Day 3
Tues. Aug. 30
Compare Chinese versions of “Ad” poem
Genre and conventional language
Analyzing conventions of advertising slogans
Homework:
➤ Translate some advertising slogans
In class, we looked at examples of English advertising slogans on posters and made some observations about the conventions of this genre — the type of language that is typical in them.
Pick three of the Chinese advertising slogans on this handout and write English “translations” of them that fit the conventions of English advertising slogans, unlike the “literal” translations in the handout.
(Note that in reality, if these companies/institutions actually wanted to translate these slogans, they would pay huge sums of money of have new slogans written in English that convey the effect they want. This service is called “localization.”)
Put your three new slogans in a Word document and upload them to our SharePoint folder, to the subfolder called “4-Ad slogan translations.”
➤ Find examples of museum placards online and analyze their genre conventions
Lamp in its original context
Next class, we will work together to translate this museum placard for a bronze lamp at the Suzhou Museum shown here.
To prepare for this exercise, please search online to find a good example of a museum placard in English (and NOT one translated out of Chinese) for an artifact or relic that could serve as a model for our translation. I find using Google Image search especially helpful for this kind of thing. Some possible search terms: museum / exhibition / exhibit / placard / caption / label / artifact / relic.
(Note: it’s best if it’s an artifact, not an artwork. Captions for artwork will follow slightly different genre conventions!)
Paste the image of your placard into a Word document. In this document, please write 5 observations about the language of the placard. (What is an observation? It’s a statement that could begin with the words “I notice…” In fact, I recommend you begin your observations with the words “I notice…”!)
Upload this document to our SharePoint folder, to the subfolder titled “5-Museum placard examples and observations.”
➤ Make a rough translation of the bronze lamp placard into English
Now that you’ve researched the genre conventions of museum placards in English, translate the text of the bronze lamp placard into English. This can be a rough translation — it doesn’t have to be perfect, and feel free to mark places you don’t understand or about which you’re uncertain. Based on your translations, we will work together in class to create a single “authoritative” translation.
Upload your translation to SharePoint, to the subfolder titled “6-Rough translations of bronze lamp placard.”
Full text of bronze lamp placard:
灯作卧羊形。羊首微扬，双角卷曲，身躯浑圆。羊尊背部与身躯分铸，于羊颈后置活纽，臀上安提纽，可将羊背向上翻开，平放于羊头上作为灯盘。羊尊腹腔中空，当灯放置不同时，可将灯盘内燃余灯油由小流嘴倾入腹腔。出土时腹腔内残留有白色沉淀物，经化验有油脂成分，当为燃料。汉代以羊为母题的文物很多，如羊头金饰、塑像画像、含“羊”字的铭文铜镜，主要取其和美吉祥之意。汉代诗歌中更有 “金羊载耀，作明以续” 的称颂。
➤ Search for models for Quarantine hotel notice
Imagine we needed to translate into English the notice for incoming travelers staying at a quarantine hotel in Xiamen. What kind of English-language document could we look at as a reference to give us ideas about the kind of language we would use to translate this notice?
Search around online and see if you can find a document in English that could serve as a model when translating. Be ready to share it with us next class, and tell us what you notice about the language in the document that you think is useful for important.
➤ Supplementary Reading
Chapter 26 of Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, “Style and Translation,” talks a bit about the issues we’re working on here. Really only the first four pages or so are relevant to the exercises we’re doing. Feel free to read these to see how this translation scholar uses the words “style,” “genre,” and “context,” and to see a few of the examples he gives to illustrate these ideas.
