Exciting 1979!

Chapter 350 Divine Translation and Divine Assistance

Wei Ming made a name for himself overseas with just two English fairy tales, so he naturally understands the importance of a good English translation to a literary work.

The international fame of "The Three-Body Problem" in its previous life was also inseparable from Liu Cixin's translation.

There are usually two situations when a work is translated, such as the translator of "The Three-Body Problem" whose native language is Chinese.

Then there are authors like Melinda, who wrote "The Lion King," whose native language is the target language.

Both approaches have their own advantages and focuses.

Translators whose native language is Chinese are better able to understand the subtleties of the language, cultural connotations, historical and social background, author's style and intentions, and so on, and are better able to grasp the essence of the original text.

However, the translation may be slightly inferior in terms of the target language's expression habits, linguistic feel, rhetoric, and contemporary relevance. Sometimes it may sound "translationese," lacking natural fluency, and may not be as flexible as a translator whose target language is their native tongue.

Their translations may sometimes face a higher acceptance threshold in the target language market, affecting sales.

Translators whose native language is the target language have a more accurate grasp of the target language's linguistic intuition, idiomatic usage, cultural background, and contemporary phonetic evolution. This ensures that the translation reads fluently and naturally, conforms to the reading habits of target language readers, and is conducive to the promotion and dissemination of the work in overseas markets.

Of course, cultural barriers may lead to some misunderstandings and simplifications of the original work, making it impossible to promote the original work overseas in its original form.

Ideally, the collaboration should involve a foreign translator fluent in Chinese and a Chinese translator fluent in the target language.

Alternatively, the translator could be a bilingual Chinese-American with extensive life experience in both countries; Liu Cixin is actually one such example.

The translation of Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie, as proposed by Xia Lao, is such a golden combination.

Mr. Yang Xianyi is Chinese and graduated from Oxford University in the UK. His wife, Gladys Yang, is British. She met Mr. Yang while studying at Oxford University and later settled in China with him.

Since the late 19th century, in stark contrast to the flourishing landscape of foreign language translations into Chinese, Chinese translations into foreign languages ​​have always appeared weak and isolated.

At the suggestion of Mr. Liang Shiqiu, the couple devoted themselves to translating Chinese classics into English.

You can tell their skill level just by looking at their work.

The works include "The Travels of Lao Can", "Li Sao", "The Palace of Eternal Life", "The Scholars", "Selected Plays of Guan Hanqing", "Selected Stories from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio", the opera "The White-Haired Girl", the play "Qu Yuan", as well as many other works by Lu Xun, including "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction", "Call to Arms", "Hesitation", "Old Tales Retold", and "Wild Grass".

Oh, and recently, the English translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" that the couple spent several years completing was also officially published.

This can be considered one of the two most classic and influential English translations of "Dream of the Red Chamber," and it is also the world's first complete English translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber."

It can be said that, apart from ancient Chinese classics, the only modern works translated by this couple were those by Lu Xun.

Wei Ming believed that if it weren't for the things he had done before and his great reputation at home and abroad, the Foreign Languages ​​Press would not have gone to such lengths to invite these two translators for his book "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes".

Given their age, they'll probably have to retire after translating this huge book.

Wei Ming expressed his gratitude to Elder Xia. He still had work to do, so his secretary took him out to meet Liu Gao, the deputy director of the Copyright Bureau who was leading the team.

He is 50 years old this year, in his prime, and later directly participated in the establishment of China's copyright law system and the process of China's accession to the World Copyright Convention.

Deputy Director Liu shook hands with Wei Ming and was deeply moved to learn that Wei Ming had been invited to Frankfurt by Macmillan Publishing.

“Actually, this way of inviting writers to personally explain their works at the book fair is very necessary. I have attended the Frankfurt Book Fair a few times before, and many foreign writers would come in person and be very popular. It’s just that the cost of going abroad is too high, and we can’t afford it.”

