Min Fu
The cover of the English translation of "Dream of the Red Mansion" that Min Fu co-authored.
Cover of the English translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War translated by Min Fu.
Cover of the English translation of "Liaozhai Zhi Yi" translated by Min Fu.
Min Fu, born in 1946 in Birmingham, England, is a world-renowned sinologist and literary translator. He has taught in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and other countries and regions, and is committed to the English translation of Chinese literary works and the cultivation of translation talents. He translated many Chinese classics such as "Dream of Red Mansions" (the last 40 times) and "Liaozhai Zhi Yi" into English, conveying the beauty of Chinese literature to the world and making important contributions to the overseas dissemination of Chinese literature and culture. In November 2016, Min Fu won the inaugural "Outstanding Contribution to Translation Award" from the Australian Academy of Humanities.
"Fate" with Chinese
Minford's father was a diplomat who had lived in many countries. In 1958, at the age of 12, Min Fud entered Winchester College in England, where he studied Greek, Latin and classical literature. At that time, the students were asked to do a lot of Greek and Latin translations, and he gradually liked the exercise and developed a keen interest in translation. This passion has never diminished for more than half a century of teaching and translation.
Min Fu's original dream was to become a pianist. Although he later gave up this pursuit for various reasons, he felt that translation was somewhat similar to playing the piano, both of which required a lot of practice, and both needed to start with the rules, and to a certain extent, dare to abandon the rules and come out of the machine.
In 1964, Min Fu was admitted to Oxford University, first studying Greek and Latin literature, then transferred to Chinese literature, where he studied under Professor Hox, and in 1968 received a first-class honours degree in Chinese literature. For Min Fud, his Chinese began with a fate: "I was one of the few students of Professor Hox. I opened the undergraduate course manual with my eyes closed, and I casually turned to the page of Chinese major. Therefore, I believe that the fate between me and Chinese has long been preordained. ”
While studying at Oxford, Min Fu spent a short exchange trip to Hong Kong, where he hosted with a Chinese family. While helping with the homestay children's homework, the child's mother told him that if he wanted to truly understand China and Chinese, he had to read "Dream of Red Mansions" and write the words "Dream of Red Mansions" on a piece of paper on the dining table.
After returning to England, Min Fu asked Hox to teach him to read A Dream of the Red Mansion. Three years later, he expressed his desire to translate the famous work to his teacher. Hox told him that he had signed a translation contract with Penguin Publishing Group and invited him to translate it forty times. Thus, Min Fu embarked on his own path of Chinese literary translation. The translation they completed together is the most accepted and influential translation of the Chinese literary classic "Dream of Red Mansions" in the English-speaking world.
In 1977, Min Fu went to the Australian National University to pursue a doctorate, where he studied under the Chinese sinologist Liu Cunren and continued to study the last forty episodes of "Dream of the Red Mansion". In 1982, Min Fu was invited by literary critic and translator Song Qi to become the editor of Translation Series at Hong Kong Chinese University: "The first time I met Song Qi was in August 1980, when I was going to Tianjin via Hong Kong to teach, and my Chinese name was given to me by him, and I later succeeded him as the editor-in-chief of Translation Series. After that, Min Fu taught at the University of Auckland, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Australian National University, forming an indissoluble bond with Chinese literature and its translation.
Translate classics in a vivid way
Min Fu's "Nouvelle Chinoiserie" reflects his lifelong quest to share the joys of Chinese literature with Western readers. He has translated Chinese classics such as "Dream of Red Mansions" 40 times, Jin Yong's martial arts novel "Luding Ji", "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "Liaozhai Zhiyi" (excerpt), "I Ching" and "Tao Te Ching", and also translated many kinds of Chinese poetry, including both classical and modern poetry.
Min Fud, who spent many years studying piano in his youth, believes that both translation and playing the piano can be considered a performing art, and translators are performers and commentators like pianists. Pianists must carefully balance their responsibilities to the composer, to the audience, and to themselves. Similarly, the translator must interpret the text, but in a lively way. Translation is sometimes called the second life of the original, and in order to activate the life of the original, the translator must pour his life into the translation like a pianist playing the piano, which is the most difficult part of translation.
Min Fu believes that the translation itself is also a literary art form, not just an adjunct to the original. He was acquainted with the Hong Kong poet Ye Si (Leung Bingjun) and translated many of his novels and poems. They often meet at bars to discuss methods of translating poetry from English. Sometimes, after reading Min Fud's translation, he would have new ideas for his own poetry and go back and revise them. This made Min Fu taste the joy of translation, and also felt the equal status of translators and authors in creation. Min Fu believes that there is no such thing as a perfect translation, and that readers should approach any translation with an open mind and a thinking attitude.
"I learned a lot from my teacher, Hox, who was a true master translator and taught me how to make a translation both faithful to the original and creative, an art of recasting." In Min Fu's view, translators should use vivid English to translate Chinese literature, integrating academic research with literary creation, so as to achieve what Qian Zhongshu called "transformation realm".
Chinese literature belongs to all mankind
Min Fu pointed out that translating Chinese classics from English should be patient and not rush to achieve quick results. It took him a total of 16 years to co-translate "Dream of Red Mansions" with Hox, 15 years to translate "Liaozhai Zhiyi" from English, 3 years to "Sun Tzu's Art of War", 12 years to "I Ching", and 7 years to "Tao Te Ching"... Sufficient time investment is the guarantee of high-quality translation output.
"English translations of Chinese literary classics must be vibrant and creative, not lifeless and pedantic." Min Fu stressed repeatedly. He said that the first Chinese books he carefully read were the Taoist works Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi and the Confucian works Mencius and Analects. "My life has basically been a literary translator, dealing with ancient and contemporary novels and poetry, which is reflected in my English translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War, and I strive to reproduce the literary value of this classic in my translation." Min Fu said.
Min Fu's translation method is characterized by a vivid and interesting character, he first understands the original text in a historical context, and then converts the original text into English in a way that is easy for contemporary English readers to understand. The terms and cultural load words in the original text are translated in this way, so that readers can understand the deep meaning, unspoken meaning and cultural context of the original text.
Min Fu believes that translators should have an open mind to get involved in various cultural phenomena, actively experience different things, and accumulate various experiences. He thinks it's important for translators to take a walk, or read a few pages of fiction or play with their dogs, which helps them get into a more creative state.
Min Fu points out that native writing training is just as important for translators, and he spends a lot of time practicing his English writing. "If I were to translate poetry from English, I would first read a lot of English poetry; If I were to translate a novel from English, I would read the novel in English first; If I were to translate the I Ching from English, I would have read extensively to find the right English to translate the text. Min Fu said.
In Min Fu's view, Chinese literature belongs not only to China, but also to the world and to the whole of mankind. "It is a great blessing in my life to be able to study Chinese and translate Chinese literary works, there are very few excellent Chinese literary translations in the world, and there are many Chinese literary classics to be translated." Min Fud said he just wanted to share good things with people all over the world, and he was just trying to spread good things. For example, through the English translation of "Dream of the Red Mansion", people in the English-speaking world can understand Chinese's ideas to a certain extent, and understand a different way of life than theirs. (Zheng Jianning, Lecturer, College of Foreign Chinese, Hangzhou Normal University)
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition