Quarterly Essay № 52: Found In Translation

Whether we’re aware of it or not, we spend much of our time in this globalised world in the act of translation. Language is a big part of it, of course, as anyone who has fumbled with a phrasebook in a foreign country will know, but behind language is something far more challenging to translate: culture. 

"Provide[s] clues as to our continuing gaps of perception - and, worse, even of interest and empathy - with our part of the world."  -  Rowan Callick, Weekend Australian

As a traveller, a mistranslation might land you a bowl of who-knows-what when you think you asked for noodles, and mistranslations in international politics can be a few steps from serious trouble. But translation is also a way of entering new and exciting worlds, and forging links that never before existed.

"Jaivin's essay… entertain[s]… with numerous examples of what can be lost and gained in translation and why the topic is so important."  -  Simon West, The Australian

Linda Jaivin has been translating from Chinese for more than thirty years. While her specialty is subtitles, she has also translated song lyrics, poetry and fiction, and interpreted for ABC film crews, Chinese artists and even the English singer Billy Bragg as he gave his take on socialism to some Beijing rockers. 

In Found In Translation, she reveals the work of the translator and considers whether different worldviews can be bridged. She pays special attention to China and the English-speaking West, Australia in particular, but also discusses French, Japanese and even the odd phrase of Maori. This is a free-ranging essay, personal and informed, about translation in its narrowest and broadest senses, and the prism – occasionally prison – of culture.

Linda Jaivin is an Australian writer, the author of eleven books (seven novels and four books of non-fiction), and a film translator (from Chinese).