A Fast and Furious New Chinese-Arabic Translation Contest
Can you translate an entire novel from Chinese to Arabic in the next three months?
Egypt’s National Center for Translation (NCT) and the Chinese Culture Center in Cairo announced last week that they were expecting a number of emerging translators — at least ten — to do just that with Shi Yifeng‘s novel, The Disappearance of a Girl Named Chen Jianfang. Yifeng, born in Beijing in 1979, is a prolific writer and works as an editor at Dangdai magazine.
According to organizers, the contest is open to emerging translators between the ages of 25 and 45. The book was available for download June 18, and the translation must be submitted within three months.
The Chinese Culture Center in Cairo will offer $2,000 to the first place winner, whose translation will be published. Anwar Mogeith, chairman of the NCT, further said that the organization will promote the book’s sales at the 2020 Cairo International Book Fair.
The second and third place winners will be granted $1,000 and $500 respectively, while other participants, “until the 10th place,” will be given $200 dollars.
Here’s hoping there are no more than ten participants.
June 26, 2019 @ 12:59 pm
Translating literature from Chinese and other Asian and African nations has been in need of a serious push. Glad to see this new initiative to break the hold of “official” translations of Chinese literature done by Chinese governmental publishers.