When Alice Munro was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature on Oct 10, she would not have expected that she had in fact embarrassed Chinese translators. Her name was far from familiar to Chinese readers, as there is only one Chinese translation of her work in China -- the novel "Runaway," published in 2004.

Beijing Youth Daily summarized three problems Munro's laureateship has revealed about the Chinese translation industry on Oct 14.

The first problem is the lack of any "master"translator in China. China is not short of translators, but true "master"translators are few and far between -- translators who have the eye for spotting great writers and introduce their works to China. Oftentimes translators are commissioned by publishing houses to put certain works into Chinese, without deciding whether they are actually translation-worthy. As a result, they have not yet developed the capacity and insight to discover great writers such as Munro.

Nevertheless, China did not always operate like this. One has only to recall Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren and Lin Yutang in the early 20th century when China was at its cultural peak, and the later Qian Zhongshu, Yang Jiang and Fu Lei, whose translations have inspired generations of Chinese -- most of them are often writers themselves and boast a sound grasp of both Chinese and Western literature and culture. Nowadays, most Chinese translators are mere translating craftsmen.

The second problem is that only well-established and commercially successful writers are currently being translated. Like contemporary Chinese literature, Chinese translation mainly pursues commercial interest. J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter"and J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of Rings"have been translated, mainly because of their market demand and colossal profit.

Some celebrated writers are translated time and again because they already come with a secure market -- notwithstanding there are already numerous translations of the same works and the previous ones are sometimes better. As for those not so popular writers (like pre-Nobel Munro), they are cast high up on the book shelves.

The third and final problem then, is the incredibly low financial return in translation. The common price for a translation in China is around 60 yuan (US$ 9.8) or, at best, up to 100 yuan (US$ 16.3) for 1,000 words. For a work of 100,000 words, a translator can only earn some 6,000 yuan (added up in the regular 60 yuan/ 1,000 words standard), hardly making up for the effort they pour into the translation. Though art is not to be measured by money, artists without adequate bucks will end up starving.

Of course one can blame readers for their deteriorating taste in literature, but translators should be held accountable for this deterioration: After all, they are supposed to lead the common taste by introducing worthy works.

Related

• Alice Ann Munro wins 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature
• Nobel Prize winner Munro expected to boom in China

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)