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Miriam
Any one up to the September Translation Challenge of Hacking Chinese?

Are there any fellow learners taking part in the September Translation Challenge of Hacking Chinese? 

http://www.hackingchinese.com/challenge-site-upgrade-september-translation-challenge/

I have taken part in a reading challenge before, but that was easy compared to the translation. Especially since it is translation from another language (in my case German) to Chinese. I have never done that. Ever. So, it is a huge challenge. I think I will start with news in easy German (plain language) and see how it goes. 

Sep 7, 2016 7:04 PM
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The different spellings of "Der Prozess" are results of spelling reforms in Germany. According to Wikipedia it was common to write the word "Process" or "Proceß" in the 19th century and then "Prozeß" in the 20th century. I learnt "Prozeß" at school, but in the late nineties of the 20 century and the beginning of the 21st century there was a reform (which was itself reformed several times), due to which the spelling switched to "Prozess", which is ironically the way the word was written in the first edition of Kafka's book. So, the oldest spelling of this book's title and the newest are the same. ;-)
September 9, 2016
The site Hacking Chinese is for language learners. Every month there is another challenge, e.g. reading, writing, listening and in September it is translation.
September 9, 2016
Hi, is the site primarily targeted for language learners?   I don't see it as a challenge for professional translators. 
September 9, 2016

There's a wonderful podcast episode on translation, here:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/translation/

The whole episode is very engaging, but I loved the first part, an interview with the renaissance man and intellectual superman Douglas Hofstadter (sorry, couldn't resist: here we have examples of a refusal to translate and a calque translation of Übermensch)

Sorry to digress, but why do you think "The Trial" has (according to Wikipedia) several German titles: Der Process, Der Prozess, Der Proceß and Der Prozeß? Is this a dialectical difference of Czech German?

Since my German is basically A0 I wasn't sure which to use.

September 9, 2016

@Alan

Nice pun! Maybe I should translate "Der Prozess"? But that is far too difficult for me. I'll start with news for children. When I was teaching German in China, I also taught German literature and once I compared "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" by Goethe with the Chinese translation. The Chinese translation that I found only translated the content (into modern Chinese) but not the style. Even I found the Chinese version easier to read than the original.  It is true, that a lot gets lost in the process of translation. It is always best to read the original. Kafka's works are great, so better start learning German. ;-) 

I currently read the Finnish book Moominpappa at Sea in German to my kids. This book is so beautifully translated, that it makes me wonder, how beautiful the Finnish language is. If I ever start learning that language, then it is mainly because of the Moomins. ;-) 

September 9, 2016
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Miriam
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), French, German
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin)