Q1: Did anyone introduce you to your sponsor? Describe the circumstances of this introduction.

A1: Yes. The introducer was a family friend, and she thought we were made for each other. Then we met as arranged and I was deeply impressed by him at the first sight.

Q2: Was there a formal engagement ceremony?

A2: No, there wasn't. For most Chinese young people leading a city life, a formal engagement ceremony is not necessary or indispensable. But we did go on a tour of Jiuzhai Valley, a famous scenic spot of China, to celebrate our engagement.

Q3: Was there a traditional/customary marriage ceremony?

A3: No, there wasn't. But we’ve decided to make up for it in September, next year, since our friends and relatives insist that a ceremony will brighten up our married life.

Q4: Did you and your sponsor live together?

A4: I don’t think that there's any logical connection between living together and a happy marriage. There are married bedfellows who mean nothing to each other, and there are people who cannot be separated from their beloved ones even by death. But if my application for immigration is granted as soon as possible, my husband and I will be spared the torture of a life without each other's presence.

One day in June, 2003, my friend let me know that she had been allowed to join her husband in Canada, and thanked me for my strategy. Of course, my translation is more a piece of rewriting which eliminated potential soft conflicts that could arise from different cultural values regarding love and marriage, and tilts completely in favour of the predetermined function of the translated version rather than being an accurate translation in the widely accepted sense of the word.

In real life, practical calculations demand various degrees of rewriting. Several years ago, an Osmanthus-Flower Festival was held in Shanghai, and its promotion leaflet read:

Manshu jinhua, fangxiangsiyi de Jingui; huabai ruxue, xiangqipubi de Yingui; honglitouhuang, huaduo weinong de Zishagui; huase siyin, jiji youhua de Sijigui, jingxiangkaifang, zhengyapimi. Jinru Guilingongyuan, zhenzhen guihuaxiang pubi erlai.

[Golden Osmanthus is covered with golden flowers that scent the air with their fragrance; Silvery Osmanthus has snow-white flowers that greet people's nostrils with sweet smell; Zisha Osmanthus has the color of red tinged with yellow, and is thick with blossoms that give out heady perfume; Siji Osmanthus has silvery flowers that bloom every season. All the osmanthus flowers are in full bloom and vie for each other for supremacy in beauty. When you enter Guilin Park, you will be met with the aroma of osmanthus flowers.]

The exaggerated and verbose style of writing was adopted to highlight the rich colour and fragrant smell of the osmanthus flowers. The Chinese language is perceptual, relatively tolerant of original variations in style and grammar and can accept exaggeration and redundancy. English prefers logic and concision, which makes a word-for-word translation from Chinese look like a combination of broken and ill-organized sentences. Because of the differences between the English and Chinese languages, a conservative translator may do some minor rewriting in his or her translation by omitting unnecessary modifiers and intensifying the logical structure in this way:

All kinds of osmanthus flowers vie with each other: there are the golden and fragrant Jingui, the silvery and sweet smelling Yingui, the Zishagui thick with flowers characterized by the red color tinged with yellow, and the white Sijigui blooming every season. Guilin Park is perfumed with these flowers.

But a more adventurous translator may perform a significant degree of rewriting, focusing on relevant and important elements:

Guilin Park is perfumed with all kinds of sweet smelling osmanthus flowers: golden Jingui, silvery Yingui, white Sijigui and Zishagui whose color is red tinged with yellow.

Of course, nothing in translation is absolute, and there are times when potential soft conflicts are too trivial to be dealt with. What must be noted is that the translator often plays the role of the dog wagged by its tail and succumbs to practical calculations in order to achieve the expected function of his or her translation.

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