The Cloud in Beijing 1939 was published in the United States, which had a great influence. American Pearl Buck, winner of the Nobel Prize, was recommended as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. It was also suggested that Mr. Lin rewrite the book in Chinese himself, but it didn't come true. Later versions came out together, including Zheng Tuo's, English, and then Vietnamese, and Mr. Lin Yutang was not satisfied. The article said: "Translated by Zheng Tuo and translated into English in 1939, published by Shanghai Chunqiu Society ... The translation is average, but I am not familiar with the spoken language in Beiping, and at the same time I have bad hobbies. When the characters in the book say modern words with southern accent and northern accent, they are inevitably distorted (see Collection of Everything and Preface of Yutang Collection). There is also an advertisement, "Advise domestic writers not to translate lightly" (see the origin of publishing, a new translation of Cloud in Beiping by Dehua Publishing House of Taiwan Province Province), so the publishing house asked Mr. Zhang to retranslate it, hoping for a better version. Later, there was a comment in the academic circle, "The cloud in Beijing will spread to the world. Zhang Zhenyu's name will be circulated through Lin Yutang's novels, and Lin Yutang's novels will be circulated through Zhang Zhenyu's writing. "The result of the perfect combination of English original and translation is really the luck of readers.
Mr. Zhang Zhenyu was born in 19 16. He is a professor and famous translator at Taiwan Province University of Chinese Culture and Taiwan Province University. Since childhood, Mr. Wang has lived with his grandparents near Jingzhaoyin Yamen, Gulou East Street, Beiping. From private schools to primary and secondary schools. 194 1 graduated from the western language and literature department of fu jen Catholic university. At school, I studied under Mr. Zhang Guruo, Mr. Li and Mr. Ying. Shortly after graduation, Japanese invaders invaded North China. Mr. Wang went to Xi and then transferred to Chongqing. Engaged in anti-Japanese war education in Chongqing. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he was hired as a professor at Changchun University. 1950 went to hongkong, 1952 was employed as a professor at Taiwan Province provincial university. In his later years, he came to Beijing twice, visited places of interest, and looked back at his hometown, feeling a lot. 1998 died in Honolulu, USA.
Mr. Zhang's Introduction to Translation Studies is a systematic and complete work, which is rare in the translation field. The first edition 1964 was reprinted many times and became the teaching material of many universities at home and abroad. This is Mr. Wang's masterpiece. Mr. Wang was only 47 years old when he was published. The "postscript" of this book describes its birth process, which is quite touching. Its moire says: "1In the summer of 963, I went north from Pingtung to study in the Foreign Languages Department of National Taiwan University, and asked me to teach students translation. The drafting of this book began at this time ... in the winter of 2008, brother Qian Gechuan visited the north. It's raining and cold, gossiping all night. When you see a clumsy manuscript, you are urged to write it. In the second year, the long summer was full of enthusiasm, and the rest of the holiday was a reorganization of the old manuscript. I deeply feel that the theory is sparse but not dense, and there are few examples. Therefore, there are still many unsatisfactory places in the five drafts, from sweating in summer to wearing fur in cold rain. After repeated revisions, it was not until the old year was divided into days that it was roughly determined. " The author's hard work and Excellence need not be described in detail in summer and cold rain.
1992, this book was revised and supplemented by the author and published by Jiangsu Yilin Publishing House in Chinese mainland.
1977, Mr. Wang's English version of Lin Yutang's Clouds in Beijing came to an end. This can be said to be Mr. Wang's practice of translation theory in An Introduction to Translation Studies. After its publication, it was highly praised by the translation circle and was recognized as the most popular Chinese translation of Lin Yutang's Cloud in Beijing. Mr. Cai Feng 'an, a famous publisher in Taiwan Province Province, said: When this book was published, "ten thousand people paid attention to it and praised it like a flood, but they thought it was a famous translation." Especially when Mr. Zhang Zhenyu revised it for the fourth time, "Forty-five chapters were added, and each chapter was like a traditional couplet according to China's novels" (for example, the title of the first chapter was "Hidden treasure in the back garden, running around in Beijing to avoid military disaster", and the twentieth chapter was "Mochow's engagement, parents and children were suspended, and I was happy all my life". Chapter 54 is based on this example). At present, the Clouds in Beiping published by all parties, with or without Mr. Zhang's signature, was written by Mr. Zhang. After adding the title, it is not only convenient for readers to look up when reading, but also adds the charm of China traditional culture. This is a great contribution of Mr. Wang to Lin Yutang's Clouds in Beijing.
The most beautiful English lyrics is a summary of Mr. Zhang Zhenyu's representative works translated by famous British and American poets for decades. There are nearly 200 books, which are first published in various newspapers to listen to opinions, and then carefully polished and polished according to the opinions of all parties. Mr. Wang said: "After the complete works were compiled, I finally browsed them and found that there were still several' meditation' poems in the clumsy translation." We feel Mr. Wang's rigor and pride in translation from his humility. After reading these translations, we fully realize that Mr. Wang's "pride" comes from his "skill". It is really rare to translate English poems so fluently and vividly. Singing slowly and carefully is really a pleasure.
When talking about his translation theory, Mr. Wang once put forward his own views on the translation principle of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" put forward by Yan in The Theory of Evolution. He believes that "faithfulness" is not credible if it only pursues the formal letter on the surface of the original, thus hurting "expressiveness" and "elegance" (artistry), let alone embodying the style of the original. He advocates that we must understand the essence of the original text, otherwise we just want to grasp literal and blunt translation. The so-called "literal translation" means "hard translation" and "dead translation". In the end, it must be vivid but not vivid.
He quoted Lin Yutang's explanation of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance". "Faithfulness" is the translator's responsibility to the original author, "expressiveness" is the translator's responsibility to the reader, and "elegance" is the translator's responsibility to the art. Mr. Wang thinks that this view gives people a refreshing feeling and is "quite thought-provoking". He pointedly points out that "if a letter is a literal translation, it can play a great role as long as more dictionaries are consulted. Why does a translator need wisdom and literary talent? " Mr. Tao Wei's translation of English and American lyric poetry is the practice of his own theory. There are many poems in the book that are refreshing and repeated, which is indeed the successful practice of Mr. Wang's translation theory.
Mr. Zhang Zhenyu's works include: Introduction to Translation Studies, Translation Essays, A Reader of English-American Conversation, A Floating Life (a collection of essays) and Fu on the Great Wall in Wan Li (a long poem). His translated works include: Clouds in Beijing, Biography of Su Dongpo, The True Story of Wu Zetian, The Red Peony, The Legend of China, The Wisdom of Confucius, The Hu Shizhi Review, The English Version of Lyrics, etc.
What Mr. Wang said at the beginning of the translator's preface to the first edition of "Clouds in Beijing" made me feel that the translator's hard work was condensed after every word and sentence of the translation! He said: "Last autumn, about September 14, when A Thick Moment in Beijing was handed to me, by February 14 this year, the book had been translated for 8 15 pages, for five months. During these five months, I went out to class during the day and sometimes at night, and sometimes my classmates came to learn translation and writing. Apart from these activities, almost every day and night is spent on translating this book. No holidays, no weekends, no entertainment, almost all industries were abandoned and everything was put on hold. It was finally completed before the Lunar New Year. I feel that the burden on my shoulders has been unloaded. " Seeing this, I seem to see the image of my husband's desk. I hope that today's scholars and writers, like Mr. Zhang, can calm down and write some good books for readers in a down-to-earth manner.