Category: book translation

《工作還可以，但上司和同事不可以：七種雷包同事大解密，讓你成為職場神隊友》

And then there’s my translation project baby #8 right away! (中文見下)

You see to what extreme I pushed myself in the second half of last year hahaha, but thanks to my lovely editor’s trust, I was able to work on this super interesting book over a longer span of time.

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And when I say “super interesting,” I mean it. It was an interesting reflection for myself during the process of translation where I lowkey kept a secret list to match all these categories with those in my office and my personal life hahahahaha no shame but I’m not going to spill the tea here but that was super healing and also helpful in the sense that I could have more insights of how people’s psychology works. At the end of the day, it’s usually not about “you,” but “them.” It reminds me of what Earn once told me — try to be kinder to people because they might have been going through things that I did not know or could not know. But of course, there should also always be a boundary as to how much I should “practice” my understanding and how much bullshit from others I should or want to accept.

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經過兩年半受僱於人、坐辦公室、類社畜的工作經驗，我還是要大聲地說我最喜歡、最適合的工作模式是自由接案哇哈哈哈哈！但在翻譯這本書的時候，真心可以把辦公室裡、生活周遭的人一一分類，除了可以暗自達到洩憤效果（？），當然也有學會更柔軟地去理解可惡之人必有可憐之處（？？？），但要不要接受是另一件事，劃定界線是每個人自己的課題です。

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總而言之，以讀者的身分來說，這本書超級有趣啦（好敷衍），但你各位也不要顧著刮別人的鬍子，作者也有教我們怎麼先自己照照鏡子讚讚。

以上。

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Feat. Some of my favorite former colleagues. I love y’all

• Laem Mae Phim, April 2024 – Our go-to Drift Bar
• Chanthaburi, March 2024 – Weekday neighbors & weekend trip buddies
• Bangkok, May 2024 – My nannies at work hehehehe
• Tagazine, April 2024 – One of our most significant projects
• KVIS, May 2024 – Last day in the office
• Laem Charoen, April 2024 – One of our favorite getaways
• Ratchaprapha, April 2024 – Always missed the time when we almost only had each other
• KVIS, January 2025 – (Hopefully) decent office look

《同學會》

My translation project baby #7 is out! （中文見下）

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It was also my first novel project – the experience was very different from translating non-fiction when you’re in a position where you’re also drawn into the plot as you work, and your emotions and patience and efficiency were also subject to the plot. Maybe it was also because the author Fitzek was just so good at controlling the pace and tension and all.

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But again, the best part of the entire experience was that I got to work on part of the book on ICE in Bayern, corresponding to the protagonist Marla’s experience. And that I came back to Berlin and got to walk around Hackescher Markt, where a certain accident in the story occurred when the character was riding on an e-scooter (oh yeah, it was something we didn’t have a decade back! and man, I was legit just riding an e-scooter there two days ago!).

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The most part of this novel was translated in Ash Coffee Project, a late-night cafe in Taichung. During that period, I basically sat in the shop from sometime between 1 – 3 pm (depending on whether Ash got up and opened the shop in time lmao) to 11 pm. That feel when it was super late and the plot got to a very eerie point!!! Sometimes I’d just be so shocked by how things turned out that I couldn’t help but drop my jaw and scream in silence at the bar. Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t want to actually stay in the mountains and in some random hut when I was translating it… but who knows, maybe I’ll still end up there at some point this year.

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每次都要說差不多的話，但每次都只會感受愈來愈深刻——身為自由譯者最讚的就是可以在翻譯時身歷其境，而且是真的切切實實地走在某條書中提到的街上、騎著某個角色在那裡騎的電動滑板車。然後用每個毛細孔去感受多麼令人唾棄的冬季柏林哇哈哈哈哈哈。

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除此之外，這本書有很大一部分是在菸灰完成的，深夜時的昏暗燈光、舒心香氛也跟雪山小木屋的想像夠貼近了，翻譯的速度與情緒與耐心全都緊扣著劇情，時不時自顧自地在吧台座位上摀住掉下來的下巴（嘿，我大概是那幾個月內最奇怪的地伏靈），然後在農曆七月半接近午夜時獨自騎在有點超現實的中區靜巷裡⋯⋯那個空間永遠會是我很珍惜的一段回憶（完全跟打書離題，變成打咖啡廳？）

