College student’s translation project becomes best seller
Lu Ting-yung, a student in the Department of Foreign Languages at National Chung Cheng University, has teamed up with her father Lu Hsing-chung, the director of the library at Changhua Senior High School, to promote public service work. The pair wanted to act as ambassadors, spreading the good reputation of the school and furthering volunteer efforts internationally.
During the summer vacation in 2008, at her father’s suggestion, Ting-yung tried her hand at translating “It is Not Okay With Me” by Janine Maxell, founder of “Heart of Africa”. The volume details the author’s experiences in Africa, and former U.S. president Clinton has dubbed it a “must-read” book.
Ting-yung spent several months translating the 100,000-plus word book,which bore the Chinese title “Wo Bu OK”, and 6,000 copies were printed. The book became a best-seller both at the online bookseller books.com.tw and the popular Eslite bookstore chain on the island. Ting-yung donated her NT$100,000 translation fee to fulfill her father’s dream of promoting the international volunteer work of the high school library.
Ting-yung devoted all all her free time to complete the task and was unable to attend a welcoming dance for freshmen at college. Because her father would always demand that she do her best at her work, Ting-yung constantly revised her work and learned a great deal during the proofreading process.
Ting-yung says that the hardest part of translating was choosing the title. She found herself always returning to the point of departure, finally translating it literally to retain the author’s meaning. When she finally settled on the title and heard that the author liked it, it was as though a heavy weight had been removed from her shoulders.
Maxwell is set to publish a second book in September of 2009, and Lu’s next goal is to translate it as well to further promote international volunteerism.
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