Roger,
I think your missing link is runes. Whaddyarekkon?
Candice
--- andrew burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Perhaps team work is the way to go, Roger. Let a
> Japanese student help
> you. Assuming each Chinese character will equal an
> English word was my
> naive beginning point. There are entire phrases in
> some which change
> in subtle ways in context. A native speaker will
> avoid pitfalls ... as
> we have seen in some of the most famous
> translations. One expert said,
> ' ... a great poet, but not a great translator'.
> There is never a cut
> and dried version, but just our best efforts.
>
> In second year here, my students must choose between
> French and
> Japanese as a secondary (or third - they all do
> English) langauge.
> When they choose Japanese, they are shocked to find
> the same
> characters mean something different in Japanese.
> Very confusing for
> them!
>
> I'm thinking of translating some USAmerican poets
> into 'Strine >g<
>
> Androo
>
> On 17/05/07, Roger Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > The step i'm missing is going from the pictograph
> to the roman ...
> > Doh! Just pick up the dictionary and look ...
> >
> > I eagerly await your translation.
> >
> > Roger
> >
> > On 5/17/07, andrew burke <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> > > In my case it is Mandarin I am trying to
> translate. I have read a
> > > million and one translations of Li Bai (aka Li
> Po) and Du Fu (aka Tu
> > > Fu), but so many are either dull English or
> factually and
> > > linguistically inaccurate that I have had the
> effrontery to enlist the
> > > help of a local Mandarin-speaking English
> teacher (Chinese local) -
> > > well-educated and sharp as a tack - but still
> very conservative with
> > > literature. She does the initial 'word'
> translations of characters,
> > > then takes me through the characters, telling me
> in more expansive
> > > terms what they mean. We leave the syntax and
> rhetoric until I start
> > > to make sentences, phrase, or whatever is
> appropriate. Then my first
> > > draft goes back to her, and she (invariably)
> pulls me up on a few
> > > points. The impossible element to translate is
> the form. My knowledge
> > > of Chinese cultural and social history is going
> through a giant growth
> > > spurt, but it would take years of dedicated
> study to actually become
> > > proficient enough to do it on my own. So, just a
> dabble trying to
> > > correct some wrongs a little.
> > >
> > > Soon, some will be ready for unveiling if Tian
> (ever!) agrees with me.
> > >
> > > I am also going to do some more inventive
> versions, just to see how
> > > they turn out. I like messing with the masters -
> but we won't tell
> > > Tian that just yet >g< She is less than half my
> age but more
> > > conservative by a country mile!
> > >
> > >
> > > Androo
> >
> > --
> > My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
> > "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious." Oscar
> Wilde
> >
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
>
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