Wei Ming paid for all his expenses for this trip abroad himself, and then Macmillan Publishing reimbursed him.

"So how many people are there this time?" Wei Ming asked.

“Including you, there are eight people,” Deputy Director Wang said. “One from the Copyright Bureau, one from the Book Trading Company, two from the Foreign Languages ​​Press, and the rest are representatives from several large publishing houses. We need to go to Hong Kong first, where there are also two comrades from Joint Publishing and International Bookstore, making a total of ten people.”

Wei Ming corrected: "11 people. My sister is going too. She also has a book published abroad."

Deputy Director Wang: "Huh!?"

Eleven people is not a large number. In foreign countries, each publishing house operates independently. In a small country, multiple publishing houses may attend, and each publishing house may only have a few people.

Compared to China's population and the number of books, ten people are clearly not enough, and a very important writer is missing.

I hope this trip will result in selling more copyrights, which might encourage the Ministry of Culture to take more writers abroad next year.

Deputy Director Wang also had high hopes for Wei Ming. He had heard that Wei Ming had dated a British girlfriend, spoke fluent English, which saved him the trouble of translation and allowed him to directly introduce his works to foreign publishers. More importantly, he had successful experience in exporting his works, and Mr. Why already had a high level of international recognition.

However, Wei Ming was indeed unsure whether his serious literary novels could be successfully exported overseas.

Melinda works at Macmillan, and Macmillan couldn't possibly be unaware that Mr. Why has several highly acclaimed serious literary works in China, yet they have never shown any interest in these works.

Next, Wei Ming made a trip to the Foreign Languages ​​Press under the Foreign Languages ​​Publishing Administration to visit Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie, as they would be collaborating and would need to stay in frequent contact.

Upon arriving at the Foreign Languages ​​Press, Wei Ming first contacted Mr. Ye Junjian, who had translated the "Andersen's Fairy Tales" that Wei Ming was reading. The two had met at some events of the Writers Association.

Mr. Ye was not only a famous novelist and translator in my country, but also a propagandist who had long been engaged in foreign propaganda work, and served as the director of the Sino-Foreign Literary Exchange Committee.

He was the one who prepared and created the only national-level large-scale international literary journal in the People's Republic of China after its founding that was aimed at Western readers and translated and introduced classical and contemporary Chinese literature.

He is the pillar of the Foreign Languages ​​Press, and he was one of the two people selected by the Foreign Languages ​​Press to go abroad this time.

Moreover, Professor Ye also participated in the English translation of the great man's poems. Together with Qian Zhongshu and British experts, he spent ten years translating 37 poems, including the line "The right path in the world is full of vicissitudes" from the great man's poem, which he also translated.

However, the English translation was too long and not suitable as the English title of the book, "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes." The old man was still discussing the English title of the book when he took Wei Ming to see Mr. and Mrs. Yang Xianyi.

When they arrived at the Yang family's house, Wei Ming didn't even have time to exchange pleasantries with the two renowned translators before he watched as two elderly Chinese men and an elderly British woman engaged in a heated discussion about the book's title.

They switched between Chinese and English at a fast pace, and often abruptly shifted from one question to another.

Although Wei Ming could join in the conversation, he couldn't keep up with their pace. Seeing that there were ingredients in the kitchen, he simply cooked lunch for them.

It wasn't until dinner was served that the two hosts realized they had neglected Wei Ming, their guest, and quickly apologized.

Wei Ming said, "Everyone is doing this for the translation of my novel, and I'm overjoyed. I don't know much about translation, so if you have any questions about the content of the novel, please contact me as soon as possible. I'll leave my phone number and home address with you later."

"Xiao Wei, do you have any creative notes?" Mr. Yang Xianyi asked.

Yes, I have several notebooks. I'll bring them to you tomorrow.

"Good good."

