Helen Wang

Rosalba Hojer talks to translator Helen Wang

“Stories on the move – Making translation in children’s literature visible” is the objective of this year’s Action Lab Project by the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing and Outside in World. As an intern searching for material to benefit the project, I have interviewed ten different translators and publishers whose answers will offer you a peek behind the scenes of translated children’s books. From the challenge of finding names for unknown plants to the most unusual book she has ever worked on, Helen Wang will talk you through the fascinating nuances of translation.

What is your favourite children’s book you ever translated and why?

That's like asking which is your favourite child! Translating a book, especially a novel, takes time, so I try to translate books I like and find interesting. Bronze and Sunflower (by Cao Wenxuan) will always be special though because it's such a beautiful and sad story.

Which children’s book was the most difficult to translate and which challenges did it involve specifically?

Probably Jackal and Wolf, which was my first middle-grade translation and my first book-length translation. It was a relay translation - the publisher wanted to publish this book in eight different languages and launch them at the London Book Fair in 2012 when China was the guest of honour. My English translation was the first, and the other seven were based on my English translation. It was crucial I could deliver on time. It's an animal story, about a mother jackal who takes in a baby wolf intending to feed it up and eat it one day. But she keeps putting it off and eventually it's too late. It's a fraught mother-and-daughter relationship in the wild animal world and at times rather disturbing. It's set in southwest China, with a lot of plants and animals that young readers might not be familiar with. I was very grateful for Google and Google images, and for being able to search for things I didn't know. For example, there can be many different names for the same plants - scientific names, local names, medicinal names, folkloric names - and searching for a suitable name in English was challenging but fun.

Which book you translated has changed the most due to the translation, i. e. design, illustrations, cover, even the content, and how? And what was that process like whilst translating it? (Or why did you not change so much?)

I try to keep as close as I can to the original, although for storytelling purposes there may be a few changes - for example, for tension, rhythm, sound or even the look of the text. The publisher usually takes care of the cover and design. When I first saw the cover of Bronze and Sunflower (by Meilo So) I was shocked. My first reaction was "but that's not how it is in my head!" I'd been working on the translation for many months and had to picture them in order to translate them. But when I tried to describe the images in my head, I found I couldn't, because they were more like images in a dream. Meilo's cover is lovely, and I feel so lucky that Walker Books chose her for Bronze and Sunflower!

What was the most unusual book you ever translated, culturally or in terms of the concept?

The Ventriloquist's Daughter, by Lin Man-Chiu, is an unusual book. Lin Man-Chiu is from Taiwan but has a cultural affinity with South America. Luir is a little girl when her mother dies and her father, broken with grief, disappears from advanced medical training and goes travelling through South America. When he returns a few years later, he brings a doll and tells his traditional family he is now a ventriloquist. The tension in this book, and the fine line between reality and fantasy, make this a gripping YA book.

Has there ever been a book you translated that you thought was quite niche but was surprisingly successful once published?

Not yet! To be honest, seeing a book you've translated in its published form in a bookshop or library already feels like a success!

Could you tell me about the different steps in the process of translating a picture book?

I'll usually receive the book as a pdf. Sometimes I'm so keen to see it that I'll open it on my phone. Although it's too small to see it properly, I'll get a first impression of colour, density of text and image, and an idea of what kind of book it is (funny, serious, dreamy, action, etc). Then, on a laptop or bigger screen, I'll look at the illustrations and text more carefully to see how they work together - ideally, they should be equal, but sometimes the artwork is stronger than the text or vice versa. In my mind, I'll be absorbing it and beginning to think about how it would work in English. Sometimes I'll print the pdf and make it into a book. I'll read the text a few times for meaning, storyline, and sound. With picture books I'll often translate in my head, trying from the start to make the English fit the same space as the Chinese text. Sometimes I'll cut and paste the English on a paper printout. Sometimes, I'll copy and paste the pages onto PowerPoint slides, then cut and paste the English onto the PowerPoint slides. I'll also try to learn about the author and illustrator, and about the book itself in its source culture.

               


Do you remember the first-ever children’s book you translated and what that process was like? Has it changed over the years?

The first children's books I translated were bedtime reading to my children. They were Chinese and German picture books, which I would read to them in English. In retrospect, it was great training. I couldn't take too long or they would fidget, and they wanted the same words and highs and lows every time. I also had to do some on-the-spot editing as I went along. Obviously, my way of working has changed since then!

What is the most challenging aspect of translating Chinese into English, because I can imagine that the two languages work quite differently in the way they are structured?

Sometimes Chinese translates directly into English quite easily, and other times it can be quite a challenge - for example, when the most natural way to say something is said in a positive form in one language or a negative form in another. In Chinese it can feel natural to repeat a noun (e.g. the teacher this, the teacher that) when English calls for a pronoun - but if the Chinese hasn't specified gender, the translator has to choose. Similarly, Chinese doesn't always specify if something is singular or plural - so there might be one boat on the river or several. Sometimes you can tell by the context, and other times you have to guess. In another context, I remember asking a friend how many of something he was referring to, and he looked at me blankly and asked, I don't know, does it matter?"

Is it culturally difficult to translate from Chinese into English or do you find that most children’s books express some sort of universal feeling and shared experiences?

I like to think that we know and can recognise the same feelings - even if we have those feelings in different ways and at different intensities at different times. China has a very rich culture, both historical and contemporary, and some of the most beautiful writing in the world. Of course, that feeds into stories, into the language, references, metaphors, allusions, jokes and wordplay. When we are translating, and working with editors, we are translating the work for a new audience and sometimes we have to be creative to make it work.

Why is it so important to have translated literature, but especially translated children’s books?

Translated fiction and non-fiction give us access to some of the most amazing people, creative minds, thoughts, ideas and experiences in the world ... in a language we can understand! Just as with English books, there will be things we like and things we don’t like. We can read for worthy reasons such as self-development but we can also read for pleasure and enjoy those exquisite moments when something we could never have conceived of in English touches our minds or our hearts. Children’s books are really books for everyone. I wish we could see more of the books that are available in translation.

              


Do you think it is necessary/important to have the translator’s name on the book cover as well as the author’s and illustrator’s names?

I think we should always name the translator - to acknowledge that a work has been translated and by whom. I’d like it to be standard practice - at least in the publishing details page, and in reviews and bibliographies. If putting the translator’s name on the cover helps to achieve that, then let’s do that. Naming the translator is the honest and respectful thing to do. It can also be very inspiring and empowering to multilingual youngsters.

August 2022

The interview was conducted via email by Rosalba Hojer, a German Erasmus+ scholar studying French in the UK and intern working for Dr Sophie Heywood from the University of Reading.

Helen Wang translates from Chinese to English – among many other children’s books, she has translated Bronze and Sunflower, which won the 2017 Marsh Christian Award for Children’s Literature in Translation, and Dragonfly Eyes by Cao Wenxuan; Jackal and Wolf by Shen Shixi and The Ventriloquist's Daughter by Lin Man-Chiu. She continues to put out brilliant translations of children’s books, such as Leilong’s Too Long (2022) and other  titles that can be found on the OIW Website and in the OIW collection at the University of Portsmouth Library:

A Journey of 600 Inches
An’s Seed
Bibbit Jumps
The Empty Bowl
Express Delivery From Dinosaur World
Grandpa’s 14 Games
Levin the Cat
Little Rabbit’s Questions
The Mask That Loved to Count
Mom is Hiding
Playing With Lanterns
Tan Hou and the Double Sixth Festival