Quarterly Essay 52: Found in Translation: In Praise of a Plural World

Author(s): Linda Jaivin

Cultural, Ideas, Political & Issues

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. 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 on the other hand, translation is a way of entering new and exciting worlds, and making links that never before existed.Linda Jaivin has been engaged with translation for more than thirty years. While her specialty is subtitles, she has also translated song lyrics, poetry, fiction and more, and has interpreted for ABC film crews, Chinese artists and even the English singer Billy Bragg as he explained his own interpretation of socialism to some Beijing rockers. This is a free-ranging essay, personal and informed, about translation in its narrowest and broadest senses, about culture, difference and communication and about looking at international relations through the prism - and occasionally prison - of culture. Jaivin 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.Along the way she offers delightful insights into the work of the translator, and a perceptive assessment of different worldviews and the degree to which they can be bridged.

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Linda Jaivin's books include novels, a novella (Dead Sexy), a collection of essays Confessions of an S&M Virgin, and the China memoir The Monkey and the Dragon. Her 2006 novel The Infernal Optimist was short-listed for the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. In addition, she has published many short stories and essays and has had several plays produced for the stage. She's also a literary and film translator from Chinese, a cultural commentator and public speaker. She likes reading, travel, food and other things. She lives in Sydney. Eat Me was her first novel.

General Fields

  • : 9781863956307
  • : Black Inc.
  • : Black Inc.
  • : 0.176
  • : September 2013
  • : 232mm X 168mm X 9mm
  • : Australia
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : black & white illustrations
  • : 108
  • : 428
  • : English
  • : 1
  • : Paperback
  • : Linda Jaivin