Dennis Wuerthner's translation

 Ruoyi.zhang

This class took me back to my junior high school Chinese lessons. I deeply admire this speaker, a foreigner passionate about ancient Asian culture and translation, despite not profiting from it. While he translated in Korean, most of the ancient texts were in Chinese. Due to China's significant influence, translating these texts was akin to learning a new language, deciphering unfamiliar meanings. Ancient Chinese poems have always held a special place in my heart; their profound depth, unique rhymes, and cultural impact are unparalleled, in my opinion. Although they are translated as simply "poetry", they are not simple like poetry in other languages, its name is Shi or Ci, they encompasses various forms, varying in length from four to seven words, each with its own distinct charm.

I hope people will one day appreciate the categorization of different poetry genres. As Wuerthner mentioned, he sometimes couldn’t even find the word in english to rhyme what the original text trying to do, which deeply express the vastness of the Chinese language surpasses English. Translating Shi is particularly challenging; it requires an understanding of the shi ren(author’s) intent and the nuanced meanings of each word. Academic translation, with its limited audience, demands immense dedication. Despite this, Wuerthner achievements in modern Korean translation are remarkable since its nearly a completely different language. He deliberately chooses work that has not been translated, which are probably lesser-known poems, further complicating his task, as many popular ones have already been translated or are exceedingly challenging.