Translating Classical Chinese Poetry and Prose

David Deterding

National Institute of Education

Focus on:

• Du Fu

• Lao-zi's Dao-de-jing

Loss in Translation

• Translation inevitably involves loss.

• For poetry, full explanatory notes help offer a full appreciation of the original.

• Maybe also for prose: translation of the Dao-de-jing benefits from substantial background notes.

The Poems of Du Fu

Areas of Loss

• rhyme

• metre

• parallelism

• compact style

• ambiguity

• imagery (symbolism)

• allusions

Rhyme

• The syllable at the end of each couplet rhymes.

• Rhyme is rarely retained in the translation.

Rhyme: Poem 1

• Line 2 : 了

• Line 4 : 曉

• Line 6 : 鳥

• Line 8 : 小

Metre

• These poems all have 8 lines

• 5 (or 7) characters per line

• Each line is broken into two parts: 2 + 3 (or 2 + 2 + 3)

• The translation has no fixed metre.

Parallelsm

• The second and third couplets have a parallel structure.

• Each character has a related (or antithetical) matching character.

• There is no parallelism in the translation.

Parallelism: Poem 1

造 化 鐘 神 秀陰 陽 割 昏 曉

Parallelism: Poem 1

盪 胸 生 層 雲決 眥 入 歸 鳥

Compact Style

• Poem 1 has 40 characters

• The translation has 90 words.

• Compact text can suggest multiple meanings.

Ambiguity

盪 胸 生 層 雲"The layered clouds begin at the climber’s

heaving chest"

Problem: look at last line; the writer appears not to be climbing the mountain.

Alternative Translation

盪 胸 生 層 雲"Layered clouds appear from a bulge in the

side of the mountain."

Which is Correct?

• Maybe the poem carries both meanings.

• The compactness of poetry is open to multiple interpretations.

• It is hard to retain these in a translation.

Translation as Poetry?

• It would be possible to translate it as poetry.

• This could also suggest multiple interpretations.

• However, inevitably the interpretations suggested would be different from the original.

Imagery (Symbolism)

• All words carry lots of symbolism.• What is the symbolism behind 'rose'?• This symbolism differs between

languages.• What is the symbolism behind

– 'bat'?– 'red'?

• This symbolism is generally lost in translation.

Imagery in Poem 1

• 青 "greenness"

• 齊 魯 "Ch'i and Lu"

• 陰 陽 "northern and southern slopes"

Allusion

• There is (probably) no allusion to external stories or events in Poem 1.

• We need to look at other poems to see allusion

Let us consider these issues once more, referring to the

other poems.

Rhyme

• Sometimes the rhyme is no longer perfect because of sound changes in Chinese.

Poem 6

• 深 shen

• 心 xin

• 金 jin

• 簪 zan

Detour

• Rhyme can sometimes carry meaning.

• Consider the following poem written by someone leaving a company after a few years working there.

So, farewell my friends,

Everything good one day ends.

I've been here five years,

And together, we've shed many tears.

But a few things I won't miss,

Such as coffee tasting like it was brewed some time ago,

Some theories I never quite mastered,

And a boss who's a real nice guy.

Meaning from Rhyme in Du Fu?

• It seems unlikely that there is any added meaning from rhyme like this in Du Fu's poems.

• However, the potential for indicating meaning through rhyme exists.

Metre

• As with all good poets, Du Fu sometimes breaks the fixed metre.

• This creates a fresh effect.

Poem 11

露 從 今 夜 白月 是 故 鄉 明

Parallelism : Poem 29

五 更 鼓 角 聲 悲 壯三 峽 星 河 影 動 搖

(Su Tung-p'o thought this the best seven-syllable couplet in the language.)

Detour

• Does parallelism extend into modern prose?

至于我们到世上做人，是为了喜悦而来，不是为了烦恼受苦来的，所以自己要为自我创造欢喜。若是完全靠别人给我们欢喜、给我们快乐，这是不够的，所谓心中有佛，心中会快乐，生活有禅，生活就欢喜。

(from 禅 师 与 兰 花 by 摩迦 ,早 报 副 刊 1997 年 11 月 22 日 )

至于我们到世上做人，是为了喜悦而来，不是为了烦恼受苦来的，所以自己要为自我创造欢喜。若是完全靠别人给我们欢喜、给我们快乐，这是不够的，所谓心中有佛，心中会快乐，生活有禅，生活就欢喜。

(from 禅 师 与 兰 花 by 摩迦 ,早 报 副 刊 1997 年 11 月 22 日 )

心中有佛，心中会快乐，生活有禅，生活就欢喜

questions

• Is such parallelism more common in writing by people from Taiwan?