• Neuschwanstein, September 2024
• Berlin, Oktober 2024
• Taichung, Dezember 2024
• Berlin, Januar 2025
• Der erste Schnee in Berlin 

《性、愛欲、人文主義：從文化差異到情愛取向，一場關於人類原始慾望的哲學思辨》

My translation project / book baby #6 was published last month (English below)

新譯作出版，就要照（自己莫名其妙的）傳統寫一篇翻譯心得和反思兒

雖然好友開玩笑說書名是流量密碼（順帶一提，書名通常都是出版社訂的，不是譯者FYI），但這個主題探討的問題之複雜與敏感，導致我必須調整一下分享受眾。圖片裡是我在過去這一年間寫下來的一些隨筆或抒發，歡迎一起來思索或討論！

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So it took me longer than usual to come up with this post-translation reflection, for it’s going to be sensitive (or even controversial) in some of my “anecdotes.” Obviously, as an individual, a female, an East Asian, a daughter / granddaughter, a solo traveler, a former teacher, a comparatively young employee at my former workplace, a girl who happens to live up to many criteria of mainstream beauty standards in multiple societies, and many other identities, the complexities surrounding sex / gender related discussion are going to be relevant in some specific ways.

I’ve always been grateful that I’m able to grow up rather safely in this world that can be ever more malicious than we can possibly imagine. But one of my earliest memories was how my grandparents at first valued my brother over me (typical patriarchal mindset; can watch หลานม่า) but gradually changed their opinion because of my academic excellence, and perhaps the fact that I’m the only grandchild who can drink with my grandpa? Joke aside, this can actually be related to how society expects males to be better drinkers than females. Don’t get me into how I hate those bartenders’ “Oh girls like this drink.”

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Just over the course of translating this book, I’ve experienced (or witnessed or heard of) all sorts of “revelations” in my life, may it be in the (overdue) relationship, at workplace or just in society in general. All these reflections (in the screenshots below of my murmurs over the year) are in one way or another related to the book, and yes, the authors surely provide many more insights or perspectives if not deeper.

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以上。

• Songkran, Surat Thani, Thailand, April 2024
  Reflections in the following two pics 

• Reflections as a co-advisor to the KVIS Medic outreach program, June 2023

《在虛無與無限之間：科學詩人萊特曼對宇宙與生命的沉思》

九月了，代表新譯作要出版惹

Dropping another new translation project of mine in these couple days: Probable Impossibilities by Alan Lightman.

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無比感謝編輯李尚遠的青睞，上一本書一翻完馬上就問我要不要接這一本（然後我就去斯米蘭的船上與世隔絕想了一週）（翻完剛好再去柬埔寨晃個幾天）

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作者以哲學的角度切入科學的探討，涉及天文學、宇宙學、物理學、歷史學、地緣政治學、化學、哲學，甚至文學，古代的博學家大概就是這樣吧。讓我想起小時候有好長一段時間很害怕想到「宇宙」的概念，光是這個想法本身感覺就龐大到把我壓得喘不過氣，身體彷彿知道自己有多麼地渺小，國中時甚至偷偷討厭讀地科第一章的關於宇宙。大概是幼兒園大班的時候，舅舅說有小行星在三十年後要撞地球，於是我每天睡覺前就會在心中默念無數遍不要成真直到睡著。國一的時候也盛傳著彗星撞地球、瑪雅預言之類的，我就這樣在童軍園地的樹屋跟 Pei-Wen Chiang 說我想到就鼻酸（？如果只是一個人死了，還有人記著他，他就還算存在，但如果全人類的記憶都被抹除了，那甚至究竟是否存在過，都不再會有人知曉。

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而任何形式的生命存在於宇宙中大概就是如此特別吧，寄蜉蝣於天地、渺滄海之一粟。這件事本身在我看來就已經是個奇蹟。（附圖想表示的大概就是這個意象哈哈）

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“Miracles come from the world of imagination, of dreams, of desire; science from the world of practicality, of logic, of orderly control. I’ve always been fascinated by our ability to live simultaneously in both of these apparently opposing worlds. Evidently, each reflects something deep and essential inside of us.”

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How we as individuals came into existence from this whole lot of random atoms, and then how we arrived at the same random time and space from different corners of the world. If that’s not a miracle, what is?

