Modality Irrealis
In linguistics, the “irrealis mood” refers to grammatical rules around describing events that are not known to the speaker to have occurred. The subjunctive, the conditional, the imperative—these are all moods to refer to the unreal.
Modality Irrealis is S. Qiouyi Lu’s column about the craft of writing and translation, mostly as applied to speculative fiction, which imagines the unreal.
- Nuestra barbarie: Translations of essays by Presidente Gustavo Petro and by Cristina Fallarás
- Published on 2023-10-17 21:12:08
- Updated on 2023-10-19 12:11:28
- I can’t describe now all that I have thought recently, have felt, about living in a timeline where there are multiple genocides happening concurrently around the globe. [But] when I read this tweet by the President of Colombia Gustavo Petro, I felt that same profound resonance, that shift in reality—a new clarity about the world, about my own place and power in it; that slipstream of ever-shifting landscapes, of being _unsettled_—that has defined my experiences of reading Spanish-language literature, especially Latin American literature.
- “Our muqams will endure for millennia”
- Published on 2020-09-07 20:57:00
- I came across the video below of Uyghur musicians on Twitter and thought I’d translate the Chinese in the caption to share its powerful message.
- Translanguaging poetry as a linguistic exercise
- Published on 2020-08-19 16:24:00
- Updated on 2023-10-14 17:59:01
- The other day, Dr Sara Louise Wheeler sent me a link on Twitter to her post “Translanging as part of the creative process.” I found myself fascinated by the process of actively working between two languages. My Chinese has improved a lot now that I’ve been translating professionally for a couple years (wow, when did that happen), but I still primarily translate from Chinese to English. I think I’m ready to try my hand in the other direction—some translators can go both ways, while others specialize in only one. No better practice than translating my own work, where I know my intent.
- There is no permission slip for diversity
- Published on 2020-08-16 04:06:00
- The empathy gap exists because people in power don’t realize that that bridge even exists.
- Diversifying submissions is a long-term commitment
- Published on 2020-08-06 21:22:00
- This is a pretty complex question that doesn’t have a simple answer. The hardest part is going to be introspecting on your own tastes and decisions as an editor.
- Translating meter and rhyme: “Yo” by Jorge Luis Borges
- Published on 2020-08-05 20:04:00
- Back in March, Premee Mohamed shared a favorite sonnet by Jorge Luis Borges, but lamented that their rhythm and rhyme schemes usually aren’t preserved in English translations. So, of course, I had to make an attempt myself at a translation that’s strict on meter and rhyme.
- “The most humble of bones still flows with the Yangtze”: Chen Nianxi’s speech celebrating THE VERSE OF US
- Published on 2020-08-03 18:23:00
- Translation of Chen Nianxi’s speech presented in 2017 at NYU.
- Two takes on Cao Cao’s 《觀滄海》
- Published on 2020-02-22 21:52:00
- I used to think of it as cheating, somehow, to refer to other people’s translations while creating my own, but I began to realize through translating poetry that all translation is in conversation—we don’t fault an artist for referencing a model or an existing piece of art to inspire their own work. Why should words be different?
- Translation as editing and adaptation: An example from “End of the Microcosmos” by Liu Cixin
- Published on 2020-01-01 07:27:00
- Updated on 2020-09-03
- People may think that translation is a straightforward task of converting one language to another like converting file types, when really, translation involves a lot more editing and judgment than that. In particular, translators have to account for the sensibilities of their audience in the target language.
- Naming characters: Methods for creating bilingual character names
- Published on 2019-10-19 02:22:00
- Most of my characters are Chinese-American like me. They usually have a Western name, a Chinese name, and a Chinese surname. I’ve always loved naming characters, and this structure gives me opportunities to explore both branches of my heritage. (I use modified or other methods for non-Chinese characters and characters in secondary worlds.)
- Translating verse: A couplet from Chiung Yao’s “Princess Pearl”
- Published on 2019-10-18 22:38:00
- All translation is both an act of interpretation and an act of judgment. The translator has the power to adapt and edit texts for their target audience, and there is no such thing as a “perfect” translation that will convey every semantic nuance between languages.
- Tarot for Plot and Character
- Published on 2019-08-22 14:16:00
- Tarot can be a great tool to get unstuck when writing. Not only do most decks have vivid imagery that can spark the imagination, but the openness of card readings can lead the creative mind to create unexpected associations and consider new options. This post includes a few simple three-card spreads that I often use, as well as a couple writing-specific approaches I take to tarot reading.