‘Tis the festival of Yellow Plums!
the rain unceasing pours,
And croaking bullfrogs hoarsely wake
the echoes out of doors.
I sit and wait for him in vain,
while midnight hours go by,
And push about the chessmen
till the lamp-wick sinks to die.
Ssu-ma Kuang A.D. 1019-1086
😊
Snap. On first reading it went ‘whoosh’ over my head. I scanned after that but still ‘whoosh’. It’s short enough to break down and understand more. It gives a base to regard all translations and what thinking is involved from Chinese and Japanese script. Translation doesn’t detract from the overall theme and ideas though. When I read Murakami, in English 😊, it still has descriptive power. All the best.
Many thanks for the link, it is indeed fascinating. It will take a few reads for my brain to comprehend but it was really interesting and I’ll try to get a grip on it.
I did wonder myself how closely these Victorian translations align with the original language. 😊
I have thought about translation many times when reading books translated into English from their original written form. Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Arturo Reverte Perez, etc.. How would the original resonate in its original form if you understood the language. I remember reading about someone who was losing their original language after decades of living in a different country. I looked into poetry translation a long time ago when I was asked to use Sign Language to translate the work of a poet’s work being read at a local library. It was too difficult for my skills to cope, so refused. Here is an article re: translation of this Chinese poetry. Can’t yet grasp the meanings of considerations. If I ever will even. But. Fascinating stuff. Worth a quick read. https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/05/19.pdf