The game “Black Myth: Wukong” owes its popularity among gamers around the world to refined graphics, difficult gameplay, storytelling and, perhaps most of all, to the English translations of the texts.

Developed by China-based Game Science, the game doesn’t use the traditional translation of the ancient Chinese novel “Journey to the West,” on which the game is based. Rather, it uses pinyin – the most common Western alphabet transcription of the sound of Chinese words.

For example, the main character, the Monkey King, is translated as Wukong, his Chinese name. The Black Bear Monster is “Black Bear Guai,” with guai the abbreviation of yaoguai, which means “monster.”

The video game “Back Myth Wukong” has become a hit, piquing the interest of gamers around the world about ancient Chinese myths.

It is interesting that while most Western players are helping each other with the texts online, their Chinese counterparts are arguing whether the translation sets the bar too high for foreign players.

“It’s too confusing, and I believe they should at least unify pinyin or English words,” said one user on Weibo.

That raises some interesting questions. What is good translation? How should we pursue translations – by adhering to original meaning as much as possible or compromising a bit to make them more understandable to foreigners?

The answers are complicated.

Hugo Tseng, professor of English and college dean at Sanda University, told Shanghai Daily that there is no “standard, correct translation.”

He explained, “You can translate ‘Black Bear Monster’ as such or by its pronunciation ‘Hei Xiong Guai.’ The latter will definitely be more confusing to foreigners, but it is the more accurate one. ‘Black Bear Guai’ combines the two, and it has both pros and cons.”

Source: https://www.shine.cn/

Full article: https://www.shine.cn/opinion/2409046349/