TCcookie Posted January 24, 2009 at 06:30 AM Report Posted January 24, 2009 at 06:30 AM (edited) Hello all, I am inaugurating my new blog Chinese Tidbits with a selection that's actually not a "tidbit" at all (at least not by my definition at my level), a full children's story from Ye Shengtao. It's about a piece of rock that's carved into the statue of a famous hero that everyone basically worships. The carved part of the rock gets a big head while the cut-away rocks that form the pedestal beneath him try to explain that the townspeople's worship of the statue is all 空虚 and that they are all equal. Eventually the statue tips over in the middle of the night and the resulting rocky rubble is paved into a useful, not-at-all 空虚 road, and all the rocks are happy. I finally just finished the rough draft translation, but before I post it I need to clean it up a bit, and there are just a couple things I was hoping I might get some insight on before I put the whole thing up. Thanks! 1) In the description of the statue's pose, it says, 左胳膊向里圈，坚强有力，仿佛扰着它下面的千百万群众。What does the bolded part mean, exactly? I have it temporarily glossed as "circled inward," but it doesn't quite make sense to me. 2) When the lower rocks are trying to put the statue in its place, one says, “尤其是英雄，也许是一个很平常的人，甚至是个坏蛋，让写历史的人那么一吹唬，就变成英雄了；反正谁也不能倒过年带来对症。 What in the world does that last bolded phrase mean? I'm missing the idiom. So far the closest I can get to deciphering it is, "In any case, no one can turn a year backwards to bring the correct diagnosis." 3) What are some options for expressing the idea of the noun form of 空虚? For example, when the exultant road rocks exclaim, "咱们真平等！咱们一点儿也不空虚！” or when they disparage the townspeople: “市民最大的本领就是纪念空虚，崇拜空虚。” Right now I have that as "emptiness," but that seems especially inappropriate for the first line and not very nice for the second. My last issue is less involving comprehension of the language and more due to my lack of knowledge of "statuary." The townspeople hire a 雕刻家 to come and carve a statue for them. What terminology do you use for this type of artisan? Sculptor? Stone carver? I call him a sculptor but it sounds kind of clumsy and I'm not sure it's right. Thank you so much for any help. These are only my most troublesome phrases whose resolution I feel are key to "completing" my translation. If you look at it when it's posted, you'll notice a lot of other rough edges and perhaps strange choices, but I'll just chalk those up to experience, and you can note them in comments if you wish. Edited January 28, 2009 at 05:01 AM by TCcookie Quote
TCcookie Posted January 26, 2009 at 02:01 AM Author Report Posted January 26, 2009 at 02:01 AM I'm going to selfishly bump up this post. I'd like to post the translation ASAP, and I would really like some knowledgeable insight on these issues before I put it up. Thanks. Quote
TCcookie Posted January 28, 2009 at 05:03 AM Author Report Posted January 28, 2009 at 05:03 AM Well, I added an icon to the post hoping it would somehow draw a response. I know I may be interrupting holidays, but could anyone spare just two minutes to type a quick reply? This means quite a bit to me, not that that matters to anyone else, I guess, but everyone is usually so much more responsive than this. Maybe I've just been away too long and am too much a lurker when I am here...? Quote
zhwj Posted January 28, 2009 at 05:41 AM Report Posted January 28, 2009 at 05:41 AM What text are you working off of? You've got a couple of typos in the lines in question: "左胳膊向里圈" should be "左胳膊圈向里." Some illustrators seem to interpret this as almost hand-on-hip; the first edition cover positions the arm more in front of the body, probably because of the next phrase that says it's like he's "calming the multitudes." "反正谁也不能倒过年带来对症" ought to be "反正谁也不能倒过年代来对证". "Sculptor" seems fine to me. I'd consider using "vanity" or something similar for 空虚. Quote
TCcookie Posted January 31, 2009 at 05:11 AM Author Report Posted January 31, 2009 at 05:11 AM Thanks for the help zhwj. I am working from a book titled 中国童话名著 published by 浙江少年儿童出版社. "反正谁也不能倒过年带来对症" was my own typo. looked at it and yours is right. That makes more sense, something like, "really, no one can turn back time to evaluate the matter"? The other one actually is printed that way in this book. Maybe it's just a typo. The illustration in this book has his hand on his waist just like you said. (The illustrations for this story are black and white in a stylized cartoony style that reminds me of African folk tale books' illustrations we read in elementary school.) I think I will go ahead and post this story. When I do I'll put the link in my signature. 欢迎大家来批评． Quote
TCcookie Posted January 31, 2009 at 07:46 AM Author Report Posted January 31, 2009 at 07:46 AM It's finally posted! Quote
TCcookie Posted January 31, 2009 at 07:47 AM Author Report Posted January 31, 2009 at 07:47 AM My signature doesn't appear to be showing up. The link is http://chinesetidbits.wordpress.com/. Quote
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