Then Gladys Yang praised Wei Ming's culinary skills, saying that for the British, this was a delicacy!
After the meal, as Mr. Ye accompanied Wei Ming downstairs, Wei Ming still asked, "I noticed that the two gentlemen don't seem to be in very good health. Wouldn't this scale of translation work be a bit too demanding for them?"

Mr. Ye and Mr. Yang are about the same age, while Dai Naidie is a bit younger, but the couple doesn't look as good as Mr. Ye.

Ye Junjian sighed, "It's not that they're physically unwell, it's that they're mentally unwell. Their son committed suicide two years ago."

"what!?"

Then, Mr. Ye recounted the absurd things that happened during that absurd era.

Because Gladys Yang was British, the couple was labeled "spies" and imprisoned. Their one son and two daughters, left without care, also suffered. Their son, in particular, endured ten years of torment and eventually developed schizophrenia, becoming insane. Although the couple sent him to England for treatment, he eventually passed away. The grief of parents outliving their child must have been immense.

“They might never get over this kind of thing. To keep them from thinking about those things, I’ve assigned them a lot of work. I recently translated a few stories from ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.’ When I heard Mr. Xia talk about the English translation of ‘The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes,’ I thought of them. Letting them focus on your work will reduce their overthinking.”

Wei Ming also sighed. In fact, Old Ye had also suffered a lot of unfair treatment in those years. Anyone who was associated with foreigners was a disaster area. Too many people died in the Foreign Languages ​​Bureau back then. But when Wei Ming asked about those years, he just smiled and let it go.

"Look ahead, we've finally gotten a good result." Old Ye thought of his good friend Lao She.

Over the next two days, Wei Ming made two more trips to the Yang family, bringing not only his own writing notes, but also a deluxe edition of "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" that the two elders only had.

So Wei Ming didn't have much left, so he instructed Wei Hong, who was bored on vacation, to go to the bookstore and grab some books for him, specifically hardcover editions.

In the end, I didn't manage to snag the book, but I did manage to get a cassette tape of "Mom, Love Me Again".

"Why would you want this? I have plenty." Wei Ming rummaged through his study and found a stack of gifts from Pacific Company. Besides giving them to Sister Xue and Sister Lin, he had another stack of them.

“I didn’t want to either. I saw long lines in the bookstore and thought it must be your book. But it turned out to be a cassette tape, and your book was already sold out. I thought since I’d already waited so long, it would be a waste not to buy anything.”

Wei Ming asked, "You haven't seen this movie yet, have you?"

"No."

"Why don't you go watch it? Why don't you support your brother? Why don't you support Xizi?"

Wei Hong sighed: "Tickets for this movie are even harder to get than your book. Do you think I'm like you, where one phone call is all it takes for someone to reserve a ticket for you?"

In the past two days, there have been more and more reports about "Mom, Love Me Again", and even some national newspapers are discussing this popular phenomenon.

A movie-going frenzy has now swept across major cities across the country, making tickets indeed difficult to obtain.

The newspapers reported that some cinemas have even increased standing room tickets and it's unclear when they will offer hanging tickets. Some cinemas have also made an exception by adding midnight screenings due to their equipment running non-stop, causing the machines to overwork and burn out.

In short, the whole nation went crazy for it!

Wei Ming said, "It was my oversight. I'll arrange tickets for you tomorrow. You have to see this movie before you go abroad."

"Bro, could you arrange a few more? My roommates want to see them too!"

Wei Ming readily agreed. He and Sister Xue had cried so bitterly; how could the little girl not have seen it!
That evening, Wei Ming wrote in his room, preparing for his trip to Germany.

The next day, Wei Hong went to see a movie with her classmates, while Wei Ming made an appointment with Sister Xue at Tuanjiehu.

On the way, Wei Ming saw the newly published "Popular Cinema" magazine. As he got closer, hey, it was Sister Xue!
However, this time the cover features both Xue Jie and Xi Zi. This is the second time Xue Jie has been on the cover of Popular Cinema. Lin Jie was on the cover once when she was featured in Joyful Door.

