The following is the translation of a speech I gave this December, representing the graduating LTI Korea Academy Ateliers of 2017. It was originally delivered in Korean. First, I would like to thank the tireless people at the LTI Korea Academy who do so much work on our behalf, from coordinating the demands of all of the graduates you see here to staying up at … Continue reading Annus Mirabilis

The translator of a certain bestselling science-fiction novel once said that he did not aim to normalize his work into English, that he wanted his translation to read a little weird, that he felt he was contributing to the English language by introducing Chinese translationese. This translator,  an award-winning writer in his own right, is Chinese-American. An important point. He grew up in America, lives in … Continue reading Language Imperialism

A vastness of mind is set to heart Of narratives placed in distant stars The space of space, a door ajar A noun a portal into art.  Giants teased from micro parts Dinosaurs bloom from drops of tar A species in a single scar A universe’s end writ in its start. The alpha and omega in a line Each line decides the ending yet to … Continue reading SFF Sonnet

*This problem isn’t exclusive to perfect bilinguals, but I’ve found that perfect bilinguals are the most susceptible to it. The Perfect Bilingual Problem is when a translator is so thoroughly aware of each nuance of the source text, and is so adept in the target language that they end up carrying over every semantic unit of the source into their translation. Which may sound like … Continue reading The Perfect Bilingual Problem

“He’s unfathomable.” “Of course he is.” He made as if to light a cigarette, remembered the new anti-smoking law, and tossed his lighter back on the café table. “He’s another human being, of course he’s unfathomable.” “Is this what being in a relationship is like?” “What is it like, then?” “It’s like we’re both planets and we’re merging. Merging oceans. Slowly, not colliding into each … Continue reading The Face of Love

I’m not a native speaker of English, so as a translator I was obliged to describe my English as “native level” on my résumé and get paid less for it accordingly. I was hired because I could pass for an American, and paid as if I couldn’t. We do not talk of “native writers,” we talk of native speakers. Perhaps this is to be expected, … Continue reading The Native Speaker Problem

I like to say, guardedly, that I could define poetry this way: it is that which gets lost out of both prose and verse in translation. —Robert Frost in Conversations on the Craft of Poetry   The above is often misquoted as “Poetry is what gets lost in translation,” but the substance of Robert Frost’s idea remains the same: the translation of poetry is impossible. An … Continue reading On Translating Poetry

*I once briefly tutored a thirteen year-old in creative writing. This is what I learned. 1. Learning how to finish a draft is an important skill in itself. 1.2 This skill mostly involves finding and developing a story by “writing out” of the first scenes or impressions you have of your narrative. 1.2.1 This takes a lot of deliberate, vigorously logical thinking. 1.2.1.1 Many people … Continue reading Notes for Young Writers