3 ms·
Trying to Translate Chinese Poetry
- kev6168 10y agoWhen reading translated poems for enjoyment, not for language studying, I make an effort to regard them as original creations in the second language to avoid being distracted by nitpicking translation issues.
- obj-g 10y ago"The original is unfaithful to the translation." --Jorge Luis Borges
- contingencies 10y agoI am a member of an informal dilettante multilingual poetry group here in China and have been asked to translate quite a few Chinese poems and even write some myself, as well as to read translated poems at performances. I feel this article doesn't really raise many interesting points, rather it glosses over the broadly accepted realities and imperfections of the translation of any subject, not just poetry.