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不管宇宙究竟是以大爆炸的那一刻為基準、於時間洪流中呈現前後鏡像對稱，還是像Everything Everywhere All at Once形容的那種多重宇宙之存在，我肯定幾百年前就說過愛你（which, okay, on the cosmic scale, may be an understatement）（硬要寫歌詞哈哈哈）

那這樣一來，山無稜、天地合，乃敢與君絕，好像也沒那麼偉大了？

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And since I started to translate this book, those words like quantum cosmology in TBBT suddenly all began to make sense to me. I could also give some really cool ideas of chemistry or physics metaphors to my students who were writing university admission essays (God knows how chemistry was my biggest enemy in high school lol). Also “miraculously,” an article just popped up on Merriam Webster out of nowhere, talking about Occam’s razor, an expression that I’d never heard of until I had to translate it in this book.

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胡亂抽象地寫了一堆，最後想說的大概是，讓我們好好把握在虛無與無限之間、每一個似乎可以掌握住的時刻吧。

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打書之心得感想，以上。

Configuring life events to a project after another.

• Tonlé Sap, Cambodia, Jul 2023
• How those zeros killed me when I translated 
• Angkor Wat, Seam Reap, Cambodia, Jul 2023
• Laem Charoen, Rayong, Thailand, Jun 2023

《邊界的故事：邊界如何決定我們的地景、記憶、身分與命運》

打書時間！*English below*

相信每個人都有屬於自己的邊界故事，可能是祖先搬遷跨越疆界終於落腳某處、可能是出國旅遊求學經歷種種簽證申請過程，可能是國與國之間的邊界、部落與部落之間的邊界，甚至是人與人之間的邊界，台灣人大概最熟悉邊界一直被侵犯的感覺ㄅ（聳肩）

又花了好幾個月的時間翻完了一本書，私心覺得原著很好看！述說了在世界各個盡頭的邊界故事，似乎很遙遠其實又跟我們每個人都息息相關，以下容我用英文murmur哈哈哈

以上，どうぞよろしくお願いします。

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Another book I translated is now out. I know my target audience is Taiwanese readers, but I just feel like writing English for some reflection this time.

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So this book is about borders, all kinds of borders, literally or figuratively, physically or mentally. And again, there were plenty of moments of synchronicity throughout the months translating it, the experience of which still always feels fascinating to me.

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Earlier in the book, a chapter talks about Sweden and this nomadic people that travel across the Scandinavian landscape (I will leave it at that). Then I was brought to the Thai-Lao border on a ‘family trip’ (shoutout to Earn Saenmuk) without me knowing where the destination was. There I was sitting by Mekong River, working on a bit of the book, and staring into the jungle across the borderline. Later, all descriptions about the Israeli West Bank Barrier came to life all of a sudden when 李彥廷 posted what he actually saw on his instastory. “Make Hummus, Not Walls” is as real as that, and at the same time, as surreal as that.

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The most significant experience among all is that I happened to get into contact with an artist working on a theme related to borders during the border book project (shoutout to Navin Rawanchaikul and Tammy Yu-Ting Hsieh). So there I was later traveling around Mae Salong, a border region in northern Thailand and learning all about those border stories, including how people migrated from Yunnan all the way into the Thai border, and especially how descendants of this KMT troupe have been living on a sort of figurative border all their lives – Taiwanese? Chinese? Yunnanese? Thai? Or whatever. I also got an opportunity to walk into the Akha village, sitting at the intersection of all kinds of possibilities when they speak Akha to elders and Mandarin to kids at home and use Thai to connect with the outside world. Not just the Akha, there are more than many Mountain Peoples living in the region, forming a beautiful and somehow exotic scene within the Thai border.

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Yet, all these stories can feel irrelevant and distant only until you actually experience it yourself. When I was to fly back from New Zealand to Bangkok just earlier this week, it cruelly struck me how the presence of borders is actually still so unshakable. I was denied onboard because I hadn’t got the required visa. Well, although it was largely due to my own negligence, I was not the only one suffering from this. My friend and her family had to go through a lot of hassles also because of the same issue, not to mention all these other people I saw undergoing the same thing in the airport too.

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Too much about my own border story, but in fact, most people in this world would have experienced their own border story in one way or another. If you haven’t, or are not sure whether you have, this book is highly recommended. Highly readable, beautiful, but also kind of sad. Well, that’s just how our world is I guess.

