Quality of work under scrutiny
Last year, a minor storm brewed in the translation world when a history professor of prestigious Tsinghua University mistranslated Chiang Kai-shek as "Chang Kaishen", instead of his Chinese name "Jiang Jieshi", while compiling a historical monograph on Chinese-Russian border research.
Readers were indignant. Such reactions are becoming frequent as more translated works are published. Thanks to growing access to the Internet, readers are quick to post blunders, juxtaposing the Chinese versions against the original texts.
The quality of translation is put in the spotlight. Some bitterly accuse translators of being poorly qualified and lacking dedication, and hark back to the good old days of master translators, such as Fu Lei, Xiao Qian and Yang Xianyi.
These were people praised for both their insight into Eastern and Western cultures, as well as their meticulous translations.
Today's translators comprise mainly college teachers, researchers, freelance and part-time translators, says Zhao Wuping, vice-president of the Shanghai Translation Publishing House.
Zhao believes the problem of poor translations is not new but appears so because the number of translated books is increasing and the platform for criticism has become more accessible.
"There were bad translations in the 1980s (too). At any time, there are good translations as well as bad ones," he says.
Ouyang Tao, an editor of translated books with The People's Literature Publishing House, points out that there are many young prominent talents, with "amazing fluency in the foreign languages and the mother tongue".
He says with publishing houses becoming more professional since 2004, "we are faced with a wider range of products".
However, Tong Baomin from the same publishing house feels that the reforms have fallen short. He says few translators are willing to devote years to a single book these days. "To survive in the competitive market, publishers push translators to finish their work quickly.
"How can you ensure quality if translators are rushing to meet a deadline?" Tong asks.
He says the market orientation of the publishing industry has forced publishers to strike a balance between satisfying the market's needs and maintaining an acceptable standard.
Both Ouyang and Tong believe that the government should support books of value that may have limited market potential and require a longer time for translation.
Gao Xing with World Literature magazine also says translators deserve more respect.
"Translation is an art, it's like dancing in shackles. But translators are insufficiently paid, getting a maximum of only 60 yuan ($8.8) for 1,000 Chinese words," Gao says, adding that many translators of literature and social sciences - mainly lecturers and researchers - have little to gain from their translation work at the time of performance appraisal for promotions.
"People who are good at translation prefer to write their own books, which earn greater recognition at the time of their evaluation," he says. "Only the ones with great zeal persist with translations."
China Daily
(China Daily 06/25/2010 page19)
