For any society, translation is important work that deserves support and encouragement, especially the translation of literature. It is through literature that readers expand their understanding of life, its meaning and purpose. It is through literature that one expands one's horizons.
Therefore, the more one is exposed to literature from different cultures, the more varieties of human experience one can vicariously live through, the more one sympathizes with others. Thus all efforts at translating meaningful literature from one language and culture to another should be encouraged.
In this spirit of encouragement, I would like to look at a book recently translated into Chinese and published in Taiwan.
ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
The book is The Diary of Emily Dickinson (
While Lan Ping deserves applause for publishing this extremely well written book of serious, meaningful literature, I have been saddened to note very serious flaws in the translation.
The first and most serious problem is that The Diary of Emily Dickinson is not Emily Dickinson's diary. It was not written by Emily Dickinson. It is a work of fiction, very skillfully conceived and executed by Jamie Fuller. And yet nowhere in the translation is this fact pointed out. In his introduction, Professor Zhao Weimin seems to imply that the book is in fact Emily Dickinson's actual diary, found hidden in Dickinson's house in the early 20th century by a carpenter doing repairs.
But no such diary was ever found under any such circumstances by any such carpenter. These are all fictional circumstances employed by the author. Unfortunately no one seems to have informed Professor Zhao of this fact, and the editors at Lan Ping, who bear ultimate responsibility, did not correct it. One can only assume that they themselves were not aware of this fact.
There are also a few other serious problems in the translation. First, the front cover of the translation is adorned with an old black-and-white photograph of a middle-aged woman wearing clothes in the style of the late 19th century. Most readers who do not know otherwise would assume that this is a photograph of Emily Dickinson. But it is not. It appears to be a photograph of Martha Gilbert, sister of the wife of Emily's brother Austin. Yet no where on the cover or inside the book is the reader informed of this fact. Why on earth would the publishers use a photograph of someone other than Emily Dickinson on the front cover of this book, and then not inform the reader who she is and why her photograph is on the cover?
Again on the front cover, Emily Dickinson is described as "autistic" (
There are also many cases of inaccurate translation. I will only note two. On page 79, a quotation from Emerson's Nature is translated as follows:
"
("The sun only illumines the eye of mankind, but it shines into the child's eye and soul.").
Not only does this not make any sense in the Chinese (isn't a child a member of the human race?), it is just a plain wrong translation. The translator and editors did not look at the context of the original work. If they had, they would have immediately grasped the meaning. The original context can be found in Emerson's Nature, chapter 1: "To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child." ("
This very clearly contrasts the spiritual and emotional deadness of the adult, with the spiritual and emotional liveliness of the child -- a common Romantic theme. I have never seen "the man", with definite article "the," to mean "mankind" (
One more example of wrong translation is found on page 259, where a photograph of Emily Dickinson's tombstone appears. The epitaph on her tombstone reads, in English, "Called Back." These words were the content of the last letter Dickinson was known to have written, which reads in full as follows: "Little Cousins, Called back -- Emily." Several days later she died.
I have never known "called back" to mean "回想" (to reminisce), which is how it is rendered in this translation. Perhaps the translator has confused "called back" with "to recall" (想起來). Here, "called back" clearly means "to be summoned to return" (被召回), and just as clearly refers to her death. She is telling her cousins that she has been "called back" and must leave this life to return to God or whence she came. Her tombstone informs the visitor that she is no longer among us; she has been "called back."
I do not mean to attack Ms Wu Ling personally. In fact, I believe she should be thanked for trying to bring this piece of well-crafted fiction, based on the life and work of one of America's greatest poets, to readers in Taiwan.
Rather, I think translation practices in Taiwan -- and the overall commercial culture -- ?is at fault. Generally, translators are not adequately paid, and thus the translations they produce are often unprofessional and full of flaws.
Schools, government agencies, and publishing companies are not willing to pay reasonable fees in order to do a thorough job. Thus the more or less, good enough (
Until translators and their work of translation are truly respected, I see little hope of improvement. If you want professional work, you must pay professional fees, and accord professional respect. Otherwise, the results will not be professional. In the end, it is the readers who are the losers.
George W. Lytle (
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