ABSTRACT
Using Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain as its entry point, this chapter reflects on some of the issues involved in translating literary works that are themselves multilingual (in that they feature multiple different languages or dialects). Drawing from examples ranging from Lu Xun (1881–1936) to Yan Lianke (1958–) and Ng Kim Chew (1967–), the author considers some of the strategies that he has employed in translating multi-lingual Chinese works into English. He discusses, among others, the complexity of classical Chinese vs the modern vernacular (considering the switch between classical Chinese and modern vernacular Chinese a process of double translation), non-standard usage of the language, dialect, and specialized vocabulary in translation.
