Tag: translator

A book about translation: “Babel”, by R. F. Kuang

The mother of a Chinese child dies. A stranger takes the little boy to London to give him an education. The boy goes with the stranger because he is suffering and there is nothing left for him in his hometown. The boy changes his name and becomes an Englishman. His tutor enrolls him in a special university in order for him to get a degree in translation. And there is where things turn sour. A secret organization, the true nature of his work as a translator, the return to his hometown, the bond with his friends, all collides in a spectacular and unexpecting ending.

The author R.F. Kuang built a fantastic story, full of magic, taking place during the last period of the British Empire when Britain went into war with China. Having researched the Opium Wars for her first book “The Poppy War”, she based her main character on a Chinese-born boy living in Canton a few years before the First Opium War began. In the book, he will later have a crucial role in that, in a scene inspired by real events and real people. The trade of silver was an essential part of the trade relationship between China and the British Empire and R.F. Kuang uses it in a creative way to tell the story of “Babel”. Furthermore, the real violence and exploration of the colonies by the British is at the heart of the whole story and is fundamental for the final outcome.

A translator herself, R.F. Kuang centres the action in the Royal Institute of Translation, a university in Oxford, UK. This fictional university is located in a fictional tower named Babel and their graduates are destined to fulfil key positions within the empire. The Babel Tower is part of a biblical story. It tells the tale of how humanity tried to build a tower to reach Heaven. God got angry and punished them by giving a different language to different people so the construction would be stopped and people would depart to different parts of the world.

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QUIZ

1. Why is silver so important in the story?

    A. Because translators need to buy expensive equipment.
    B. Because it improves everything with the right translation.
    C. Because translators are paid with silver.

2. What is the role his tutor wants Robin Swift to play at the university?

    A. As a native speaker, he can help the university understand Chinese grammar.
    B. The university is in need of a Chinese teacher.
    C. Considering that he was born in China and educated in England, he is the perfect spy.

3. What do students do on the top floor of the tower?

    A. Parties.
    B. Test translation pairs.
    C. Get access to the archive of the university.

4. In Canton, the Chinese city’s administrator makes his decision based on:

    A. The honest opinion of Robin Swift.
    B. A translation mistaken from Robin Swift.
    C. A false information given by Robin Swift.

5. What happens to Victoire?

    A. She dies.
    B. She becomes the Dean of the university.
    C. She escapes and goes start a revolution.

Check the solutions here.

 


 

W. Eugene Smith was the photographer who initiated what is now known as photo essay. His best photo stories include “The Pacific War: 1942-1945” and “Country Doctor”. After passing away on October 15, 1978, W. Eugene Smith Fund was founded to carry on his legacy.

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Writer

A writer is someone who writes, but writing is not as easy as it seems. One has to know the language well enough to not make grammar mistakes and one has to know how to organize the ideas in order to build a logical text that its target audience will easily understand.

There are different types of writers. The most noticeable are the authors, those who write books that are published. If the books are not published, they are not authors. However, sometimes “writer” and “author” are used interchangeably. Authors are seen as creators, even when it’s non-fiction, and the term can be applied to other artists. In literature, they can be called novelists, poets, short story writers/authors, playwrights, non-fiction writers/authors. There are also writers who are not recognized as authors, but are published. These are the ghost-writers. Song writers can be considered poets, like Bob Dylan who was awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature in 2016.

Speaking of the Nobel Prize in Literature, there are lots of prestigious (and not so prestigious) literature prizes in the world. There are also national and local prizes, European prizes, bookshop prizes, prizes sponsored by brands that have nothing to do with books. From all of these, the top of the tops, the one every author wants to win, is the Nobel Prize. Then, there are others which are reputation builders: the Pulitzer Prize and the Booker Prize. If you want to keep up with the best in literature, but don’t have much time to check all the prizes, focus on these three.

Actually, the Pulitzer Prize started as a prize to award outstanding journalists; it was later extended to include fictional and non-fictional authors. Journalists, especially newspaper journalists, are another type of writers. Often newspaper journalists become book authors for both fictional and non-fiction books. One of the most well-known is Ernest Hemingway, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

Academics can become authors as well, as an extension of their research. Academic research implies a lot of writing. Like journalists, academics aim to investigate a theme and make their discoveries available to the public. The style is different, though. While journalists can write in a more creative and attractive way and they base their writings on sources, academics have to be very rigorous and base their writings on vast bibliography and scientific studies.

Then, there are the bloggers and the content writers, whose mission is to “feed” the internet. Technical writers are responsible for manuals, help guides, instructions, specifications, plans, and similar documents. There are those who write reports and white papers. Copywriters focus on marketing and advertising and screenwriters are those who give the lines to the characters in films and TV series.

A final note for editors and translators: the former use their writing skills to correct and improve the texts others have written and the latter make texts available to speakers of other languages.