb "to be" does not have an exact corresponding translation in modern Chinese, and in the text, only "for" is similar, but the usage and meaning of "for" are not fixed. "In general, we usually think that important content in a language, such as the use of basic verbs, should be fixed, but Chinese is just the opposite, there is no fixed pattern, it should be understood in context." Luo Baolu believes that language and cultural phenomena are inseparable, and although the word "for" is small, it exudes the wisdom of dialectical analysis Chinese.

Chinese led Luo Baolu into Chinese culture, using language as a tool, he found the "Tao" in the Chinese worldview. In daily life, Chinese advocate "simple and pragmatic", often saying "no nonsense", "don't bother", and "live a down-to-earth life". Luo Baolu believes that this philosophy also permeates the language, just as the old Chinese saying goes: "The road is simple". For example, in chinese cultural classics such as the Analects and the Tao Te Ching, a few lines of short sentences and three or two words are usually used to express the truth, while western philosophical classics are thick and complicated. Another example is the Chinese character itself, the structure is compact and square, and the shape and meaning complement each other into meaning, even if it is a partial head, it also contains an ancient story.

In 2017, Luo Baolu, who was working at the China Foreign Language Bureau at the time, accidentally read the Chinese writer Li Jingze's "Blue Bird Story Collection" and fell in love with it, and he still remembered the excitement at that time, "His emotions and thoughts occupied all my mind, like telepathy." "Li Jingze shuttles through human history, picking up those scattered and forgotten things, and clearly depicting the initial contact between Eastern and Western civilizations: how the West sees China, how China sees itself, and how China has amazed the world." In Luo Baolu's view, such thinking is becoming more and more important in today's world, and only through dialogue can we understand and learn from each other, which is very much in line with his own values.

"When we look at other civilizations, in order to enter the cosmology and worldview of this civilization, we need to first understand, not criticize, and not treat others as ourselves. Initially, there was no direct communication between Latin America and China, which needed to be viewed through a European or Western perspective, resulting in misunderstandings and integration. Therefore, we should look at the West from the perspective of the West, and look at China from the perspective of China, which is also the method that workers engaged in Sino-Latin American exchanges should adhere to. Luo Leopard Deer said.

Nine months later, in the summer of 2018, Luo Baolu participated in the translation of the Spanish edition of "Blue Bird Stories" published by Roma Publishing House in Chile. In recent years, he has also participated in the translation of "Selected Contemporary Chinese Poems", "Poetry and Poetic Paintings of the Six Dynasties of Han and Wei", "Reading in the Isolation Period" and other works, and is currently creating "Classical China: Millennium Wisdom in Idiomatic Short Stories". Literature is like a giant blue bird, communicating the cultural exchanges between China and Latin America.

Translating "words" to express "meaning", why does Chinese poetry impress Latin America?

Zhuangzi said that "words are not satisfactory", and you must "forget your words" to be "proud". In the process of translation, in order to better express the "meaning", it is necessary to appropriate and choose the "words", which is also a test of the translator's cultural skills.

Unlike the language transformation within the Latin language family, there are relatively few Chinese traditions in Spanish, and literal translation Chinese face many language and cultural differences. Luo Baolu took Chinese poetry as an example, he found that verbs in Chinese poetry usually have no tense, nouns have singular plurals, and there is no distinction in form, such as "cloud" may be all clouds, "mountain" may be all mountains, but may also refer to "a cloud" and "a mountain", which needs to be understood in context.

Chinese syntax is good at using comparisons and dualities, especially in ancient poetry, while Spanish syntax inherits the rigorous logic of Latin, and the rhythm of verse formation is difficult to transfer to Spanish. For example, in the Han Dynasty five-word poem "Roundabout Morning Glory, Kyaukgyao River Han Girl", how should the overlapping words be handled? Luo Baolu said that different languages are particularly unique in their rhythmic beauty. In the context of Chinese, the meaning of the two words in the overlapping words is the same, and the repetition is to achieve the effect of emphasis, and there is no need to say two words when translating the vernacular, but Spanish does not have such a language habit. Therefore, Luo Baolu started from the content of the poem, transformed "迢迢" and "Kyaukyao" into two beautiful words in Spanish: priest and weaver girl, and let "priest star" and "Vega star" be the subject of the first link of the poem, Latin American readers can understand that this poem is a love story, while continuing the rhythm of Chinese sentences.

"The first person also rarely appears in the texts of Chinese poetry, and 'I' is not the object of the poem, but provides subjective experience." This made Luo Leopard Deer feel very interesting. For example, he very much likes Wang Wei's poem "Lu Chai": "The empty mountain does not see anyone, but it hears people's voices." Return to the deep forest and look back at the moss. "The poet uses movement to contrast the quiet scenery of the deep forest of the empty mountains, so that the reader is in a lonely and lonely state, and the afterglow reflects people's astral hope and triggers endless thinking." Luo Baolu believes that the experience of the author and the reader is not consistent, and Wang Wei's writing method allows the reader to enter the author's experience and produces a "sense" with the text. The poet writes the beat of his life into the poem, and the music is a song, and the reader closes the beat and expresses the "meaning" beyond the "words", which is especially crucial for understanding poetry and understanding the Chinese poets at that time.

The roots of the countryside are closely linked, and the genes of Chinese and Latin American cultures are closely linked

"Chinese poetry is welcomed by Latin American readers who are eager to understand China, what is Chinese wisdom? Where is the origin of civilization embodied? How did Chinese know herself? This is scarce and unfamiliar to them, and literature provides a window of communication. Luo Leopard Deer said.

How is it so similar? According to Luo Baolu's observation, the roots-seeking literary works created by Chinese writers such as Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa, and Alai have a wide readership in Latin America, and they often issue such exclamations. In this regard, Luo Baolu analyzed, "The cultural genes of China and Latin America are closely related, and the performance in literature is the discussion of the relationship between people and land." Because of their colonial history, Latin Americans have two identities, in life, we think of ourselves as Westerners, but in the fields of art and literature, we often pursue the identity of the neglected, indigenous Indians. The Indians are our mothers, like the land that nourishes us, but we have had long conflicts and even lost roots, so we look at China and look for answers in Chinese literature. ”

In addition, China's urbanization and modernization are also the favorite themes of Latin American readers. "How urban people live, how will society develop in the future, some people think that China is the future, so Latin American readers are willing to understand China." Luo Leopard Deer said.

Not only poetry, not limited to literature, more and more Latin American people are promoting communication between China and Latin America through martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine and food, or in the process of dealing with Chinese and doing business. "It doesn't matter in what way and for what purpose, these exchanges always point in one direction, Latin America looks at China or China looks at Latin America." Isn't it right to see only one part and not all? Not enough? Yes, yes, and enough, all of which are gifts that we have received from China. ”