GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS
THE ART OF CREATIVE TRANSLATION
PAGE?10
Alex Luo
TRANSLATION IS AN ARTFORM in its own
right - and one that often goes unnoticed.
When you’re playing a video game, or
watching TV originally produced in another
language, it’s easy to ignore the process
behind bridging the cultural and linguistic
gaps. This got us thinking – how is it that high
quality translations of Breaking Bad and other
US dramas appear on Youku hours after the
shows have aired in the States? How do you
translate a video game? Or stand-up comedy
for that matter? And where do you even start
when you’ve got a whole novel to translate?
?
e spoke to translators working in a
variety of media, from TV drama to
poetry, literature to video games,
whose work ranges from the most banal of humor
to the most elegant of poetic stanzas. All four
translators boast impressive resumes. For some,
translation is their job; for others, it’s done entirely
in their spare time. The constant among them is
their love for what they do: all enjoy the challenge
and satisfaction of making these works come alive
in their hands. We picked their brains about what
they do, how they do it, the most challenging
parts of translation, and other fascinating odds
and ends.
W
S
Reece is a super smart American translator
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