Most of the examples I share in various articles and classes on translation come from completed works that are already published. I generally find this useful, because it looks at the problem with a solution already in mind. It’s a chance to discuss how the process of problem-solving played out.
Many readers and/or students who encounter these examples in my writing or classes might be at a very different place in their translation journey. Often, the translators who are reading/listening to these examples are not necessarily at a stage where they are working with a publisher or editorial, and thus they may not have the opportunity to bounce ideas off others who are in a position to shape the text in its formative stages throughout the translation process. This might make the examples seem too neat and tidy, since I present it from a perspective of an already-solved problem.
In thinking about this, I decided it might be useful for me to use this space at A Polite Lie to share a series of Notes Along the Way, in which I will share problems as I encounter them and discuss not so much the solution, but the reason the phrases are problematic, the possibilities that lie before me for their resolution, and the implications of each of those possibilities. This might be more helpful for readers who are not yet working with an editor or publisher, as it examines the question with the solution to it still being unknown and explores the ways I think about these questions as they happen.
I encountered a problematic term in my work this week that will be a good place to kick the series off: 省城,which is literally translated “the provincial capital.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to A Polite Lie to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.