Getting Married (1.1) - 未名空间MITBBS历史存档

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Getting Married (1.1)

Getting Married (1.1)# Translation - 译林

y*g2003-09-15 07:09

1 楼

Chapter One Friday Morning in April
Thursday night, right before going to bed at 11:30pm, Xianke said to Daishan,
"Let's get married." Daishan has just tuned to WB11's "Everybody Loves
Raymond" and couldn't make sure how serious he was with such a proposal, at
this time and this place. She didn't move her eyes away from the TV screen,
but saw virtually nothing either, only heard "Put down your remote. We will be
right back!" Xianke did not fall asleep immediately, but tossed and turned a
whil

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

2 楼

Very interesting. I'd pick some minor things here and there...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~wasn't sure or couldn't figure out
~~~~~~~~~only to hear
~~~~~for a while
~~~~~~must have been ~~~~~~~~She sighed too
to keep eyes closed
opening her eyes and only to hear the door being slammed
~~~~~would be

or2003-09-15 07:09

3 楼

shell can be a beta reader and it is really needed for translation. on the
whole echo's translation was a bit awkward and raw. grammatical and spelling
errors can be fixed. it's the structure of sentences, how to arrange them in
short and long, in a fluid and natural and economic way, that's the most
difficult. i also had this problem and i used to lay the blame on my
shrinking away from modern works. anyway it's a hard job for a chinese
non-literature major to play with english. even ha

【在 s***l 的大作中提到】

: Very interesting. I'd pick some minor things here and there...
:
: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~wasn't sure or couldn't figure out
: ~~~~~~~~~only to hear
: ~~~~~for a while
: ~~~~~~must have been ~~~~~~~~She sighed too
: to keep eyes closed
: opening her eyes and only to hear the door being slammed
: ~~~~~would be
:

t*n2003-09-15 07:09

4 楼

spelling
in
as
novel
"Native Speaker" by Chang-Rae Lee? I kinda like it myself.

【在 or 的大作中提到】

: shell can be a beta reader and it is really needed for translation. on the
: whole echo's translation was a bit awkward and raw. grammatical and spelling
: errors can be fixed. it's the structure of sentences, how to arrange them in
: short and long, in a fluid and natural and economic way, that's the most
: difficult. i also had this problem and i used to lay the blame on my
: shrinking away from modern works. anyway it's a hard job for a chinese
: non-literature major to play with english. even ha

F*e2003-09-15 07:09

5 楼

this is something worth doing
good luck with it!

【在 y**g 的大作中提到】

: Chapter One Friday Morning in April
: Thursday night, right before going to bed at 11:30pm, Xianke said to Daishan,
: "Let's get married." Daishan has just tuned to WB11's "Everybody Loves
: Raymond" and couldn't make sure how serious he was with such a proposal, at
: this time and this place. She didn't move her eyes away from the TV screen,
: but saw virtually nothing either, only heard "Put down your remote. We will be
: right back!" Xianke did not fall asleep immediately, but tossed and turned a
: whil

l*y2003-09-15 07:09

6 楼

ft, what are you talking about? :)
may your friend get along with the rest of your family. //sigh

the
spelling
in
kinda
writing.
as
novel
be

closed

D*N2003-09-15 07:09

7 楼

ft... antenna have a boyfriend ...over achiever blah blah... turned gay?!! :)

【在 l***y 的大作中提到】

: ft, what are you talking about? :)
: may your friend get along with the rest of your family. //sigh
:
: the
: spelling
: in
: kinda
: writing.
: as
: novel

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

8 楼

You might called it awkward and raw but isn't writing supposed to be unique
and characteristic? Since we are not Americans and we are too old to be influced
by the culture and society, we will be Chinese and will be treated as Chinese
most of our lives, or at most Chinese American. This different identity will
be carried out in every espect, including the way we think and write. Language
is only a tool to express oneself. It may sound strange even though grammartically
it's correct. But consider

【在 or 的大作中提到】

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

9 楼

I guess antenna is a guy and he should say my friend instead of my boy friend.hehe

【在 D****N 的大作中提到】

: ft... antenna have a boyfriend ...over achiever blah blah... turned gay?!! :)

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

10 楼

normally ppl wouldn't say boy friend. it's too misleading...

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

11 楼

you don't need to specify since the pronoun in English tells it all.

