ABSTRACT
Xu Jun (as J. Xu below): I have been writing the book 《翻译思考录》 (Thoughts on Translation), which is my thinking about translation theory and practice at the end of the 20th century. As far as I know from the documents I read, you have great achievements in both translation practice and translation theory. You have translated dozens of books, including not only English and French literary masterpieces, which you translated into Chinese, but also Chinese literary and cultural classics, such as 《诗经》 (Book of Odes), 《楚辞》 (Elegies of the South), Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan dramas, and Mao Zedong’s poems, which you translated into French and/or English. Your poetry translation “Songs of the Immortals” was published by Penguin Classics, a most famous publisher in the UK. Some of your foreign translations were also included among foreign literature classics. As the first person to have the achievements, you’ve opened a channel for Chinese cultural diffusion in the world and so can be regarded as one of the most accomplished translators in the 20th century. In respect of your translation practice, as Qian Zhongshu said, “You are well versed in both poems and verses and meanwhile highly competent in both English and French, like a general with the double spears of the Chinese ancient eighteen weapons, who can wave them with both left and right hands at the same time.” Based on your translation practice, you put forward your own translation theory, which has evoked strong responses in China and also become known abroad. Therefore, I’d like to ask you some questions on the connection between translation theory and practice and on your experience and thoughts on translation as well.
