{"id":1053,"date":"2008-07-21T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2008-07-21T03:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=1053"},"modified":"2026-09-20T20:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:26:28","slug":"miffy_translation_2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2008\/07\/21\/miffy_translation_2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion is the twin broth\u00ader of chance: from \u201cMiffy\u201d to \u201cMicro Psy\u00adcho\u00adanaly\u00adsis\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u5c1d\u8bd5\u662f\u5076\u7136\u7684\u5b6a\u751f\u5144\u5f1f\uff1a\u4ece"\u7c73\u83f2"\u5230\u300a\u5fae\u7cbe\u795e\u5206\u6790\u5b66\u300b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I think this title is also very strange, because the sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion is very strange.<\/p>\n

Yes\u00adter\u00adday, I was still trans\u00adlat\u00ading \u201cMiffy.\u201d Trans\u00adlat\u00ading \u201cMiffy\u201d is giv\u00ading me quite a headache. The orig\u00adi\u00adnal text is incred\u00adi\u00adbly sim\u00adple, intend\u00aded for chil\u00addren aged 2\u20136. Tril\u00adlis, author of \u201cThe Read\u00ading Hand\u00adbook,\u201d sug\u00adgests the Eng\u00adlish trans\u00adla\u00adtion is suit\u00adable for chil\u00addren aged 6 months and old\u00ader. There\u00adfore, when trans\u00adlat\u00ading, I had to use sim\u00adple lan\u00adguage to make it under\u00adstand\u00adable and enjoy\u00adable for chil\u00addren aged 2\u20136. But the biggest chal\u00adlenge is that \u201cMiffy\u201d rhymes. The orig\u00adi\u00adnal author, Dutch painter Dick Bruna, proud\u00adly adopt\u00aded a \u201cGoth\u00adic rhyme,\u201d not only for rhyme but also for the aes\u00adthet\u00adics of word count and typog\u00adra\u00adphy. The Eng\u00adlish trans\u00adla\u00adtor is also quite tal\u00adent\u00aded, hav\u00ading won a trans\u00adla\u00adtion award for his work. So, ever since I had to take on the \u201creview and trans\u00adla\u00adtion\u201d of that Miffy set, I\u2019ve been hav\u00ading a real headache.<\/p>\n

Yes\u00adter\u00adday I encoun\u00adtered a few par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly dif\u00adfi\u00adcult para\u00adgraphs, and I could\u00adn\u2019t find the right rhyme: the mean\u00ading had to be sim\u00adi\u00adlar to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal, and it had to rhyme, the num\u00adber of words had to be sim\u00adi\u00adlar, and the vocab\u00adu\u00adlary had to be very sim\u00adple and smooth to say, so that chil\u00addren aged 2\u20136 could rough\u00adly under\u00adstand it\u2026 Putting all these con\u00addi\u00adtions togeth\u00ader, it seems unlike\u00adly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s scorch\u00ading hot, unbear\u00adable with\u00adout the air con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00ading, but it\u2019s also uncom\u00adfort\u00adable with it. I\u2019ve flipped through that rhyme guide sev\u00ader\u00adal times and even used an app to search, but noth\u00ading helps. I\u2019ve tried dif\u00adfer\u00adent ways of say\u00ading it, but none of them work. It\u2019s frus\u00adtrat\u00ading. I\u2019m tempt\u00aded to put it aside and think about it lat\u00ader, but dead\u00adlines are tight. Hon\u00adest\u00adly, I\u2019m feel\u00ading a bit over\u00adwhelmed.<\/p>\n

When\u00adev\u00ader this hap\u00adpens, I will run to the book\u00adshelf, pick up a book at ran\u00addom and read it to get a feel for it.<\/p>\n

The books on the book\u00adshelf were sort\u00aded a long time ago and are rough\u00adly clas\u00adsi\u00adfied, but it\u2019s still quite messy, with all kinds of books mixed in.<\/p>\n

I was ran\u00addom\u00adly flip\u00adping through the pages\u2014wait! There was a book whose spine looked com\u00adplete\u00adly unfa\u00admil\u00adiar to me. It seemed to have popped up out of nowhere, mixed in with a pile of phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy and social sci\u00adence books, placed rather high up, and the text was a bit hard to read. At first glance, it said some\u00adthing about \u201cpsy\u00adcho\u00adanaly\u00adsis.\u201d Strange\u00adly, the author seemed to have a Chi\u00adnese name, but some\u00adone had trans\u00adlat\u00aded it (I hap\u00adpen to be aller\u00adgic to the word \u201ctrans\u00adla\u00adtion\u201d). The lay\u00adout was also odd, like this: \u201cWrit\u00adten by Fang Di, trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Shang Heng\u201d\u2014this lay\u00adout felt clum\u00adsy and con\u00adfus\u00ading.<\/p>\n

Any\u00adway, out of some inex\u00adplic\u00ada\u00adble curios\u00adi\u00adty, I pulled this book out from the top shelf. The pages were a bit old and damp (that\u2019s just how it is in Guangzhou), but it had my name stamp on it, prov\u00ading it was indeed my own book. It had that famil\u00adiar, old-fash\u00adioned smell. A quick flip through revealed it to be a the\u00ado\u00adret\u00adi\u00adcal book, quite serious\u2014meaning it was best read in bed. So I lay down and ran\u00addom\u00adly flipped to the back, pure\u00adly to try my luck.<\/p>\n

