Guest guest Posted November 22, 2001 Report Share Posted November 22, 2001 To me an example of a well written book, although not a strictly translation, is the new Warm disease from eastland press. > Alon Actually, it is not a translation at all. It is an original english language text that includes translated passages from various chinese texts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 22, 2001 Report Share Posted November 22, 2001 But when you appraise the value of the translatedmaterial, how do you determine such issues ascontext? authenticity? etc >>>>I start by assuming that the original made sense, and therefore so should the translation. I may be wrong at that though Alon - yulong Thursday, November 22, 2001 7:15 PM Reading (was Re: Shaoyang) > > >>>>>>Unfortunately I do not read enough to read complete books and do not have the time to learn (or more accurately have other priorities). So I have to rely on translations. I think when one reads a translation one can tell when characters are translated out of context.How?If the reading sounds artificial it probably follows such formulary i.e. standard translation for each character without taking context into account.Chinese is certainly a context dependentlanguage, but I don't see how you go aboutarriving at such decisions without a knowledgeof those contexts. I do not want to name names or translations but I see this often. To me an example of a well written book, although not a strictly translation, is the new Warm disease from eastland press. I haven't had a chance to look at it carefullyyet, but I've seen the good things saidabout it on the list recently and hopeto take a close look before long.But when you appraise the value of the translatedmaterial, how do you determine such issues ascontext? authenticity? etc. I'm still notentirely sure what you mean by "formulary"but one of the great benefits of a publishedbilingual gloss is that it permits readersto look at translated texts and know moreor less at a glance what original Chineseterm is intended by a given English word or phrase. Do you find value in this?Ken> - > yulong@m... > > Thursday, November 22, 2001 1:09 PM> Reading (was Re: Shaoyang)> > > Alon,> > > > c) I believe there are nuances in the language that are very deep > are hard to understand?Hence the argument to learn to read.> > >>>>That is why an approach that takes a formulary approach to > translation does not work. > > The point made here was the importance of> learning to read Chinese. It's an important> one, since access to the knowledge base of> the subject depends upon access to the> language in which the bulk of that knowledge> base is stored.> > It is true that until we can get up to speed> with providing access to the Chinese originals> we are put in a position of having to rely> upon translations, and for making decisions> as to which translations to use, we should> discuss the different approaches different> translators have used and continue to use.> > Not sure exactly what you mean by "formulary> approach". Maybe you can clarify. And if> whatever this approach is doesn't work for> you, what do you prefer? > > Do you do translation? If so, what methods> do you use?> > Ken> > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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