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Sample translations submitted: 1
English to Chinese: SHAKESPEARE'S BIOGRAPHY
Source text - English For all his fame and celebration, William Shakespeare remains a mysterious figure with regards to personal history. There are just two primary sources for information on the Bard: his works, and various legal and church documents that have survived from Elizabethan times. Naturally, there are many gaps in this body of information, which tells us little about Shakespeare the man.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564. Church records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. Young William was born of John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed local heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight children in the Shakespeare household—three of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the late 1570s.
There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival that of Eton. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's first biographer, Nicholas Rowe, wrote that John Shakespeare had placed William "for some time in a free school." John Shakespeare, as a Stratford official, would have been granted a waiver of tuition for his son. As the records do not exist, we do not know how long William attended the school, but certainly the literary quality of his works suggest a solid education. What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded to university schooling, which has stirred some of the debate concerning the authorship of his works.
The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26—and pregnant. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born February 2, 1585 and christened at Holy Trinity. Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, 1596.
For the seven years following the birth of his twins, William Shakespeare disappears from all records, finally turning up again in London some time in 1592. This period, known as the "Lost Years," has sparked as much controversy about Shakespeare's life as any period. Rowe notes that young Shakespeare was quite fond of poaching, and may have had to flee Stratford after an incident with Sir Thomas Lucy, whose deer and rabbits he allegedly poached. There is also rumor of Shakespeare working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, though this is circumstantial at best.
It is estimated that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to establish himself as an actor and playwright. Evidently, Shakespeare garnered envy early on for his talent, as related by the critical attack of Robert Greene, a London playwright, in 1592: "...an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country."
Greene's bombast notwithstanding, Shakespeare must have shown considerable promise. By 1594, he was not only acting and writing for the Lord Chamberlain's Men (called the King's Men after the ascension of James I in 1603), but was a managing partner in the operation as well. With Will Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, a leading tragic actor of the day, the Lord Chamberlain's Men became a favorite London troupe, patronized by royalty and made popular by the theatre-going public.
I am a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker and have been living in England for the past 9 years. During this time I have gained a good understanding of the English language and culture. I am also married to a native English speaker and this has helped me to further refine my English ability.
I have been interested in translation for a long time, helping to do basic translation when I first came to UK in 2004, and more recently at the Bradford and Bristol Chinese Church (sermons). I am also interested in language differences more generally, and find it instructive to compare two such different languages when doing translations. English and Chinese developed far apart and belong to different language groups which make translation and interpretation a real challenge. I feel that translating between these languages helps me develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of both cultures.
Currently I am studying for an MA in Translation at Bristol University, and have completed or am undertaking modules in Applied Translation, Theory of Translation and Computer-assisted translation. The latter has been particularly helpful tool in aiding the translator bringing a wealth of information and techniques to bear on the translation process. In addition to the widely available machine translation there is specialised software specifically aimed at translators such as SDL Trados and WordFast Pro that combines programmatic intelligence with the capabilities of the professional. This accelerates and improves the accuracy of translation task as I have found using these tools extensively in my MA program. This academic work helps underpin my existing practical experience in translating between Chinese and English.
My background of working in China as an agricultural officer first showed me how people in an unequal society can suffer and how correctly addressing their needs can narrow the equality gap. My work involved using my interpersonal skills and professional knowledge on behalf of the government, in helping the local communities of poor farmers with minimal education improve their health, knowledge and financial circumstances. The farmers often adopted poor practices such as using banned pesticides or using permitted chemicals in excessive amounts on their crops. They also did not make optimum use of their land and resources, and often the root of many of these problems was the loss of traditional farming techniques coupled with the arrival of modern methods which they tried to adopt, but did not properly grasp or execute. This was compounded in some cases by suspicion or distrust of outsiders. I was able to bridge this gap by being able to speak the local dialect, by using my government training to impart my knowledge and experience to them in grounded practical ways that could help them immediately, and by sympathising with them because I knew from my own farming heritage the difficulties they faced. I was able to explain how for example significantly reducing pesticides use actually helped them to save money, improve the quality of their produce and even paradoxically increase yields by reducing the harm to pollinating species of insects. I also could suggest ways they might improve their income by farming alternative “crops” such as silk worms, or explain how a single wrong step in an apparently lucrative crop such as tobacco could render it nearly worthless.
By maintaining a professional attitude at all times I could develop the farmers by constantly improving their knowledge and methods which could have many beneficial direct and indirect effects. I did not try to be judgemental or talk down to them, or exploit my position of trust and authority for personal gain.
Looking ahead, my motivation for studying to obtain a qualification is to improve my performance as a translator to a professional level, and steer myself towards a new career as a translator. I hope that it will also present opportunities for me in work where formal qualifications are required in addition to translating experience.