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It is a daunting task when you realise quite how loved Jin Yong’s writing is—Chinese people were almost aghast that I would try [translating it]. But I believe in the potential of this series to find a wide readership.
How did you get into translating, and what drew you to China?
I grew up loving literature and languages. I have been bilingual in English and Swedish ever since I can remember; I don’t know what it would be like not to be constantly moving between languages. Learning Chinese felt like the ultimate challenge—I was hungry for something so different to the culture and literature I grew
up with. The appeal of Chinese is that not only does it lay claim to a rich tradition, but it has profoundly influenced all of East and South-East Asia too. The written language can be compared to Latin: it’s rooted in an empire, but it was (and still is) used across different linguistic communities. A whole world opened up to me by learning Chinese.
I have always loved to read and especially to write, so after finishing my studies I thought, why not combine these two loves? Literary translation is an odd thing to do for a living. But I have always combined it with working within the industry as a literary agent and editor. I want to be part of the whole conversation, from the larger process of selling rights, to the nitty-gritty detail involved in translating.
You also translate from Swedish to English as well. How does that process differ from working with Chinese source texts?
Swedish is something I got "for free" from my cousins and family in Sweden. It was always assumed that I would speak Swedish when visiting them. I don’t have a formal education in Swedish; instead I picked it up from relatives on the beach and in the forest, listening to radio and late night stories over schnapps. I work very instinctively with Swedish.
Having married into a Chinese-speaking family, and opted to raise my son trilingual, Mandarin has become a language of emotion too. I can "feel" my way in Mandarin to a far greater extent now than when I first started translating. This emotional, instinctual aspect has helped me no end. I would say it’s far more important for a literary translator to have had relationships (friendships, as much as anything else) in a language than to be certified as a translator. Feeling why someone uses a certain word, rather than reading why they do so, makes for better translations.
You've been with London-based Diamond Kahn & Woods [DKW] Literary Agency for a few months now—how has it been?
Anna Holmwood has been instrumental in bringing Jin Yong’s work to the wide English-speaking audience. She talks about the wuxia master’s influence, the art of...
Anna Holmwood has been instrumental in bringing Jin Yong’s work to the wide English-speaking audience. She talks about the wuxia master’s influence, the art of translation and how Mandarin is a 'language of emotion'.
