Royal Academic Institute

Chung’s “I – Ching 易經” 9 – The Importance of Translation

Translation is the method to decode the message that the author wants to convey. From pictogram to our current language, the symbols we use to express ourselves went through many phases of amendments. Even though we still employ the same expression method (communicating through speaking, writing, sign languages, and etc.), the way we use our words changes from time to time – new terms are invented with the advancement of technology, the various wars and conquests, and the changes of emperor. As a result, to fully decode a writer’s writing, reading the text is merely enough. One should put him- or herself into the author’s shoes.

To illustrate a problem with Chinese translation, I will share a story with you. My son study Chinese as an elective course in high school; and one day, he came home puzzled and started to discuss what he learned in his Chinese class. That day, his Chinese teacher taught the class some Chinese idioms – as some of you may know, Chinese have a lot of idioms, all of which have story and meaning behind it – and two of which caught his attention (洛陽紙貴 and 塞翁失馬，焉知非福).

洛陽紙貴 literally translated into “the paper in Luo Yang is expensive”. Without doing much research, the teacher explains to the class that Luo Yang was the capital of China, thus the paper there is expensive. Since my son knew the meaning behind each Chinese idiom was never that simple and her explanation doesn’t seem to make too much of sense (some people may think it does make since the living cost in capital is usually higher, but if this the case, why would the idiom only specified paper? So when reading Chinese literature, think deeper), he decided to discuss with me. As a father and an experienced teacher, I asked him to do some research before giving the answer to him directly. Obviously, he was able to find the actual story and the meaning behind this idiom. If you want to know, you should search it online yourself.

塞翁失馬，焉知非福 literally translated “When the old man from the frontier lost his horse, how could one have known that it would not be fortuitous” (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A1% ... 7%9F%A5%E9%9D%9E%E7%A6%8F). Since 塞 (Choi) sounds like 蔡 (Choi – a Chinese last name) in Cantonese, the teacher explained that an old man with a last name蔡 lost his horse… Again, this is a fatal error in Chinese; but this time, the teacher did not even read the word when she translated it into English.

Many people may find her mistake wasn’t a big deal, but if our education continues like this, how many people will be misled? Since the Chinese class has many Canadian-born Chinese and non-Chinese students, I sent my son’s teacher a letter to inform her about her mistake and request her to re-teach those terms. Many people would worry about their child receiving a lower grade when confronting the teacher’s mistake, but this is a very selfish thought. Misleading and twisting the actual knowledge is way more harmful than receiving a lower grade (and on a side note, my son graduated from the Chinese course with an A+ average).

While you may laugh at this story and think it is ridiculous for a Chinese teacher to not only misunderstand the fundamental content of those idioms but also taught the wrong theory to the students, many so called “masters” in the metaphysics field are destroying the field by misleading their audiences.

Like my son’s teacher, Mr. Joseph Yu has shown his misunderstanding of I-Ching in his explanation. He maybe a good converter in terms of converting Chinese text to English, but his review and “analysis” clearly indicate his ignorance in translation. His behaviour is totally unethical. To understand the problem with his interpretation, you can view my other article at:

http://www.royalacademicinstitute.com ... s/article.php?storyid=267

http://www.royalacademicinstitute.com ... s/article.php?storyid=268

If you like to continue read my articles, please subscribe

If you like my article, please don’t hesitate to share with your friend by sending them a link or put my link in your website.



If you like to help me to translate my articles into other language, please don’t hesitate to contact me.