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Thu 5 Jul, 2007 03:52 am
hello everyone. I'm a chinaese student who love scientific fiction very much. Did you know,there's an international SF and FF meeting in Chengdu, China, this August? Neil Gaiman, Robert J.Sawyer and Bob Eggleton will come.
Now I am translating a Chinese paper on SF, the author is a respected Chinese critic. This paper would be published in English, so I must translate it good enough^ I feel I need some native speaker to help me to polish it! Would you like to help me?
Here is two paragraphs of it. please read them and give me your opionions, would you?
many thanks!
here are the two paragraghs:
If we suppose that literature is a communication between the writings and other objects, such as Dostoevsky′s torturing question of human nature, Balzac's conversation with France vanity fair and Cao Xueqin's exclaim at the chaotic world; Then, to sum up the features of Genre SF since it started to develop, we can say, popular fiction, especially genre fiction, particularly stressed the importance of communication with the works of the same type. That is, regular mutual quotation and implication between themselves. The graceful works, or classic fictions, established their positions by the depth and width of the communication mentioned before, and by their own weight and richness; whereas, genre fictions succeeded by the amount and frequency of their communications, which stretched as a successive forest. Genre fictions have their own reading customs, code signals, technical terms and story lines. These repetitiveness sometimes seemed exclusive to outsiders, yet unavoidable tiresome for veterans.
In like wise, a piece of genre fiction shouldn't be judged upon merely itself, the understanding of a word or a sentence could never be based simply on the context of the article. Because the genre fictions are always involved with each others, the comprehension of them should be expanded to the history of the whole genre. Taken in this sense, when facing the critics, genre fiction is a type of literature that has transcended the original text. By saying this, I am not speaking in defense of genre fiction, but emphasizing the possibility of another way of comprehension.
You should rely on your own skills or pay for a consultation with an editor.
There are several people who post here who make a living editing papers and books
ok, I know, thanks for your advise
I need more than an editor, but someone who loves SF. It's so hard to translate these technical terms~
Thank you all the same.
I do not believe you need more than an editor. Make the translation yourself as best you can then hand over to an English speaking editor. This will ensure the editor you choose will be true to the context and intent of paragraphs.
The structure of your posted paragraphs are convoluted. Tenses and verb forms need work to make reading sensible and enjoyable for English speakers but it is not unreadable as it is. I do not see any technical terms that would be difficult. If you communicate well with an editor it will work out well.
I also enjoy SF, especially classics such as Issac Asimov, ("Foundation trilogy" and "I robot") and Aurthur C Clark (
"childhoods end"). These may be older than what you are used to but remain firm favourites of mine. I wonder if you know these stories in china.
By the way, you should wait and see if help may come from other members. They may not take such a hard line as I have.
thank you for your opioion. Maybe I should blame myself for my inability and some kind of irresponsibility
.
of course I konw authors like Issac Asimov and Aurthur C Clark.
they're so preeminent!
I read "Foundation trilogy" and "I robot" when I was in junior middle school. In Chinese version, of course. And I get to kown Aurthur C Clark
when I attend college."childhoods end" is an amasing story, and it haunted me for several weeks. The story made me sad.
I like Robert A. Heinlein,too.
The big three have many fans in China. :wink:
I did not mean to be critical of your efforts. I can only speak and write in English so you are much more talented than I.
You need to clarify your meaning and write sentences that have subjects and verbs, beginnings and endings. As they stand, the two paragraphs you wrote are not editable. They're incomprehensible. An editor needs to understand your intended meaning in order to fix the language.
First think about the point you want to make. State it simply and concisely. Write short sentences. Cut out all the extra material to begin with. Just make direct statements of what you want to say. Try making a list of the point you want to cover.
I strongly encourage you to start over.