• The Akha village in Northern Thailand, Sep 2022
• Vacation by the Thailand-Laos border, Jul 2022
• Stayed on for another day in Queenstown because of visa issues, May 2023
• Went diving at the Thailand-Myanmar border, Mar 2023

Q4 開端打個書

《窒息：空氣污染如何影響你？我們又該怎麼辦？》晨星出版

無敵感謝編輯 Hsu Chen-Shuo 的信任和各種悉心協助與指教 還有王思婷的牽線

當初翻這本書時生活出現很大轉變（突然決定搬到泰國的部分），卻好像冥冥之中跟書的內容更加貼近，像是（暴雷注意？）書中提到開發中國家常在家裡後院燒垃圾、燒葉子，有天我在鄉間咖啡廳翻譯書稿時，突然就親眼目睹了這一切！而在台灣早已習慣無鉛汽油，以為沒人在開柴油車了，到了泰國才發現很多人都還是加柴油啊。私心覺得這本書好多內容跟我們都很息息相關，推薦給大家

這幾天收到很開心的消息，我的第二本譯著《為什麼要學歷史：面對當前世界危機的十個歷史教訓》(德國史家 Magnus Brechtken 著) 出版了。其實這本是我第一次接觸書籍翻譯的作品，是在《登山皇帝》之前、2020 年底接洽的，因為出版排程至今才問世。很雀躍、同時也難免不安，畢竟當時可是頭一遭拿到德翻中的長篇案子、畢竟是自己求學時期相較不拿手的歷史啊。很是感謝商周出版的信任，楊如玉總編、張詠翔編輯的專業指教，以及游鎧縵的友情相助和 Wolfgang Jenenser 的德文支援。

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記得看過接案翻譯前輩分享過的經驗談，接案生涯一般大概兩年步入穩定；自己出社會也差不多兩年了，過去這段時間以來的努力確實也都能漸漸收獲成果。

2019 年研究所畢業後回台灣，在一邊摸索生涯走向的彷徨之中，逐漸確定展開自由譯者的職涯。當時整個腦袋被好多問題、好多困擾給弄得頭昏，尤其感激王珊珊老師、Karen Chung 老師、 Jia-Ling Hsu 老師、 黃山耘老師、傅可恩老師、Yuwen Chang、Tsung-Lun Alan Wan 願意抽出時間，給我建議。而正式以自由譯者之姿踏入社會之後，剛起步時不免需要花些時間開疆拓土、不免受到一些質疑或擔心，但一路上也好幸運啊，除了過去在外文系 Michelle Wu老師和珊珊老師為我在翻譯專業打下的基礎，也非常感謝業界前輩 Han Li 與 Charlie Yang 的提點、好友 Amy Wu 大力相助，以及外文系同學 許晏禎、Rebecca Tsai、Johnson Chiang、Marian Chu 等，不吝為我解開或大或小的疑惑 (尤其是報價方面，對於新手來說真的需要費好大一番工夫才能抓到眉角哪)。

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除了一開始就很清楚自己不擅長、不喜歡哪些領域或文類之外，很感激一路上有好多貴人相助，讓我慢慢找到屬於自己的 niche。包括施雅婷與 Claire Liu 學姐的引介、Man-Chia Chen 的支持，引領我一步步走入影視字幕劇本、紀錄片的世界； 李本霖 與 Tammy Hsieh 的信賴，幫助我在攝影、藝術領域打開一片天地； Chan Lai 與王思婷的牽線，讓我有機會接觸夢幻的書籍翻譯； Ariel Lin 與 Calvin Sung 的相挺，為我開啟一條通往時尚的道路。

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在這些日子裡，最快樂的莫過於藉由工作更深入認識各種有趣的事、美好的物，或值得深省的議題 (記得 Michelle 老師在逐步口譯課曾分享過，譯者就是有人付錢給我們學習新知啊！)。而能夠與好友、昔日同學成為工作上的夥伴，並透過工作認識更多閃閃發亮的人，都讓工作這件事變得更加 rewarding。趁著歲末 (噢對，自由譯者沒有尾牙、沒有年終) 回顧過去這一年，由衷感謝家人與摯友的無限支持，更是珍惜能夠好好利用工作的「自由」性質，照顧到身邊的人、滿足自己的 Wanderlust 與 Fernweh 之欲，成就 2020 年底立下的 digital nomad (數位遊牧民) 目標，找到真心喜歡的生活樣貌。

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附上一些去年的工作照與成果照，該感謝、想感謝的人勢必無法一一提及，但點滴在心頭啊。在翻譯這條路上，未來還請大家多多照顧了