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

12 楼

I don't think you would say 'boy friend' in Chinese as well. hoho

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

13 楼

I have a friend, who is a guy.
haha

p*e2003-09-15 07:09

14 楼

"I have a guy friend"...

or2003-09-15 07:09

15 楼

we female can say girlfriend which means friend. for a guy, if he mentions
boyfriend blah blah, that hints they are both gay and are parteners.
one of my previous labmates was gay and always brought his boyfriend to
parties; once he explained this to us.

of
People l

D*N2003-09-15 07:09

16 楼

you probably don't know my bridge playing friend who's talking
about his "partener" all the time... :)

or2003-09-15 07:09

17 楼

to be natural with english doesn't mean being americanized. being a bit
awkward and flat is not the same as beng characteristic. a piece of work has
to surpass certain level, in order to be considered unique. translation and
creative writing in english are not simple thing. they certainly need either
professional training or natural talent, and tremendous input of time and
efforts. here we are having fun playing with a piece of this or that and we
dont consider this. echo has published and w

【在 s***l 的大作中提到】

: You might called it awkward and raw but isn't writing supposed to be unique
: and characteristic? Since we are not Americans and we are too old to be influced
: by the culture and society, we will be Chinese and will be treated as Chinese
: most of our lives, or at most Chinese American. This different identity will
: be carried out in every espect, including the way we think and write. Language
: is only a tool to express oneself. It may sound strange even though grammartically
: it's correct. But consider

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

18 楼

I actually once asked an American who's majored in English literature
about this 'friend with specific sex'. She wouldn't use any word in
front of 'friend' at all. Later on I just figured that it is us Chinese
who has to put the sex specifically because our language canot distinguish
sex very well. For western languages, distinction of sex is so ubiquitous
that you cannot confuse them at all. my 2 cents.

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

19 楼

this is like 闺中密友 I guess. not any girls can be your girl friends.

p*n2003-09-15 07:09

20 楼

Chinese girls?

D*N2003-09-15 07:09

21 楼

well... this is off-topic but historically "friend" is automatically
male like "busdriver" is male, so many names have had a gender bias
so that they have to be prefixed or rephrased to become female. As
opposed to "Man" which is used by writers to refer to the whole human
race for centuries. It just sounds natural to say "girl friend", "women
scientists", even though it's not politically correct. :)

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

22 楼

最近一直在学习法语，这个musculine feminine真是比英语麻烦一百倍，时刻
要记住和对象的属性一致，这样我的朋友（男）和我的朋友（女）自然就不一
样，也就不会像英语或者汉语那么意义含糊了，从这个角度看语法规则复杂
也还是有一定好处的。呵呵

【在 D****N 的大作中提到】

: well... this is off-topic but historically "friend" is automatically
: male like "busdriver" is male, so many names have had a gender bias
: so that they have to be prefixed or rephrased to become female. As
: opposed to "Man" which is used by writers to refer to the whole human
: race for centuries. It just sounds natural to say "girl friend", "women
: scientists", even though it's not politically correct. :)

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

23 楼

我没交钱，跟老师说了一声得到同意就行了。

i*t2003-09-15 07:09

24 楼

very interesting

【在 s***l 的大作中提到】

: this is like 闺中密友 I guess. not any girls can be your girl friends.

b*g2003-09-15 07:09

25 楼

I don't like Ha Jin's complying with what the Amricans want to hear..
sounds to me that he's writing too much about politically sensitive
topics and that he has a lot of other choices besides these. On the
other hand, he has really done a good job showing how well a non-native
speaker can do with English on the writing issue. After hearing his
story I got kinda encouraged about my possible achievements on writing
in English. Writing is different from speaking in that, sometimes accents
could mak

【在 or 的大作中提到】

b*g2003-09-15 07:09

26 楼

I don't see the special sadness of turning into gay and having a problem
with ones family.. the latter should be a general situation for most
teenagers.

y*g2003-09-15 07:09

27 楼

Well, this turned out to be more encouraging than intimidating. I had this
idea
of translating or rewritting this fiction right after I finished the Chinese
version. But I couldn't start with it. With Chinese, sometimes we don't
begin writing because you might not be in the right mood. With English, we
have this capability issue besides the mood one. Although I have been reading
and hearing a lot of English, I still feel greatly lost when I begin
xperessing
myself in English, which looks and sme

