Chinese Stories Worldwide

This Hugo Award winner has changed how people view Chinese sci-fi. Its translator, Ken Liu, contributed to this. Born in China and raised in the US, Liu can speak both Chinese and English. He also writes sci-fi stories himself. That made him the best choice to translate the story. Liu didn't translate the book word for word. Instead, he tried to make it easier for English readers to understand. The English version is so good that it has been enjoyed and praised by many foreign readers since it came out.

Almost everyone in China knows Jin Yong and his wuxia novels. But in the West, he is not that famous. One reason is that his works are hard to translate. But British translator Anna Holmwood, who began to learn Chinese at 21, took on the challenge. When she read Legends of the Condor Heroes, she loved the wuxia world and characters in the book and decided to bring the book to more people. In her translation, she made many terms easy and natural to understand, such as“the 18 palm attacks to defeat dragons(降龙十八掌)”. When the English version came out in 2018, it turned out to be another success in translation. It was reprinted seven times in the UK within just a few months.

In 2019, when the animated film Ne Zha went to North American theatres, there was wide discussion online about the translation. People found it hard to translate some Chinese phrases into English. One example was the Taoist spell—“jijirulvling”. Jerimiah Willhite, an American translator who learned Chinese while he was in college and is a big fan of Chinese culture, managed to do it. He has read many classic Chinese books, including Tao Te Ching. He translated the spell to“be quick to obey my command(指令)”. His work has helped English speakers enjoy the film.