Student Translation Project
HKBU 2016
Racoon
Outside your door
comes a racoon
plump and greedy
steeling your neighbours leftovers.
By the swamp of New Orleans,
an abandoned cottage
and an airplant hanging low.
A little racoon
standing by the river
behind a tree
emptyhanded.
He looks at us
helplessly puzzled
like a child.
Matthew Cheng
Translated by: Flora, Kitman, Priscilla, Ruby and Yvonne
Scholar in Fu Tei[1]
Old tree, with wilted leaves,
enough for a shade. Someone sitting
with curled palms. Kiosk and pond.
Tree after tree, huddling together reluctantly
Harsh and burning is the sun,
wide and void is the land
like fierce monsters pressing down,
to heavy to bear. Wilted leaves gush from
the trunk. The air is stagnant in the heat.
Dreaming. Someone holding
Tang Dynasty poems in the hand.
Behind the hill,
buids uncertain weather.
Look at the shade above
Pitted with holes are the leaves
filtering wind and distractions. Hay
is rustling in my ears. The wind grows,
or is that the tiger's whiskers
flicking string of zither.
Withdraw your restrained
claws, look at the slope in the distance.
Lonely figure
Passing beside tombs on the mountain
[1] “Fu”（”虎” in Chinese) means tiger. A place situated in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong. Name comes from the Bowring Camp.
Chris Song
Translated by: Alice, Doris and Iris
Barn Dancing Ball
How can we swing our bodies,
if we have encountered.
Our steps echo with the rhythm.
The volume of the music
fluctuates with our mood.
Eros are bred between us
in flirtations conversation
It’s such a pity you’re not here
You’re reading poems undone and
translating them into languages
I''''"m familiar with
under the lights
The car turns around at the corner
But you’re not distracted
Just focusing on the rhythm of the words
Solving the riddles hidden in the words
It’s such a pity only I’m here
Only my steps echo with the Blues
Indulging in the bubbles of beer
Becoming bitter over time
Finally,
I see you under the lights
The bubbles disappear
with the glass left transparent,
waiting to be filled with water
Matthew Cheng
Translated by: Lam Po Yu, Jessie; Gao Bing Yuan, Alicia and Ho Sin Yee, Cindy
A Well With
Wan and Sallow
A well with wan and sallow,
sustain that much,
that long.
Sometimes wanna straighten herself up.
Take a glance at the high sky.
Yet, the openning is all she can see.
Painted wall and Portugese building,
dazzling door and Grand mansion,
high wall, ruined curb, as years pass
She still turned a blind eye on outside the wall.
Starving is her family,
devoting all she might,
closing up the openning when exhausted.
One day, she knelt down with all her luster faded.
It's time to shoulder her over the back
and look her up,
leading her
from her solitude,
And returning her
joy and jubilance.
Chris Song
Translated by: Terrance, Natalie and Dickson
These four poems were translated by students taking the course TRAN2016 English for translators: Genres in Translation in Semester 2, 2017. Although the course primarily focused on non-literary genres in translation, quite a few students expressed the wish to work on literary translation. We selected poetry as one of the literary forms with most condesed and methaphorical language. The students worked cooperatively in groups and developed their final translation through peer review and assistance by the class teacher. Participating Hong Kong poets gave permission for the translation and publication of their works under the Creative Commons licence.
Led by: Dr Marija Todorova