Two Voices in One

Book excerpt: Two Voices in One: Essays in Asian and Translation Studies is a collection of papers by eight scholars of international standing. Concentrating on what really makes Asian and Translation Studies fascinating and worth one’s while, it opens the reader’s eyes to new horizons, horizons not found in collections or monographs that look at either discipline in isolation. In going through the collection, the reader will see how a translation problem can rear a “yellow-ochre head,” why a Chinese garden can become a source language text, and in what way a commentary can shine with “Multiflorate Splendour.” Emerging from the surreal world, the reader must be prepared, first to have his/her breath taken away by a translation project on a truly grand scale, then to see the difference between the page and the stage, and finally to be amazed by the speed at which computer-aided translation has been developing. With equal amazement, the reader will learn that Chinese can sometimes be more effectively taught, not through Chinese, but through translation, and that the Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Chinese philosopher Mencius are linked, not only by philosophy, but also by translation.