Sunday, February 19, 2023

Ouyang Yu: Self-translation and bilingual writing as a transnational writer in the age of machine translation

In his essay "Self-translation and bilingual writing as a transnational writer in the age of machine translation", recently published in Overland, poet Ouyang Yu talks about his bilingual Chinese-English poems. He explains that publishers were sceptical about his self-translations:

"I had difficulties in getting them accepted because I gave away the secret of self-translation until I presented them as if they were originally written in the English language, a strategy well worth adopting in those days of insensitivity to the genre."

The focus of his essay, however, is on the role that machine translation, e.g. DeepL, plays in his bilingual writing. 

The full essay can be found here: https://overland.org.au/2023/02/self-translation-and-bilingual-writing-as-a-transnational-writer-in-the-age-of-machine-translation/


1 comment:

Root said...

Interesting! Does machine translation impact self-translation similarly to how it might affect multilingual call centers, blurring cultural nuances

JLM Special issue on Self-translation in 21st century is out!

Journal of Literary Multilingualism -Special Issue: Literary Self-Translation in the 21st Century: A Global View edited by Trish van Boldere...