A translation of One to Watch: creating an “original” from a cross-cultural perspective

Abstract

The present-day beauty standard for women is heavily associated with being thin, especially in China. Not only is the “thin ideal” perpetuated via multiple touchpoints in women’s daily life, but there is also a lack of literature to suggest otherwise. This results in lifelong battles with body image issues, which can potentially be physically and mentally detrimental. Although the body positivity movement has been made popular in the United States of America (USA), this concept is still considerably foreign in China. Hence, this translation project aims to offer urban Chinese women with a different perspective on body positivity and self-acceptance. This is an English-to-Chinese translation, with the source text extracted from the fictional novel One to Watch. The goal was to create a covert translation that reads as an “original”, so that the target text (TT) users would be more receptive of the body positivity concept. With the TT translated in the style of an internet novel, some of the most employed strategies were localisation and transcreation. In the commentary chapter, the challenges of translation from a cross-cultural perspective were presented. Apart from body positivity, other cross-cultural topics mentioned in this paper include the “millennial speak”, Chinese internet slang, media and social media landscape. A “cultural filter” was added to socio-cultural concepts such as feminism and gender identities. Other approaches adopted include the discussion of the “leftover women” concept and the use of rhetorical devices. China’s stringent censorship policy was also taken into consideration throughout the translation process. This paper bridges a cultural gap by introducing the concept of body positivity, as well as provides a peek into today’s internet culture. Through navigating the cultural differences between USA and China, this paper also reveals that cultural fluency and creativity are essential traits of a translator.