Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

English. How would you describe your proficiency
in these languages?
A: I have never thought about this. When I was in
middle school, my Chinese was better than most of
my classmates. I could write essays in both classic
Chinese and the vernacular. Then when I was in high
school, I would go to the bookstore nearby to buy
English books and read them. This may have helped
to improve my English. Through such reading, I
became interested in Greek literature and wanted to
learn Greek. Later, when I was in London, I learned
Greek and Latin through private tutors for more than
two years.
My knowledge of French is not very good. Most
of the time, I read English translations of French literature.
When I was in Oxford, I studied French for
three months and became very interested in La
Chanson de Roland, written in Medieval French.
Later, I translated this into Chinese. Anyway, my
French is not very good.
Q:You have received many awards and have held
various positions. This is undoubtedly a recognition
of your achievements. Do they have any implications
for the cause of Chinese-English translation?
A: Our culture at present is not as advanced as that
of the West. But back in the Tang and Song
Dynasties, we enjoyed a much more advanced culture
than that of the West. There are a lot of merits in
our ancient culture, which can be introduced to the
West. Translation of these may help the Western
world to better understand our culture.
Q:You and Gladys have translated both classical
and modern Chinese literary works. Which do you
prefer?
A: I like the classics better. But Gladys liked to
translate contemporary stories, especially those written
by women writers.
She made very quick progress in Chinese and
she found she could understand modern Chinese better
than classical Chinese. She was also very conscientious
and willing to do more. So when some con-
temporary writers wanted to have their works translated
into English, Gladys helped them and she
became good friends with many of these women
writers.
Q: Could you have your own choices in translation?
A: We both liked Lu Xun very much. When we first
began our work in the Foreign Languages Press, we
were asked to translate Lu Xun’s works. At that time,
the Press had a comprehensive plan of translation
that was drawn up by the editors. Translators had little
say in such matters. When I was asked to translate
something that I didn’t like, I would try not to take
part in it. But when I was on good terms with the
editor in charge of a certain translation, I might try to
put forward some suggestions.
Q: Have you ever been under pressure to do some
translations?
A: Of course, yes. After liberation, there have been a
lot of political tasks that one has to finish. Mass
movements have become a part of Chinese life ever
since the late 1950s. I remember once Chairman
Mao Zedong said that we should not be afraid of
ghosts (imperialists), then we were asked to translate
a series of such stories.
Q: Are there any books you would like to translate
most but have not been able to do so? What are the
reasons?
A: Yes. For example, we like stories written by Shen
Congwen in his early years very much. But you can
only read some stories by him (The Border Town and
Other Stories) in Chinese literature. Then
Recollections of West Hunan was published in the
1980s only when I was the editor in chief. Later,
Shanghai Translation Publishing House invited us to
translate his early writings, but Gladys’ health was
failing at that time, so we had to give it up. Of
course, there are a lot of other classics that I would
like to have translated, but now this is beyond me.
18 Translation Review