Good translation, good translation | "Translation is the great road, but the translator alone is haggard" - Yu Guangzhong on translation and culture

The mutual influence of global cultures is unstoppable. Vocabulary terms such as "Europeanized Chinese" and "bandit language" have become topics of constant discussion among the public. Although popular media have different interpretations of these words, and can even be said to be mixed, they all show that everyone has certain requirements for language. However, the use of poor-quality language in daily life will at best make friends scorn you; as a translator, one of the cultural media, you need to think carefully about the choice of words. After all, the Internet is so developed now that words written quickly by hand may be imitated by others and even become a writing trend.

When talking about the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese language, we have to mention the late literary master Yu Guangzhong. Many students who have read Translation may have read Teacher Yu Guangzhong’s article commenting on Europeanized Chinese. Yu Guangzhong is known for his proficiency in literary creation, translation and literary criticism, and he has his own insights into what elegant Chinese is. Recently, Taiwan Publishing House compiled Yu Guangzhong's translation theories since 1962 and published the book "Translation is the Great Road, but the Translator Is Alone and Haggard". The book is divided into three volumes, namely translation commentary, Chinese and English analysis, and book review and translation preface. The title "Translation is the great road, but the translator alone is haggard" is taken from the titles of two essays in the book.

"Translation is the road" refers to the fact that although translation has always been subordinated to literature in history (an example often mentioned by Yu Guangzhong is: even in the translation department, university faculty are based on research works rather than the quality of translations), but In fact, it has a profound impact on a country’s culture and literature. The spread of the Bible is enough to prove that Christianity has become the world’s largest religion, and the translation of the King James Version of the Bible deserves a lot of credit. In recent times in China, the success of the New Literature Movement and the Vernacular Movement during the May Fourth Period is closely related to the introduction and translation of Western literature, which shows that translation is by no means a niche practice. For this reason, Yu Guangzhong has repeatedly emphasized in different articles that translators must be well-educated and good at using multiple languages. In the article "Education and Counter-Education of Translation" published in 1999, he proposed that learning to translate well "can counteract the adverse effects of powerful foreign languages." Invasion should be another kind of national defense." Looking at the current discussion on language invasion, Mr. Yu Guangzhong is indeed quite prescient.

In this case, what is "beautiful Chinese"? Yu Guangzhong has used many articles to explain over the years, and many students majoring in Chinese Language and Literature should also know a little bit about it. For example, use the word "bei" carefully, try to reduce the word "的" and pronouns, etc., all of which are based on A closer look at the Westernization of Chinese. Even decades later, this advice remains useful to those who write and translate. I believe many people understand this principle, but after many years of Westernization of Chinese, it is always difficult to put it into practice. Especially when you encounter customers who think they are proficient in the language, you can only play the piano to others. I remember a teacher once said that in addition to learning to translate when reading translation, the most important thing is to learn how to interpret your own translation. This is probably what it means.

Having said that, it is not difficult to understand that "the translator is alone and haggard". In the words of Yu Guangzhong: "If the translation is good, the glory belongs to the original work; if the translation is bad, the fault lies with the translator." In the eyes of readers, translation is a one-sided word, believe it or not, a "betrayal" and a "selling out". However, they often ignore that translation has both positive and negative sides, and dealing with them requires a lot of thinking and wastes a lot of brain cells. However, Yu Guangzhong also reminded translators not to blindly pursue "accuracy" because of this. Beginners to translation are often frightened when looking at the original text in a foreign language and are at a loss. They are afraid that the translation has missed an element of the original text and is not "accurate" enough. For example, "A soldier should be loyal to his country" is clearly translated as "A soldier should be loyal to his country", which is enough, but it must be translated as "one" and "his". This is exactly what Si Guo proposed. The fallacy of "words are not translated sentences". The translator really needs to practice more to fully grasp the scale between accuracy and smoothness.

Teacher Yu Guangzhong has been in the literary world for decades, and the suggestions put forward in many books and essays have become familiar teaching content. However, in an era where information is overflowing and everyone can write articles, perhaps this collection still has its meaning, reminding us that since we shoulder the responsibility of spreading written culture, we must first uphold basic respect for words and the way to express respect , that is, keep reading, keep thinking, and pass on and carry forward the beautiful Chinese written by our predecessors.

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