Are Foreign Devil Translators Hijacking China’s Debut on the Global Literary Stage?
Translation Issues Add commentsEver since China was named Guest of Honor at the 2009 Frankfurt Int’l Book Fair, overseas publishers have begun to take an interest in contemporary Chinese literature, and the list of works of fiction and poetry slated for translation and publication into English in 2011 and 2012 is growing quickly.
Take a look here for a partial list. They include Zhang Ling’s Gold Mountain Blues (translator: Nicky Harman), Endure: Poems by Bei Dao (Lucas Klein and Clayton Eshleman), Yan Lianke’s Dream of Ding Village (Cindy Carter), Wang Xiaofang’s Notes of a Civil Servant (Eric Abrahamsen), He Jiahong’s Blood Crimes (Duncan Hewitt), and more.
In December the venerable People’s Literature (人民文学) magazine launched an all English quarterly (at left) featuring translations of works by several popular 21st-century Chinese writers, Pathlight: New Chinese Writing.
Chinese novelist Han Haoyue (韩浩月) praises the magazine’s publication as a“good thing” (好事), but in his article of December 12 (烂苹果) he calls attention to the fact that “all the translators for the first issue are native English speakers of foreign nationality.” Without stating whether he has read the first issue of Pathlight or compared its renditions against the Chinese originals, he then trots out the tired argument that given the profundity of Chinese literary expression, “it stands to reason that it would be more appropriate for Chinese translators to complete the task of translation.”
Of course, Han isn’t the only one concerned about the fact that the officially funded campaign to “export” Chinese literature—seen as an extension of China’s soft power—seems to be largely dependent on foreign brains for the moment. But the problem with Han’s patriotic vision is that Made-in-China, Chinese-to-English literary translators are regrettably thin on the ground.
“Besides the limitations posed by the differences between Chinese and Western culture,” says Huang You-Yi (黄友义), Deputy Head of the China Translators Association in an article in China Youth Newspaper (文学 “走出去” 最大的瓶颈), “the deeper reason for the poor performance of Chinese literature on the international market is the issue of manpower, particularly the lack of highly skilled Chinese-to-English translators.”
The author of the China Youth Newspaper article, Meng Xiaoguang (孟晓光), cites some interesting factoids: as of 2007, only 15 universities in China had M.A. programs in translation, and they have produced under 400 graduates.
Underlying the opinions expressed by Han Haoyue, Huang Youyi and Meng Xiaoguang is a concern that somehow China is not sufficiently in control of its literary exports, and something needs to be done about this.
To shed a bit of light on this debate, I’d like to point out a few things:
- It’s about money, stupid: Talented Chinese aren’t in the Chinese-to-English literary translation market primarily because the pay is miserable. If you’re paid by a Chinese publisher, you generally get a terribly low one-time fee and none of the royalties. If you’re paid by a foreign publisher, you’re lucky if you average US$1,000 monthly.
- Outside of China’s inward-looking environment, it is widely recognized that when rendering a literary work—unlike technical or commercial translation—the translator ideally translates into his or her mother tongue. That’s because literary translation is not really about accuracy; it’s about things like maintaining register, setting rhythm and employing an appropriate tone, all of which are more easily mastered by a native speaker.
- The idea that just because a non-Chinese surname appears in the “Translated by” section of the title page doesn’t mean that native Chinese speakers didn’t play an active part in proofreading or translating a given novel. And there are plenty of pairs of English and Chinese speakers who work together to translate fiction. They include Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin, and Jane Weizhen Pan and Martin Merz.
December 14th, 2011 at 11:33 am
It’s damn near every day I see a news story lamenting the lack of quality English to Chinese translators of “foreign nationality” working on bringing all those works in English to the Chinese speakers. How ill served the Chinese-speaking population is. Oh, the humanity! Nothing like good old-fashioned racism, nationalism, and ethnocentrism to start your morning. Is it even really possible to shed light on arguments that are simply trolling? Arguments that are fundamentally not serious? Teach the controversy? I’d rather not. It doesn’t take more than 2 seconds to knock down racist “arguments” like that, so I’d hardly call them arguments.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Actually, I’d say that given the profundity of Chinese literary expression, it stands to reason that it would be more appropriate for native writers of English to complete the task of translation, since you wouldn’t want the profundity of that expression to be expressed by anyone but the most deft handlers of the language.
Lucas
December 15th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
I agree with your point on the money issue. I also wish to add a few things:
It is pointless to say that Chinese culture is too profound and Chinese feelings are too subtle for “foreign devil translators” to understand and that Chinese translators “logically speaking” 照理 are more appropriate to complete the task of translation. English literary expression is difficult to master, too. How can one be so sure that Chinese translators can capture the voice and set the right rhythm in the English language?
Such a 理 cannot be 照ed. If a Chinese translator does not know much about the great famine of the 1960s, or the Cultural Revolution, or much about this and that, and has no interest let alone courage to carry out the research due to “various reasons” 种种原因 how can he/she do a good job in translating Bi Feiyu’s Three Sisters, or Yan Lianke’s Si Shu? In this case, Chinese culture is also too profound and the Chinese feelings too subtle for this Chinese translator 中国翻译家. The same logic goes to foreign devil translators as well. Being able to speak fluent Chinese in a bar doesn’t guarantee the foreign devil translator can produce a translation which captures the voice and sets the right rhythm.
It is pointless to judge or predict the quality of a translation based on the translator’s nationality or language background. It takes more than “the right” nationality and language background to produce a good translation. We all have the experience of reading good and bad translations produced by native speakers, be it in English or in Chinese. Why don’t people, including Mr. Han, judge the quality of a translation on its own merits?
