It's not secret to myself that my Mandarin is inferior to my English.
That is why I would hesitate doing an English-to-Mandarin translation.
One thing I just realised signifies the difference between my command of English versus Mandarin is that I can quite comfortably apply the art of understatement when using English, but it'd take me close to an eternity to do the same when using Mandarin.
Understatement is an artform that is not unknown in the Chinese language, but as far as my own knowledge, while it shares common ground with the English language when it comes to the characteristic of "excruciating politeness", I have not witnessed the versatility in Mandarin as demonstrated in English by writers such as Oscar Wilde, PG Wodehouse, or even by the American Mark Twain.
I confess my own reading exposure in Mandarin is largely limited to historical subjects or wuxia novels by Jin Yong, and to stretch it a bit, a couple of books by Ni Kuang. I have yet to delve in to writings of literary giants like Lao She, Ba Jin and Lu Xun, but I did browse through some of San Mao's memoirs.
Yet at the back of my mind, I am already thinking perhaps in history lies the difference why the art of understatement in the Chinese language never quite flowered the way it did for English.
For the English language, it is an art that I am thinking was really developed in expressing anti-establishment thoughts by writers such as Wilde at a time when their society seemed to be at the pinnacle of success, with starting as sarcasms in satires.
Historical China though was less forgiving or accomodating of criticisms, and greater freedom of expression was only possible with the demise of imperial China at a time of unbridled foreign interventions. Anti-establishment expressions then were riddled with bitterness rather than wittiness.
Or perhaps the art of understatement of the Chinese language is unrecognizable because it is a different totally song from the English language.
Beside a good command of language skills, it also involve how well u understanding the different expression of sentences, as well as the cultural and historical issue.
ReplyDeleteSame problem arises when Chinese translating English titles or books in China, we can joke about it but then because of the lack of understanding and limited knowledge from the translator, the result can be really bad.