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Professor of translation at Hong Kong Baptist University, Tan Zaixi claims that "the Chinese tradition of translation is an ‘externally-oriented’ tradition, whereas in the West there is a more ‘internally-oriented’ one". Traditionally, Chinese translation theories were in fact for works from foreign languages to Chinese.

The Modern Standard Chinese word fanyi 翻譯 "translate; translation" compounds fan "turn over; cross over; translate" and yi "translate; interpret". The Chinese classics contain various words meaning "interpreter; translator", for example, sheren 舌人 (lit. "tongue person") .

Chinese translation theory was born out of contact with vassal states during the Zhou Dynasty and developed through translations of Buddhist scripture into Chinese. A Western Han work attributes a dialogue about translation to Confucius, who advises a ruler who wishes to learn foreign languages not to bother and focus on governance, letting the translators handle translation.

It is true that in this multicultural and increasingly globalised world, civilisational dialogues and cultural exchanges require many untiring, meticulous and out-of-the-limelight efforts of professional linguists who have to be highly specialised to guarantee top quality service. Chinese is SanTranslate‘s strong point, and we also provide translations for many other languages. To know more, visit our language pages.

Endangered languages don’t seem as self-evidently valuable as say, endangered species are to the functioning of a healthy ecosystem. As the famous example goes, Eskimo have numerous words to describe what in English would simply be called “snow” and “ice.” This suggests that languages, besides translating universal ideas into different spellings, encode different concepts.

The Rosetta Project is The Long Now Foundation’s first exploration into very long-term archiving. It is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to develop a contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone to last from 2000 to 12,000 AD. Its goal is a meaningful survey and near permanent archive of 1,500 languages. The intention is to create a unique platform for comparative linguistic research and education, as well as a functional linguistic tool that might help in the recovery or revitalisation of lost languages in the future.

The first prototype of the Rosetta project is The Rosetta Disk – a three inch diameter nickel disk with nearly 14,000 pages of information microscopically etched onto its surface. Since each page is an image, it can be read by the human eye using powerful optical magnification. The disk rests in a sphere made of stainless steel and glass which allows it exposure to the atmosphere, but protects it from casual impact and abrasion.

What kind of information should go into such a long term archive? There are many possibilities: a collection of the world’s greatest literature, known cures for the diseases that plague humanity, blueprints for recreating major technology… the idea is to have a thorough understanding of a linguistic message, by recognising the importance of not only what is said, but also how it was said. Looking for high calibre linguistic services? Ask SanTranslate.