Author(s): Ulrich Kautz
Pages: 8-11+94
Year: 2015 Issue:  1
Journal: Foreign Language Teaching
Keyword:  German translation; Ulrich Kautz; Chinese literature; contemporary Chinese novel; Mo Yan; Yu Hua; translation strategy; translation skill;
Abstract: This article is the speech delivered by Ulrich Kautz at the conference "Mirror in Mirror: Contemporary Chinese novels and their translation"organized by the Foreign Languages School of East China Normal University in April 2014. Based on his own experiences and observations,Kautz discusses how to do a better job in introducing contemporary Chinese literature to Germany and the role that translation can play in the effort. Specifically he tries to answer the following questions: Why would a German reader want to read a Chinese novel? Whose novels’ German translations are available in the German market? What factors come into a German publishing house’s consideration when it chooses a Chinese novel to translate? What criteria help a German translator to choose a Chinese novel? What are the common difficulties that German sinologists often find themselves in when they translate? What major translation strategies and skills does Kautz often employ?