Lost in Translation

to do or not to do,that is a question.

Another sobering fact is that one can get only 50-60 yuan by translating 1000 words in literary works, but a comfortable 300 yuan in business translation.

The translators have been the leading edge in this communication and they are insisting on better treatment. Many people have bowed out of this profession when they eventually found themselves economically challenged as a professional literary translator.

More telling is the situation in the schools. The Beijing Foreign Studies University is one of the leading schools in training translation professionals, but almost all of its students choose business translation, rather than literary translation, as their careers.

A survey conducted by the newspaper People’s Daily in 2009 shows that among the 37 students involved, only 32.4% showed any interest in literary translation. Considering the qualification and the huge gap of payment between literary translation and business translation, 94.3% expressed their hope of being a translator in the business circle.

“To be a literary translator is not enough to feed myself,” said Zhang Cong, one of the respondents.

“I just take it (literary translation) as my personal interest. The desired job is business translator,” another student, Jin Yan, said.

This is a sad comment on the social status accorded to literary translators. It may also explain why credible literary translators are still few and far between in today’s China.