Understanding and Translating Chinese Martial Arts

Description

The present book features some introductory discussions on martial arts for the international audience and highlights in brief the complexities of translating the genre into English, often from a comparative literature perspective. Martial arts, also known as Kungfu or Wushu, refer to different families of Chinese fighting styles over many centuries. Martial arts fiction, or Wuxia literature, is a unique genre that depicts adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Understanding martial arts and the Chinese culture and philosophy behind them creates an intriguing experience, particularly, for non-Chinese readers; translating the literature into English poses unparalleled challenges for translators not only because of the culture embedded in it but also the fascinating martial arts moves and captivating names of many characters therein. Acknowledgments Introduction: A Note on the Popularity and Importance of Chinese Martial Arts and Their Translation Contents Editors and Contributors Kungfu—Musings on the Philosophical Background of Chinese Martial Arts 1 Introduction 2 Perfection Through Steady Practice 3 “Caring for Life” 4 Dialectical Thinking 5 Winning Without Fighting 6 Conclusion References The Mythology of Chinese Martial Arts Tourism: A Case Study of the Shaolin Temple on Multiple Dimensions 1 Introduction 2 Myth of Martial Arts Tourism 3 Myth Creation of Martial Arts Prior to Mass Tourism 3.1 Myth as Implicated in Buddhist Literature 3.2 Myth as Implicated in the World of Fiction 4 Myth Creation of Martial Arts in the Stage of Mass Tourism 4.1 Myth as Implicated in the Media Representations 4.2 Myth as Implicated in the Travel Accounts 5 Conclusion References Translating Chinese Martial Arts for a Global Audience: A Multimodal Perspective 1 Chinese Martial Arts, Kung Fu, and Wuxia 2 The English Translation of Chinese Martial Arts 3 Existing Studies on Transmission of Chinese Martial Arts 4 Multimodal Translation: The Theoretical Departure 5 Kung Fu Films: Audiovisual Translation of Chinese Martial Arts 6 Wuxia Novels: The English Translation of Chinese Martial Arts 7 Concluding Remarks References A Survey and Critique of English Translations of Jin Yong’s Wuxia Fictions 1 Introduction to Jin Yong and His Wuxia Fiction 1.1 Wuxia as a Chinese Literary Genre 1.2 Jin Yong and His Wuxia Fiction 2 Existing Translations of Jin Yong’s Wuxia Fiction 2.1 Printed Translations 2.2 Fan Translations and Comic Adaptations 3 Existing Research 3.1 Research Published in English 3.2 Research Published in Chinese 4 Conclusion Appendix 1. Jin Yong’s Fictions References Neural Machine Translation Systems and Chinese Wuxia Movies: Moving into Uncharted Territory 1 Introduction 2 Literature Review 2.1 Existing Research Lacunae 3 Methodology 3.1 Cultural Elements in the Movie CTHD 3.2 Corpus Design and Data Analysis 4 Findings 4.1 MT Errors Concerning Wuxia Character and Institution Names 4.2 MT System Errors Concerning Wuxia Sword Manipulation Techniques 4.3 MT Errors Concerning the Wuxia Meditational Ritual 4.4 MT Errors Concerning the Magical Prowess of Wuxia Warriors 4.5 MT Errors Due to Literalness 5 Discussion 5.1 Short-Term Translation Courses 5.2 Popularity of Online Learning 5.3 Relatively Low Investment in Technology and Personnel 6 Conclusion References When Chinese Martial Artists Meet Western Heroes: A Stylometric Comparison of Translated Wuxia Fiction and Western Heroic Literature 1 Introduction 2 Stylistic Panorama As a Stylistic Profile of a (translated) Text 3 Data and Methodology 3.1 Data and Corpora 3.2 Calculations and Algorithms 3.3 Analytic Steps 4 Results 4.1 Stylistic Panoramas Based on Forensic Indices 4.2 Stylistic Panoramas Based on Frequency Patterns 5 Discussion 6 Conclusions References Writing in One Voice: Thoughts and Memories on Co-Translating Jin Yong’s Legends of the Condor Heroes 1 How It Begins 2 Unifying Our Voices 3 Finding Voices for Our Characters 4 A Multisensory Cinematic Experience 4.1 Multitasking Matchmakers References Index