Reader Response and More on Eye Soreness
The weather has warmed up recently, and spring has come without my noticing it. A few weeks ago, I saw people sharing photos of swallows on the Internet. It is once again the season when barn swallows return for nesting. I look forward to seeing these old feathered friends in the arcade. It made me think of the nursery rhyme I heard when I was a child: “How to know that spring has come? Plum blossoms and oriole twitters bring the tiding.” Compared with plum blossoms and orioles, however, probably rhododendrons and barn swallows better signal the coming of spring for me.
This time, I will share a few translation projects finished recently, some reader responses, and continue from the previous topic on the ways to reduce eye fatigue. Next time I plan to write a simple piece on Taiwanese literature (and the foreign translations thereof).
Thanks again for your subscription. Please feel free to leave a message or reply to this e-mail to share your thoughts!
《翻譯寫作的文字風景》是中英文雙語電子報。如果只想收到中文版,請到網站右上角的「My Account」內進行操作,也可以直接回覆這封E-mail或寫信到transcreation@substack.com,由我幫忙更改設定。再次感謝你的訂閱支持!
這篇文章的中文版在這裡。
Recent Translation Projects
I have finished a few translation projects recently, and here are some of them already published:
“Please Don’t Feel Sorry for Me” on A Broad and Ample Road last week (here is my translation).
Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu share their English class and memorable students at San Quentin Prison.
My own understanding of prison is very inadequate. It is difficult to imagine what the so-called correction, education or social reintegration looks like, and even more difficult to imagine what kind of person a “prisoner” is. This article may be a good starting point.
Tomorrow (March 17th) at Tò-uat Books (左轉有書), Michelle will be talking about her book Reading with Patrick, a touching story between her and her student Patrick, in which she wrote about her experience of teaching in Mississippi Delta, and the later exploration through reading and writing with Patrick in prison. Fans of old and new should not miss it!
“Reading, or Something Like It” on A Broad and Ample Road at the end of February (here is my translation).
Catherine Chou, who grew up in the United States, shares her journey of learning Taiwanese (and Mandarin).
I also have complex feelings about (failure of) learning Taiwanese. It pains me to think that my Taiwanese is worse than my English, and even worse than my Japanese. It is inspiring to read Catherine’s piece, and I hope I can significantly improve my Taiwanese this year.
In addition to these two articles, I finally finished a translation of a book yesterday, a brilliant academic monograph. Although it is an academic monograph, the narrative is both informative and readable, and the subject is very relevant to those working in the translation industry and the publishing industry. I look forward to its publication and sharing this book with you. I may take a short break, but the next book is even thicker, and I will diligently start working in a few days.
Taiwan Stands with Ukraine
Let us switch to another heavier topic. As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth week, it saddens me to read about all the news reports. The occasional unexpected encounters with war scenes on TV dramas and movies have become traumatizing. Though living on the other side of the world, I feel the threat of war so keenly.
Last week, a news team of three reporters of Taiwan’s The Reporter set out to the front line to send back frontline news stories from the borders of Poland and Ukraine. Which is of greater value and importance, news or life? Will we be as brave in the face of the test? I do not know the answers: I want to be brave, but I also want to survive. Hope all the best for The Reporter’s team, and may they all come home safe.
Last time in “We will write, and we will fight,” I talked about the word “solidarity.” It was just another unknown English word for me years ago, but now it is fused with concrete meanings because of actions. The meanings of words are always empowered by action. One of the things we can do in the home front is to give our attention and support. The video game “This War of Mine” mentioned last time raised a total of 850,000 US dollars. I am happy to be a tiny part of that number.
Having hesitated for a while about where to donate, I finally decided to donate to the special fundraising account of the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Today the cumulative donation amount has reached 630 million NTD (about 22.5 million USD), and the number of people who made donations was nearly 90,000 as of March 11.
May the war end soon.
Reader Response and More on Eye Soreness
Last but not least, I would like to share about the reader responses I received these weeks. Since starting this newsletter in February, I have received numerous encouragements and feedbacks from many friends and readers, which always gladdens me. Especially for “Back Pains, Eye Soreness,” quite a few friends said they were really amused to read my conversation with Kuangwei. Also in response to this article, here is what Graham Oliver shared:
I am enjoying your newsletter! Like you, I am thinking more of my health while sitting in front of the computer so much. Also like you, I have gotten good about doing yoga and keeping my body fit. While my posture still needs work, I feel very healthy despite being in front of the computer more and more. UNFORTUNATELY, just as I am feeling good about my physical health, lately my eyes are bothering me more. It's always something.
So happy to meet another fellow yoga learner!
Last time in “Back Pains, Eye Soreness,” I thought about sharing the ways to relieve eye soreness but eventually dismissed the idea since my own experience was nothing impressive, but it may be nice to continue the thread to invite better ideas.
As I stare at the computer for a long time every day, my eyes often feel uncomfortable, and I have been looking for ways to relieve eye discomfort. I even bought a book in Japan years ago, which claimed that my eyes would become better if I looked at the picture inside for one minute every day. However, I have never done as it says for 28 consecutive days, so I cannot say if the book works as wonderfully as it claims.
Anyway, ultimately, getting enough sleep is always the key thing. In addition, my blue light blocking glasses seem to have helped much all these years. My eyes used to feel very tired in the afternoon after a few hours work in the morning, but now things are tolerable even if I stare at the screen all day.
When the eyes are tired, one of the methods taught in the book can quickly relax the eye muscles, good for relaxation in the middle of work.
Move the gaze to near and far points alternately:
1. Straighten one hand and extend the thumb (point A)
2. Stare at point A for one second.
3. Move your gaze to a target (point B) 3 to 5 meters away and stare at point B for one second.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for 30 times.
If you know some tips to reduce eye fatigue, please share!
In the end, I wish we could all enjoy the short-lived spring sunny spells before the plum rain season starts.