China Overseas Chinese Network November 26th According to the American World Journal, in 1957, Cha Liangyong’s martial arts novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes was first published in Hong Kong, and soon became one of the most popular Chinese martial arts novels. In the past 60 years, this book has been adapted into dozens of TV plays and movies. Last year, British Maclehose Press translated Legends of the Condor Heroes into English, and the first volume "A Hero Born" was published on February 22 this year, and the other 11 volumes will be published one after another. This is the fourth novel by Jin Yong that has been translated into English.
Dr Chris Hamm, an associate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington, is an American authority on Jin Yong. In an interview, he said that he had not read the English version of Jin Yong’s work and could not comment on its success. "But all in all, I think it is very difficult to translate Jin Yong’s novels into English." Interested readers will certainly welcome the English version, but the English version of Jin Yong’s books is unlikely to achieve the same success as it did in the Chinese-speaking world.
Fame is limited to Chinese.
According to statistics, Jin Yong’s 15 novels have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, not including a considerable amount of piracy. Jin Yong has become one of the best-selling writers in the world and enjoys a high reputation in the Chinese-speaking world. However, the western world has hardly heard of his name.
Before this English version, only three novels of Jin Yong were translated into English, including Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain translated by Olivia Mok, The Duke Of Mount Deer translated by John Minford, and The Book and the Sward translated by Graham Earnshaw. Moreover, these English versions are published by British publishing houses and Hong Kong English publishing houses, without the participation of American publishing houses.
Han Yisong said that Jin Yong’s novels are rarely translated into English, mainly for two reasons. The first is the translation itself. Jin Yong’s novels are not more difficult to understand than other China novels, so they are not "difficult to translate" in this sense. However, most of the pleasure of Chinese readers lies in Jin Yong’s mastery of Chinese. Jin Yong created a modern style, borrowed the language of China’s traditional novels, and his use of Jianghu terms involved China literature and culture. "It is very difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce his language and his style with English translation."
The second reason is the content. Jin Yong’s novels provide readers with fascinating storylines and vivid characters. However, the plots of his novels usually involve the historical stories of China, and his characters are related to the themes and moral issues of China society. His novels make China readers feel rich in content, and will also attract English readers who are interested in the culture of China and China. However, ordinary English readers will feel "strange" about this.
He pointed out that people sometimes compare Jin Yong’s novels with Harry Potter series or Tolkien’s fantasy novels. This is appropriate in some ways. But he felt that, to some extent, China’s martial arts novels were more comparable to the cultural role of the United States in the 20th century. These two types are centered on the imaginary version of history, which is very important as a kind of cultural identity.
Westward reaction bipolar
Publishers sell the English version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes to western readers as a Chinese version of Game of Thrones. From the comments left by readers, we can see the polarized views of English readers on the book.
On June 5, 2018, commentator nekozuki Chris gave a rating of up to 5 stars. He said, "after 15 years of waiting, I am not disappointed." He said that about 15 years ago, my sister and he found the anime "Legend of the Condor Heroes". We like this story very much and really want to see it. I have seen the same story in China’s play. When I saw the novel published in English, I bought it at once.
He said, I feel very happy. Writing is really great. Rich vocabulary and interesting stories. I only read half of it, but I like it. In the south of China, the two Song patriots, Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin, experienced many changes. We even met Ghengis Khan in the story. I really look forward to all the novels being translated. "I hope I can read this great series."
On June 5, 2018, the commenter Ezequiel Davidovich Caballero said, "I want everything about martial arts." My only complaints about this version are the following two: First, they translated some names but not all. I would prefer to use the original name with footnotes to explain things like Huang Rong. Names like Hector Sha are meaningless. Why westernize the name? I want to talk to the translator about it. I repeat, I like this book. I just hope they don’t spend a year publishing a book, or I will be too old when I finish reading 12 books.
On June 24, 2018, reader Michael D. Teret left a message calling this book a "precious gift". The reader said that only a few Jin Yong’s works are available in English. This new translation is a precious gift for western readers. "I earnestly hope that the sequel will come soon!"
However, some people are dissatisfied with this English translation. On August 18, 2018, the reader who signed Modern Viking only gave the book one star. I’m really looking forward to reading this book and I love China culture and history,’ he said. But I must admit, on page 80, I can’t keep any interest at all. There is no lack of action here, but the content changes so suddenly that the first 80 pages are like children’s comments on kung fu movies. "From other comments, I’m not the only one who thinks so."
In his comments, he said that translation retains a lot of China flavor, which may be good of course, but at the cost of losing English idioms that are easier to read. He said, I find it hard to believe that the Chinese text is richer and more detailed to some extent. I must scold the publishers for comparing Jin Yong with Tolkien, just like comparing Jin Yong’s books with Shakespeare’s.
Iron powder: difficult to translate
On March 1, 2018, just a few days after the first volume of the English translation of Legend of the Condor Heroes was published, a Chinese reader under the pen name P Kimel commented that when I first heard that the English version of this book was published, I was shocked. I never check whether there are English versions, because I have read them in Chinese at least a dozen times. I am glad that this classic can finally be conveyed to western readers. The original book was written more than 50 years ago, and the English version is too late.
Like J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K. Rowling, Jin Yong is a master of building an otherworldly world full of fascinating plots and characters.
He said that the highest score of the review was 5, but I took a star because of the translation. I sympathize with the translator, because many concepts of Jin Yong’s world belong to China people. For example, "nine yin skeleton claw" doesn’t sound as scary as China’s original, and the translator has done admirable and high-quality work.
Translator: Cultural differences
Feng Yu, director of the Edison public library in New Jersey, translated seven or eight English novels in addition to his own job. As an English translator, she thinks that Jin Yong’s novels are difficult to translate, because Jin Yong’s novels depend on "the meaning between the lines", such as martial arts cheats, which English readers may not understand because of the differences between eastern and western cultures.
She believes that Jin Yong’s martial arts novels are like fantasy novel in the English world. If you can translate Jin Yong’s novels into English, you’d better have a sense of pictures, just like Jackie Chan’s martial arts movies and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, there are many cultural and historical contents in Jin Yong’s novels, which are difficult to translate and difficult for foreign language readers to understand.
Writer Zhang Zongzi said that readers in western countries don’t know much about China culture, while China knows a lot about the west. There are too many elements of China culture in Jin Yong’s martial arts novels, which will be eclipsed by translation. In Jin Yong’s novels, Zhang Sanfeng taught Zhang Wuji to practice boxing, thinking that the more you forget, the better. Westerners will think this is "nonsense". How is that possible? However, as Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese belong to the Han cultural circle, they have a better understanding of China culture.
In modern times, the western classics translated by China are incomparable in depth and breadth to the Chinese classics translated by the west. For example, he said, Shakespeare’s works were translated and published in many versions in China, but the works of great writers in China were not translated in the west. There is still a long way to go for China’s literary works to go to the world. (Han Jie)
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