{"id":1061,"date":"2012-07-27T10:39:29","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T02:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2012-07-27T10:39:29","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T02:39:29","slug":"poetry-international-interview-with-mindy-zhang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1061","title":{"rendered":"Poetry International Interview with Mindy Zhang"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In April Poetry International<\/a> published their interview with Mindy Zhang \u660e\u8fea about translating poetry between English and Chinese. Here’s how the interview begins:<\/p>\n

PI: What is the most challenging aspect of translating poetry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MZ: The hardest part of translation is to go inside the mind of the poet and find out what he did NOT want to say. I like ambiguities and multiple readings but I think we should avoid misleading. If the poet hated rhythm and musicality in poetry, making the translation musical would mean cheating. \u00a0These are, of course, extreme cases. Usually I try to figure out what\u2019s in a poem rather than what\u2019s not in a poem. There are always several choices to translate a line, I would focus on which one represents the closest meaning and brings out the implied, the suggested, the hidden meaning and which one best presents the tone and the mood.\u00a0 Very often I look at the translation, hmmmm, this doesn\u2019t sound right\u2014 I make changes; I stare at the original poem, stare at it literally, until I hear the voice of it. \u00a0In other words, a translated poem should be as good as it was originally with its linguistic and emotional subtleties. Whatever drives the poem forward, the motif and echoes, the rhythm and variations, the passion or reasoning, the word play, the visual shifting, whatever, should be reflected in the translation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her responses include mentions of lots of poets & writers from around the world, as well as translators Jonathan Stalling, Christopher Lupke, Denis Mair, and Nick Admussen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April Poetry International published their interview with Mindy Zhang \u660e\u8fea about translating poetry between English and Chinese. Here’s how the interview begins: PI: What is the most challenging aspect of translating poetry? MZ: The hardest part of translation is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[312,96,210,665,664],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-h7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2042,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2042","url_meta":{"origin":1061,"position":0},"title":"Mindy Zhang on Translating Chinese Poetry","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When translating Chinese poetry, ancient or modern, one will find that the \u2018subject\u2019 of a sentence is often missing. It shows one feature of the language that allows a verb to function alone, it also reflects one aspect of the Chinese tradition: poets try to express certain emotion or reflection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.poetryinternationalweb.net\/pi\/media\/resized\/73\/portrait_of_zhang_zao_painted_by_ma_li_700x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3125,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3125","url_meta":{"origin":1061,"position":1},"title":"A New Golden Age for Chinese Poetry?","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"PRI has published an article on the thriving contemporary Chinese poetry scene. Here's a taste: As in other spheres, the Internet has proven a huge democratizing force in the world of Chinese poetry, leveling the playing field for migrant workers and millionaires alike. But love of verse was already there.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4578,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4578","url_meta":{"origin":1061,"position":2},"title":"Emily Goedde on “translating the space between subjects”","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Echoes of I [ ] \u6211: On translating the space between subjects\" Emily Goedde writes about Chinese poetry translation--in particular, translating the poetry of 1930s poet Mu Dan \u7a46\u65e6--at the Asian American Writers' Workshop: I think about translation as a kind of listening to the echoes created as meaning moves\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3130,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3130","url_meta":{"origin":1061,"position":3},"title":"Restless Interview with Xiao Hai","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To promote Song of Shadows, Restless Books has published an interview between Ilan Stavans and Xiao Hai \u5c0f\u6d77, translated by Zhu Yu \u6731\u7389, titled \"It\u2019s Difficult to Translate Poetry.\" Here's the key excerpt: It\u2019s difficult to translate poetry. A translation can be correct or wrong, good or bad. A translation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2719,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2719","url_meta":{"origin":1061,"position":4},"title":"Epsians #4","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Epsians #4 is now out. Here's the table of contents: Li Zeng, Cui Dan The Shaping of Chinese Modern Poetry by English Romantic Poetry: A Case Study of Xiang Zhu\u2019s Poetry \/ 1 \u00a0Liu Chun \u201cUndo Thin Hearte\u201d: The Treatment of the Ubi Sunt Theme in Medieval Penitential Lyrics \/\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jacket2.org\/sites\/jacket2.org\/files\/imagecache\/wide_main_column\/Espians-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4520,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4520","url_meta":{"origin":1061,"position":5},"title":"Shan on Yu Yoyo and Translation","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Yu Yoyo, whose poetry is discussed by Xiao Yue Shan on the Asymptote blog. The Asymptote blog has posted Xiao Yue Shan's take on Yu Yoyo \u4f59\u5e7c\u5e7c, as translated by Henry Zhang. Shan writes: Floating signifiers are especially insecure in translation, in which one often has to choose between music\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/final-yu-yoyo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/final-yu-yoyo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/final-yu-yoyo.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1063,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}