"Eh?"

Just as Wei Ming was about to leave, he saw an article on the front page of the China Youth Daily, also about "Mom, Love Me Again," and it even reported on the real-life person behind the story. Wei Ming even saw a photo of Hu Delu and his mother!

He quickly read to the end and found that it was reprinted from the Chengdu Evening News. How could the Chengdu media be so quick to act?
He bought a newspaper and went directly to Tuanjiehu. Xuejie hadn't arrived yet, so Wei Ming read the article carefully.

By this time, the article had been reprinted by more than ten media outlets, including three national newspapers and the rest were major newspapers in their respective provinces with high circulation.

However, this was a follow-up report that detailed how the reporter met Xiao Hulu and accompanied him on his journey to find his mother. But the article didn't finish the story; it ended when Xiao Hulu found Lotus Mother.

"Pah, you piece of trash!" Wei Ming cursed.

After thinking for a moment, he immediately contacted Zhu Wei, a reporter he knew through his connections at the China Youth Daily.

"Teacher Wei, I was just looking for you!" Zhu Wei said excitedly. "I want to interview you about the story behind the inspiration for 'Mom, Love Me Again'."

"I saw your newspaper report about the prototype, so why do you need to interview me?"

"So it's true! There really was such a pitiful mother and child?"

“Yes,” Wei Ming asked, “What happened next? I see this report isn’t over yet.”

“We’re waiting too, the whole nation is waiting!” Zhu Wei told Wei Ming. “The newspaper was published this morning, and we’ve already received several calls in such a short time asking about Xiao Hulu and Lotus’s mother! I expect there will be many more calls and letters to follow.”

The interaction between film and reality greatly enhances the artistic value of this movie, and this Sichuan reporter certainly gave the film a huge boost.

But will Lotus really regain her senses like in the movies when she sees her son whom she has been separated from for several years?
Even the creator, Wei Ming, was worried about the fate of the mother and son, let alone other viewers and ordinary people. If handled properly, these people could probably leave a mark on film history.

Gong Xue returned at noon and brought Wei Ming two pieces of news, proving that the film's popularity had reached a new level.

“I heard from a deputy factory director that 50 more copies of ‘Mom, Love Me Again’ were urgently needed because the previous ones were not enough.”

"Oh, another 50 have been added, that makes it over 300 now!"

"More than 'Heroes Have Been Born Since Ancient Times'," Gong Xue said proudly. This will be the film with the most copies printed this year.

"That's the first piece of good news, what's the second?" Wei Ming asked.

"The second one," Gong Xue gently hugged Wei Ming, her breath sweet as orchids in his ear, "my period has passed."

~
While Wei Ming and Gong Xue were indulging in sensual pleasures during the day, Wei Hong and several female classmates walked out of the movie theater, tears streaming down their faces.

The female classmates all agreed that the movie was fantastic, but they also regretted going to see it with Wei Hong, feeling that they wouldn't be happy for the next few days.

Wei Hong wiped away her tears and said, "Me too!"

"You're not like that at all. Once you get on the plane to Germany, you'll be overjoyed."

After hearing what they said, Wei Hong was in a great mood. What they said made sense!
She and her brother have already received their visas from the West German embassy and will be setting off tomorrow!

Because they were going to be separated the next day, Wei Ming and Gong Xue spent a whole day and night packing, while Wei Hong packed her luggage by herself until dark.

Because her older brother wasn't there, and Wei Hong was quite excited, she didn't go to sleep until very late.

She was woken up by Wei Ming when he returned the next day.

"Why didn't you come home last night?!" Wei Hong said angrily.

Wei Ming: "The night I spent in the courtyard house."

"I called, but no one answered."

"That means I'm going out for a walk. Okay, stop dawdling, let's get going!"

……

(Guaranteed minimum today~)

(End of this chapter)