Writing and Translating Across Four Languages
Currently, as writers based between Scotland and Taiwan, at Wind&Bones we have been struck by the parallels between the experiences of language suppression and revival in both countries. Both Gaelic and Tâi-gí (along with other languages such as Scots, Hakka, and indigenous Taiwanese languages) have been historically marginalised. So our aim with this project is to highlight the linguistic richness of both Scotland and Taiwan, working with writers in both countries to produce new works.
We’re particularly excited to be working to translate not just from but also into Tâi-gí and Gaelic. We are not sure — correct us if we are wrong! — but this may be the first-ever time in history that literary works have been translated between these two languages.
While we put everything in place to get started on writing and translation, we thought we should say more about how the writing and translation process for this project will work. We have four writers, between them working in four languages, writing four stories. Our writers in Taiwan are Naomi Sím and Kiú-kiong, and in Scotland are Lisa MacDonald and Elissa Hunter-Dorans.
We’ll kick off the project with a collaborative online workshop, where we will explore these parallel experiences of language suppression and revival. Then all the writers taking park will begin work on their new stories. After that, we will work together to collaboratively translate these works. Here’s how it will work.
| Original story | Translation 1 | Translation 2 | Translation 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naomi Sím | Kiú-kiong | Wind&Bones | Lisa MacDonald |
| Kiú-kiong | Naomi Sím | Wind&Bones | Elissa Hunter-Dorans |
| Lisa MacDonald | Elissa Hunter-Dorans | Wind&Bones | Kiú-kiong |
| Elissa Hunter-Dorans | Lisa MacDonald | Wind&Bones | Naomi Sím |
In this table, for Naomi and Kiú-kiong, the progression of languages will be:
Tâi-gí [Original] → Mandarin [Translation 1] → English [Translation 2] → Gaelic [Translation 3]
Meanwhile, for Lisa and Elissa, it will be the reverse:
Gaelic [Original] → English [Translation 1] → Mandarin [Translation 2] → Tâi-gí [Translation 3]
This means that all the writers on the project will be translated by, or will translate, all the other writers, leading to all kinds of interesting cross-currents!
Image: Alexandre Charpentier, Young Woman Reading (1896). Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Buy the Book
You can buy the book direct from us, or from any of the places below. For Taiwan customers, if you buy from us direct, we'll send it to your local 7-Eleven!
本書可直接向我們購買，或透過以下通路取得。台灣地區顧客若選擇直接訂購，將為您配送至指定之7-Eleven門市！
Where to Buy | 哪裡購買
Buy Paperback | 購買平裝本
For Taiwan, often the quickest way is to buy direct from Wind&Bones. For the EU, think of using an EU supplier, as ordering from the UK can be complex due to Brexit.
對於台灣的朋友，最快的方式通常是直接向Wind&Bones購買。若您在歐盟地區，建議考慮使用歐盟的供應商，因為從英國下單在英國脫歐後可能會比較複雜