A person who grew up in southern China may not fully understand the subtlety of a literary work set in northern China. Some translators are very good at translating classical Chinese but have little interest in translating modern literature, while others are hopeless in reading classical Chinese let alone translating it, but are very good at translating modern Chinese literature. There are many hurdles and possibilities. Why can’t people judge a translator based on his/her performance on a case by case basis?
Rather than worrying about Chinese culture being too profound for foreign devil translators to fully understand without improving the situation under which it is difficult for freelance foreign devil translators (even local devils) to gain access to library resources and to learn about Chinese culture, why don’t organizations like the Writers’ Association 作协, for example, coordinate programs that provide foreign devil translators as well as local devil translators greater access to library resources, professional development funding and opportunities so that Chinese culture can become “less foreign” to everyone?
The mentality of “those foreigner devils vs. us Chinese” is counter-productive and dangerous. Deng Xiaoping once famously said, “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.” Does it really matter if the translator is a foreign devil as long as he/she is a good translator?” After all, everyone’s dream is for people in other cultures to have greater access to Chinese literature. Does it really matter if it is also the dream of foreign devil translators? Why can’t people from all language backgrounds work together to make this dream come true? What happened to “one world, one dream” of not so long ago?
December 15th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Great points, Jane! But I’m afraid it’s pretty clear that Han Haoyue doesn’t want Chinese culture to be less foreign. That’s not always a bad thing–the “one world, one dream” ethic can, in the wrong hands, make the whole world all too similar, where Beijing starts to look like Shanghai, Shanghai starts to look like Shenzhen, and Shenzhen starts to look like Dallas–and at times I know I wish Chinese culture were more foreign, and could preserve a bit more cultural difference from certain other places in the world. But of course, in the wrong hands, too, difference is its own problem: some people use difference to assert their superiority. Interesting about Han is that he seems to want it both ways, for China to be international and modern and speak English on the one hand, and to be unique and superior and Chinese on the other. Well, I want it both ways, too, but opposite from him.
December 15th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
I think your second point basically kills the argument. It’s really, really difficult to write well (read: the correct voice for a novel) in a language that’s not your first. There are very few people who can manage it.
December 16th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Well put, everyone. I only have one thing to add: sad attitudes like Han’s will only change when the nature of literary translation itself (as opposed to Chinese or other culture) is better understood.
December 16th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Most Chinese scholars in English at Chinese universities are for long years preoccupied with applying for, and breezing through, various projects at various levels which may bring them more quick money but demand less effort.
December 17th, 2011 at 12:27 am
Sigh. How about “one world, one nightmare”?
December 23rd, 2011 at 1:20 pm
More like “同床异梦.”
January 16th, 2012 at 6:29 pm
Love the post, but I have to say that I can appreciate where these writers are coming from. Their paranoia is similar to that of the Chi-Com’s, their language/ culture/ history/ appearance is incredibly delicate. They find themselves successful but necessarily misunderstood by a foreign audience having to use a foreign language. So their only recourse is to find a foreign translator? It’s obviously a ludicrous way to approach reconciliation, and these types of threads clearly vindicate their suspicion. I mean, listen to yourselves. You can call them racist, but that doesn’t solve the dilemma of the racism in any way, it just highlights the disparity. So, if you want to start an aesthetician’s race-war then go right ahead.
Concerning pay etc, obviously an extension of the racial and cultural tension. I don’t think that fightin’ words are going to get you a raise. We’re not in the land of protest, Toto, we’re in the land where Bruce Lee had to learn how to fight off 15 guys at a time.
February 9th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Funny also that this concern concentrates on English. Translation of Chinese literature into Dutch is done mostly by Dutch translators. A periodical much like Pathlight, of Chinese literature translated into Dutch, existed for almost 20 years, but I never heard of any complaints about the fact that its translations were made almost exclusively by native Dutch. In addition to the nature of literary translation, more insight into the different foreign languages and who speaks them might be useful.
February 9th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
As often noted on my blog, when it comes to foreign languages in China, it’s 一面倒: English, English, English. See my piece Turkish Novels, “Honor Killing and China’s English-language Complex” (http://www.bruce-humes.com/?p=2484), for example.
Other languages just don’t seem to matter…
February 13th, 2012 at 2:27 am
Except possibly Swedish, since we have the Nobel Prize…
March 3rd, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Talking of translating Chinese books into English, for me, the basic problem is the quality of contemporary Chinese literary works, not the translation itself. Many of them aren’t translatable not because of the language barrier (Chinese always claim that the Westerners cannot understand their “profound and great” language, and many stupid Westerners do believe that some form of ZEN is deeply hidden in each Chinese character), but because these writers cannot express clear ideas in a clear way and in a clear language. Modern Chinese language might reach a high level in aesthetic aspect, but indeed chaotic and confusing if it ever touches philosophical aspects. It can extend the myth created by ancient Chinese, but it’s incapable of developing ancient myths into modern thoughts. You can find a lot of novels about the Chinese countryside, written in dialectical form of language, but you hardly find a Chinese literary work with a high intellectual level. Chinese authors can imitate Garcia Marquez in tone and even Marcel Proust in form so well, but they never manage to learn something related to European intellectual elegance…..Their language doesn’t support that. Chinese contemporary writers are just prisoners of their own contemporary language (which has a really short history and the recent half of the history has been decided by the Party), but they are so proud that they believe nobody in the world understand the beauty and depth of the prison…
November 1st, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Wait, what, Alan? Are you really saying that the Chinese language cannot be used to express “intellectual elegance” due to some inherent fault of the modern Chinese language itself, as opposed to the writer? On what do you base this argument?