• Should we try to maintain any parallelism in translation?

Ambiguity : Poem 6

感 時 花 濺 淚恨 別 鳥 驚 心

The flowers shed tears of grief for the troubled times, and the birds seem startled,

as if with the anguish of separation.

Null Subjects

• Chinese is a null-subject language.

• Maybe the first line has a null first-person subject. (Can flowers shed tears?)

• Maybe the flowers are an adverb of place.

• If this is right, then the next line should have a similar structure.

Alternative translation

感 時 花 濺 淚恨 別 鳥 驚 心

Troubled by the times, I shed tears on the flowers, and hating separation, I am

startled by the birds.

Symbolism : Poem 11

一 雁 聲

symbolises an exile's letter home

Symbolism : Poem 21

北 極 朝 廷 終 不 改"The Court of the Northern Star remains

unchanged."

Northern Star

Symbolism : Poem 21

北 極 朝 廷 終 不 改"The Court of the Northern Star remains

unchanged."

The Northern Star symbolises the Emperor, because everything revolves around him.

Symbolism : Poem 16

柏 "cypresses"

黃 鸝 "yellow oriole"

錦 "brocade"

what symbolism do these words carry?

Allusion : Poem 16

三 顧 頻 煩 天 下 計

"The importunate humility of those three visits resulted in the grand strategy which

shaped the world for a generation."

Allusion : Poem 21

日 暮 聊 為 梁 父 吟

"As evening falls I shall sing a song of Liang-fu."

Allusion : Poem 29

臥 龍 躍 馬 終 黃 土

"Sleeping Dragon and Horse Leaper ended in the yellow dust. "

Symbolism / Allusion

• Sometimes the distinction between symbolism and allusion is fuzzy.

• However, both cause problems for translation.

• Maybe detailed notes are the answer; however, detailed notes are an admission of failure.

The Dao-de-jing

Parallelism

• Is the Dao-de-jing verse or prose?

• Maybe there was no clear distinction in Classical Chinese.

Parellism : Verse 1

道 可 道 非 常 道名 可 名 非 常 名

Translation of Verse 1

The Tao (Way) that can be told is not the eternal Tao;

The name that can be named is not the eternal name,

(Wing Chit Tsan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963)

Alternative 1

The Dao that can be expressed is not the eternal Dao .

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

(http://www.imperialtours.net/daoism.htm)

Alternative 2

The Way that can be experienced is not true;

The world that can be constructed is not true.

(Peter A Merel: http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html)

Alternative 3

Dao may be accepted as "Dao", but that would conflict with the constant motion of Dao.

A name may be accepted as a "Name", but that would conflict with the constant motion of what's been given a name.

(by Nina: http://www.daoisopen.com/Chapter1.html)

Ambiguity : Verse 1

無 名 , 天 地 之 始 有 名 , 萬 無 之 母

"The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;

The Named is the mother of all things."

Alternative 1

無 , 名 天 地 之 始 有 , 名 萬 無 之 母

"Non-existence" I call the beginning of Heaven and Earth.

"Existence" I call the mother of individual beings.

(http://www.imperialtours.net/daoism.htm)

Alternative 2

The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;

The world represents all that exists and may exist.

(Peter A Merel: http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html)

Everything started out without needing to be named or categorized.

When they were seen as things that needed to be nurtured, they were then given names.

(by Nina: http://www.daoisopen.com/Chapter1.html)

Alternative 3

Symbolism : Verse 5

天 地 不 仁 ， 以 萬 物 為 芻 狗

Heaven and Earth are not humane,

They treat all things as straw dogs.

"straw dogs" ???

Symbolism : Verse 5

天 地 之 間 ， 其 猶 橐 籥 乎

How Heaven and Earth are like a bellows!

"bellows" ??

Finally

多 言 數 窮 ， 不 如 守 中