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Red Moon: A Wai Si Lei [Wesley] novel

Author: Ni Kuang

Translated by me [Oli]

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Here lies the first instalment of my next mission: an amateur’s translation of popular Chinese sci-fi writer Ni Kuang’s Red Moon.

The first [obvious] thing to say is…I am not a professional translator. Nor am I an experienced one. In fact, this is only my second time trying this, and the first attempt ended after about seventeen pages.

That was also an Ni Kuang book – The Blue Blood Being – and the reason I gave up was mostly due to lack of time [it takes a while for me to go through a chapter in enough detail to be confident with my translation].

My reading level in Chinese is about the same as a ten year old, more or less. I mean, there are some differences. Being an adult, my general comprehension of more advanced vocab should be higher, but a kid would be more accustomed to the sentence structures and how it generally flows as a story, so, all in all, they’re still at a higher level than me.

Basically, I’m out of my depth and proceeding from there.

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Second thing…this will be more of an adaptation than a translation. I thought about using the word dynamic, as in the translator takes liberties with the original text that, some may argue, render it too detached from the author’s intent, yet with Ni Kuang I think it’s probably the best approach to take. Although his work is widely-read, and has been adapted into TV dramas/movies, most Hong Kong people I know generally see him as a prolific ideas man rather than a spectacular writer. Of course, he’s not terrible at writing, but he’s not held in the same high regard as other famous Chinese fantasy writers like Jin Yong.

Also, he died last year so he can’t come after me with an axe.

Because of both of these reasons, I feel okay about translating his work.

Actually, thinking about it, it’s kind of like writing a novelisation of Robocop 2 or Time Cop, the story’s already laid out for you, all you have to do is colour it in a bit more.

The only tricky part, which I’ve already felt from translating the synopsis on the back cover [see below], is when the sentence is completely different from how it would be written in English. That is, when you translate it the first time, you realise you’re gonna have to change quite a lot, perhaps add certain words to give it an English flavour, but when you do that, it feels like you’ve gone too far away from what was written in Chinese. BUT…if you try too hard to keep it literal [formal equivalence style] then it’ll start to read like one of those old pirated VCD covers. Or, even worse, dry and lifeless.

Nah, as an an-com and hater of most traditions, dynamic/adaptation has to be the way to go. I just have to trust myself. And, if in doubt, just ask my wife [who studied translation at Uni].

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Third point…Red Moon is part of a long series of books following the professor/detective character of Wesley, none of which I’ve read. Consequently, there may be some gaps I’m incapable of filling in due to lore ignorance. Don’t know how big an issue it’s going to be yet, guess I’ll find out as I go.

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Summary:

It’s a normal-length book, about 280 pages, with only 12 chapters.

With a bit of luck, I’ll be able to put out a chapter every two to three weeks, along with some notes on my struggles at translating this unyielding beast.

Unless I get ambushed by other things.

Let’s see how it goes.

First up, the blurb on the back:

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[Red Moon]

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Synopsis

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Humankind will eventually head along the path to destruction.

This is the future we as a species are predicted to reach. But what will be the cause?

A group of beings from an unknown solar system – the men in white – have eyes on Earth, with the intent of carrying out some kind of secret plan. Working under the wing of the Bureau of Xeno-Intelligence Affairs, Wesley and his old friend Bato are pulled into this mysterious case via the Red Moon project. Faced with an unfamiliar species and ludicrously advanced technology, they are left by the powers that be to deal with the situation alone. Layer upon layer of an obscured veil, truth after shocking truth, endless moments of internal struggle…Wesley and his allies are destined via traditional novel form to suffer through it all. But what exactly is the real story behind all this men in white stuff?

First contact with aliens is about to unfold…

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Notes:

I did a few ad-libs above as the original synopsis was super vague in parts e.g. after reading through the first chapter, it turns out that his old friend Bato is in fact the deputy director of the Bureau of Xeno-Intelligence Affairs.

I also changed the last line from a more literal translation of ‘the dialogue with aliens is about to unfold’ to ‘first contact’ as it seemed to work better that way in English. But now that I look at it again, perhaps in the novel, this isn’t first contact so my translation could be inaccurate.

Hmm, I’ll leave it the way it is for now, maybe come back and change it later if it turns out aliens have been chatting with us for decades.

Obviously, I added the ‘via traditional novel form’ part, and will continue to insert other slightly caustic asides throughout the adaptation. Makes it more fun that way. And I don’t think Ni Kuang would mind as he once took over one of Jin Yong’s serials for two weeks [while Jin Yong was on holiday] and ended up lopping a character’s arm off…or making him blind…can’t remember which. But definitely a playful guy.

Okay, that’s it for now.

Chapter 1 coming next week…

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