Shanghai Daily news

Judges of a recent contest in China to select the best translator of an English text found they were unable to award anyone first prize. Zhao Feifei reports on the need for more first-class practitioners in this growing industry.
 The art of literary translation is like a woman, according to an early 20th century Russian translator: if she is beautiful, she is not faithful; if she is faithful, she is not beautiful.
Though there may be some blatant sexism in the statement, it contains a kernels of truth about the difficulties of doing a beautiful but faithful translation. The problem looms large again after a recent major translation competition in China. The Casio English-Chinese Translation Competition announced prize winners in its contest late last month but, surprisingly, no first prize was awarded. The judging panel said that none of the entries submitted was worthy of the honor of winning the top prize. Organized by the Shanghai Translation Publishing House (known as Yiwen in Chinese) and the Translators' Association of Shanghai, the contest received 637 entries from overseas and all over China. The source text was ``Delicate Wives,'' a short story by American contemporary writer John Updike. Possibly even more astonishing was that second prize went to a 39-year-old Singaporean translator, Shaun Yeo. Huang Yuanshen, deputy chairman of translator's association and a judge of the contest, says: ``We have seen material that is so obviously translated as to sound awkward in Chinese, and in some cases as to bear enough hallmarks of the source language English as to be readily identifiable as coming from it. Yeo's translation is the one that you could barely recognize as a translation. In other words, Updike's story was read as though it were written in Chinese originally. While most other translators don't have the expertise to do the job justice.'' ``Pleasantly surprised'' is an understatement used to describe Yeo's feeling at hearing his winning over the rest of the Chinese contestants. ``In fact, I thought it was a joke when I received the notification e-mail from Yiwen. I asked for verification before realizing that it was a dream come true,'' Yeo says in an e-mail interview. ``Anyone truly keen on English-into-Chinese translation would love to be awarded due recognition by veteran and renowned translators in China. I am also particularly interested in having the judges, who are themselves established translators, comment on my work.'' Yeo, who is an associate member of American Translators Association, came to know about the competition from a translation-related US forum -- www.proz.com. ``I grumbled to the members there about being bored by years of technical or business translation work and asked for advice about going into literary translation. Someone there was kind enough to point me to the Yiwen Website (www.yiwen.com.cn) where I learned about the contest in detail,'' he says. The contest aims to promotes people's interest in translations and to discover young and middle-age translators. On an individual level, it provides a chance for the contestants to hone their skills. Singapore is a country that values English more than Chinese in their education and working environment. It came as no surprise that many Singaporeans cannot read, speak or write in Chinese. It was not until recently that the government tipped the balance in favor of Chinese language being taught because of China's fast development and the business potential it holds for Singapore. Yeo earned his Specialist Diploma in Translation at Nanjing University in 2003. ``I've always loved the Chinese language simply because I am a Chinese,'' says Yeo. ``I believe I should master the language and learn about our own culture through it. I was motivated to master the language by this belief of mine, which has never been affected by government policies or market forces.'' Yeo runs his own translation and interpretation services in Singapore. His clients include the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Singapore Civil Service College. Yeo's win distressingly reflects that the supply of qualified young translators is dwindling in China even as the country's demand for translators is on the rise. According to Shanghai Translation Publishing House, the translation industry has witnessed an upsurge in the number of companies, with more than 3,000 operating on the Chinese mainland. The number could be closer to 10,000, as many small companies registered as consultancies actually conduct translations. However, the translator's craft has suffered from a lack of advanced translation professionals. Although there are 60,000 professional translators and interpreters throughout the country, and at least 500,000 people engaged in translation work, it still doesn't meet demand. By 2005, there will be a 20 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion) translation market in China, experts say. China's translation industry aspires to be a more standardized translation service with efficient management. While registering a translation company is not complicated, most of them do not have complete control over quality of the translation process and nor are they covered by assessment regulations. Translators churn out one book after another just to make more money. Cao Ying, a venerable translator best known for his translation of Russian literature, says after the conclusion of the contest that domestic translators should devote themselves to improving their ability to understand their source language and to write in their target language. ``Translation is both an art and a skill. Translators have to be able to write. However, few professional translators do have a deep interest in writing, be it as a necessary tool or an art form,'' Cao says. ``All translators have to strive to reach an ever higher level of professionalism to bring prestige and respect both to themselves and the translation profession.'' In the same vein, Cao lashes out against translators who accept assignments even they don't have the time or the qualifications to carry them out. Zhao Wuping, editor of the Shanghai Translation Publishing House, says that translators, like linguists, have to be capable of discerning subtleties and nuances in the language being translated, researching terminology and colloquialisms, and handling new developments. ``The qualities that seem to make a good translator are attention to detail, a passion for languages and research and care and craft in writing,'' Zhao adds. One of the biggest difficulties faced by translators is how to strike a balance between fidelity to the source text and readability in the target language. Yeo says that another requirement is to be able to get ``to the bottom of the source text and to have an impeccable understanding of every word and sentence it contains'' ``This is more difficult than it seems especially when the source text, usually not in your mother tongue, contains culture-specific nuances or is written in a particularly sophisticated way. Then you have to render your understanding in an accurate, smooth-flowing way in the target language without losing any of the beauty of the original work.''