Fisher and Braslavsky's translation

Ruoyi 

The lecture on Friday was given by two translators. (So did they both establish their collaboration within the National Poetry Society?) For surrealistic poetry, it's not about whether it's difficult to go wrong, but whether the translator can thoroughly understand the author's meaning and convey it accurately to the reader. So, I think it's essential to establish a long-term connection with the author in any type of writing translation.  I used to think that translation was really just "direct translation,"but this idea has gradually been overturned. "Direct translation" rarely exists; a better way to put it is to maintain the form and wording of the original text. However, due to language, not every word can be translated completely and retain its original meaning. As she said, the initial fear of "breaking" the original text leading to what they perceive as "mistakes" is common among translators, but what's important is to maintain the true meaning of the original text using different, more understandable methods.  I previously wrote in Jee Leong Kho's talk that not only are authors limited by the topics they choose, but translators are also constrained by the strict boundaries set by the author's words, falling into the trap of the "original text."

Regarding co-translation, I believe these two translators have correctly demonstrated what I think this term should entail: being appreciative of being part of the cohort of women translating the same author. In my opinion, translating the same text should not lead to various forms of comparison or criticism.

Finally, less number of authors write in their second language, while most translators (at least as far as I can see now) use their second language to read and understand, and their first language to translate and write.  However, when we asked Fisher if she would write in French, she vetoed the idea.  So, although it's still writing, in a sense, this type of writing is not what we consider all of an author's writing.

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