Reading Translated Literature: 'The Odyssey'

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Yvonne Tang

In this age when Asian countries have begun to take great strides towards globalization, demand for books translated to and from Asian languages continue to grow. In this article, I will share as an Asian student my views of translated books by and for Asians, mainly focusing on my thoughts regarding the Chinese translation of Homer’s The Odyssey.

One who has spent a substantial duration of their life in an Asian community may feel, while reading translated English texts, both distant and closely connected with the language being used within a book. It is notable that in the Chinese translation of Homer’s The Odyssey, the language used was notably formal in tone and would be very rarely seen in typical daily conversation. The speech pattern also contributes to the word choice as it is written in a fairly similar structure to its original ancient Greek counterpart.

As a result of all the aforementioned, reading the Chinese translation of The Odyssey was, for me, an intriguing experience. Although some effort was necessary to understand the less used vocabulary and unique descriptive phrases, it was generally quite clear to read and gives the reader a perhaps different perspective and experience of interpreting The Odyssey.

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