I did\u00adn\u2019t expect this book to be so good, at least it suit\u00aded my mood yes\u00adter\u00adday. I just flipped through it, pick\u00ading up where I left off, and before I knew it, I\u2019d already read half the book. I found it very inter\u00adest\u00ading, with many nov\u00adel ideas that I might not agree with, but they were very inspir\u00ading. I just don\u2019t know what the whole book is about yet. Haha, some\u00adtimes peo\u00adple can feel a bit lost when read\u00ading.<\/p>\n

Lat\u00ader, feel\u00ading quite engrossed and curi\u00adous, I flipped to the front. It turned out the book was called \u201cMicro-Psy\u00adcho\u00adanaly\u00adsis,\u201d and the author was a Swiss psy\u00adcho\u00adan\u00ada\u00adlyst named Fang Di. After care\u00adful\u00adly read\u00ading the pref\u00adace, I real\u00adized that much of what I\u2019d just read was\u00adn\u2019t actu\u00adal\u00adly writ\u00adten by the author, but rather notes he\u2019d made about some of his patients. No won\u00adder I found the writ\u00ading so fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading, though the lan\u00adguage was some\u00adtimes a bit strange, haha! Read\u00ading this way was actu\u00adal\u00adly quite enjoy\u00adable, like explor\u00ading an unknown cave, grop\u00ading your way through, only to emerge and dis\u00adcov\u00ader a detailed map and guide\u00adbook right at the entrance!<\/p>\n

The two state\u00adments made by Fang Di are very attrac\u00adtive to me.<\/p>\n

One is the exis\u00adtence of empti\u00adness:<\/p>\n


\nOn me<\/strong><\/p>\n

rare,<\/p>\n

There\u2019s almost noth\u00ading<\/p>\n

The source belongs to me<\/p>\n

Anoth\u00ader is to try:<\/p>\n


\npeo\u00adple,<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the body to the spir\u00adit,<\/p>\n

is a<\/p>\n

Made up of many attempts<\/p>\n

try.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we put these two state\u00adments togeth\u00ader in a more pop\u00adu\u00adlar way, we can prob\u00ada\u00adbly say this:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Human exis\u00adtence is noth\u00ading more than an attempt to fill the void.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This sen\u00adtence may not be what Fang Di orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly intend\u00aded. Per\u00adhaps it is just a sen\u00adtence that I uncon\u00adscious\u00adly asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with dur\u00ading my hasty explo\u00adration of his \u201ccave\u201d. It may not have much mean\u00ading in itself. How to under\u00adstand it depends entire\u00adly on the new \u201cexplor\u00ader\u201d.<\/p>\n

But yes\u00adter\u00adday, it hap\u00adpened to be very inspir\u00ading to me, the \u201cexplor\u00ader\u201d. I put down this book \u201cMicro Psy\u00adcho\u00adanaly\u00adsis\u201d (in the end, I did\u00adn\u2019t quite under\u00adstand what the book was about, but it was enough for me), got up and con\u00adtin\u00adued to deal with those \u201cMiffy\u201d, and my headache was not so painful any\u00admore.<\/p>\n

To be more prag\u00admat\u00adic, I think I have dis\u00adcov\u00adered a very prac\u00adti\u00adcal trans\u00adla\u00adtion the\u00ado\u00adrem:<\/p>\n


\nTrans\u00adla\u00adtion is noth\u00ading more than an attempt made up of many attempts to fill in the gaps.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How should I put it? Take, for exam\u00adple, trans\u00adlat\u00ading some\u00adthing as sim\u00adple as \u201cMiffy.\u201d When you have to express the same mean\u00ading in anoth\u00ader lan\u00adguage, while being con\u00adstrained by a series of rules, headaches are inevitable. You have to keep exper\u00adi\u00adment\u00ading. Per\u00adhaps to find the right rhyming word, you have to try every con\u00adceiv\u00adable pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty, try\u00ading count\u00adless rhyme pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties. But when you final\u00adly find a word that just hap\u00adpens to be the right one, it seems to have been there for\u00adev\u00ader, seem\u00ading\u00adly unre\u00adlat\u00aded to all your pre\u00advi\u00adous attempts, as if every\u00adthing before was a waste of effort. But the truth is, all your attempts were for this final chance.<\/p>\n

As Dr. Fang Di, the author of Micro Psy\u00adcho\u00adanaly\u00adsis, said:<\/p>\n


\ntry<\/strong><\/p>\n

yes<\/p>\n

Acci\u00adden\u00adtal twin broth\u00aders<\/p>\n

\"\u5c1d\u8bd5\u662f\u5076\u7136\u7684\u5b6a\u751f\u5144\u5f1f\uff1a\u4ece"\u7c73\u83f2"\u5230\u300a\u5fae\u7cbe\u795e\u5206\u6790\u5b66\u300b\"<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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