Mastering the fine art of translation

UQ academic Dr Simon Patton has won second prize in the prestigious international John Dryden Translation Competition for his translation of a Chinese short story.

Named after an influential 17th century English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright, the competition is open to translators of literary works of poetry, prose and drama.

Dr Patton won the award for his translation of Ma Yuan’s first published story The Goddess of Lhasa River. Published in 1984, it was an innovative book for its time and region in its writing style and content. The story follows a group of Lhasa artists on an outing to a suburban island in the Lhasa River.

In a fast-paced, bustling world of technology, iPhones, YouTube and Facebook, Dr Patton speaks of the skill, precision and delicacy required for working on translations.

Translation of literature and poetry is a particular skill, requiring experience, creative flair and a thorough knowledge of language and the culture in which it is embedded.

“Literary translation is more than just precisely translating word-for-word. It is about explaining and communicating a different way of living and seeing, a different way of experiencing human life and looking at the world,” Dr Patton said.

“Far from being a largely technical accomplishment, translation must be an act of art in its own right, if it is to preserve the artistic qualities of literature and convey them to people who cannot access the non-English text.

“When you do this type of translation, you oscillate from precise skills to trying to understand the creativity and feeling the writer is trying to express, and then you need to go back to the skill of precision to re-check your translation and make sure it’s accurate.

“Doing a translation involves not so much doing ‘justice’ to the writer but is more about doing justice to what, in that piece of writing, made you feel a ‘zing’, what made you want to give others the opportunity to appreciate and experience what you saw in the piece.”

Dr Patton was inspired by language in his final years of high school. His interest in Chinese developed on a visit to Brisbane in the 1970s with the discovery of a book on the language. He now enjoys its unique characteristics.

“Chinese language is very distinct and different from any other language. It has no plurals or tenses, and is also tonal. The language also has a written script or characters, which are pictures that visually tell the story. These components can make it hard to translate into English,” Dr Patton said.

Dr Patton is a lecturer in Chinese-English translation and Chinese literature in the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies. His research interests are contemporary Chinese poetry and poetics and translation theory. He also co-edits the China domain of Poetry International Web.

It has been a successful year for Dr Patton who was also shortlisted in the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize and PEN Medallion.

Both awards recognise the important role literary translators play in allowing writers and readers to communicate across cultures and give people the opportunity to enjoy a range of literature from around the world.

Media: Liz Kerr (07 3365 6311, e.kerr@uq.edu.au)