【在 b******g 的大作中提到】

: I don't like Ha Jin's complying with what the Amricans want to hear..
: sounds to me that he's writing too much about politically sensitive
: topics and that he has a lot of other choices besides these. On the
: other hand, he has really done a good job showing how well a non-native
: speaker can do with English on the writing issue. After hearing his
: story I got kinda encouraged about my possible achievements on writing
: in English. Writing is different from speaking in that, sometimes accents
: could mak

b*g2003-09-15 07:09

28 楼

OK I agree with you that there are truly sad stories in this world,
and we are facing them all the time. in a way, sensitivity harbors
the tragedies.

or2003-09-15 07:09

29 楼

i am jealous too. why my translation got little feedback as if it was killing
poison..

Chinese
reading
now.
happy
natural
and
nerves
might
the

p*n2003-09-15 07:09

30 楼

you need a prettier nickname :P

【在 or 的大作中提到】

: i am jealous too. why my translation got little feedback as if it was killing
: poison..
:
: Chinese
: reading
: now.
: happy
: natural
: and
: nerves

or2003-09-15 07:09

31 楼

this is the prettiest i could reckon.;P

killing
this
don't
English, we
right
feel
just
mood,
feedbacks!
hear..
on

【在 p*********n 的大作中提到】

: you need a prettier nickname :P

or2003-09-15 07:09

32 楼

to think in english and rewrite using the original as a template instead of
translating word by word could be more gratifying. avoid using words like
"thus" etc. formal tones.

reading
now.
happy
and
nerves
the

【在 y**g 的大作中提到】

: Well, this turned out to be more encouraging than intimidating. I had this
: idea
: of translating or rewritting this fiction right after I finished the Chinese
: version. But I couldn't start with it. With Chinese, sometimes we don't
: begin writing because you might not be in the right mood. With English, we
: have this capability issue besides the mood one. Although I have been reading
: and hearing a lot of English, I still feel greatly lost when I begin
: xperessing
: myself in English, which looks and sme

or2003-09-15 07:09

33 楼

i read very few of them except getting a general impression. for foreigners
to succeed in english, you gotta have content that intrigues westerners, like
ha jin, gao xinjian, and an author who wrote "little tailor and balzac". or
you write like westerners about western culture and life, like the japanese
author who wrote "the remains of the day". once saw an english copy of
shanghai baby. usually the short recommendary comments on the backside of the
novel are flattering, and in this one, all

【在 b******g 的大作中提到】

l*y2003-09-15 07:09

34 楼

ft, what about mine, eh? :)

killing
this
we
feel
mood,
feedbacks!
on

【在 or 的大作中提到】

: i am jealous too. why my translation got little feedback as if it was killing
: poison..
:
: Chinese
: reading
: now.
: happy
: natural
: and
: nerves

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

35 楼

havn't read the original piece yet. where is it btw?

【在 or 的大作中提到】

: i am jealous too. why my translation got little feedback as if it was killing
: poison..
:
: Chinese
: reading
: now.
: happy
: natural
: and
: nerves

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

36 楼

don't be jealous, guys. :)

【在 l***y 的大作中提到】

: ft, what about mine, eh? :)
:
: killing
: this
: we
: feel
: mood,
: feedbacks!
: on

or2003-09-15 07:09

37 楼

//hug we two are motherless kids..

don't
English,
right
just
hear..

【在 l***y 的大作中提到】

: ft, what about mine, eh? :)
:
: killing
: this
: we
: feel
: mood,
: feedbacks!
: on

l*y2003-09-15 07:09

38 楼

i'm not jealous. i just want some feedback damn it. =)

【在 s***l 的大作中提到】

: don't be jealous, guys. :)

s*l2003-09-15 07:09

39 楼

I totally understand that, since my translation got little attention too.
but that's the way it is. we could only laugh about it. I was just joking
21.

【在 l***y 的大作中提到】

: i'm not jealous. i just want some feedback damn it. =)

or2003-09-15 07:09

40 楼

"elrond" in cndkc.org

killing

l*y2003-09-15 07:09

41 楼

his parants could have objections for other things if not for this. we don't
know. i have a friend who married her boyfriend though he didn't have a
college degree. her parants casted her out at that point. they accepted her
marriage later, perhaps because it turned out well and her husband got a good
job. So, all those fights and hurts are bygones now: the are thankfully only a
waste. The life we know is far from kind and people are far from perfect.

it
of
People l