If the imperial seal was not sealed by the first emperor of Tang Dynasty.

Earlier, we listed the translations of "crow's head socks" and "girl socks", and also discussed the translation of clogs. * * * Twenty-eight comments were received and more than a dozen people participated in the discussion. Exon bloggers and self-entertainment bloggers also retranslated the original text, among which Exon bloggers changed the translation three times, and the better the translation, the better. It is generally understood that clogs and cockscomb socks are the highlights of ladies' clothing culture in the Tang Dynasty and should be retained in translation. Therefore, bloggers put forward translations such as clogs and flip-flops. At the same time, it is considered that it is acceptable to translate "crow's head socks" or "girl socks" into mittens and socks. This discussion has benefited everyone a lot. Today, while preparing to explain Li Shangyin's poems, I found a typical problem. The above-mentioned "crow's head socks" and "girl socks" have little to do with the literal meaning, and can be easily translated into words. A topic raised today is about the translation of allusions. The translation of allusions, whether English-Chinese or Chinese-English, is a headache. Especially the Chinese-English translation, China has a long history, different cultural customs and many allusions, which are hard for us to understand ourselves, let alone foreign scholars. Take Li Shangyin's poems for example, it is difficult for China people to learn and understand them. For a foreign scholar, it is naturally more difficult to understand the meaning of poetry, be familiar with the allusions and translate them into fluent English. We can't be too hard on him. However, if there are differences in the understanding of the original meaning of poetry, it must be corrected or discussed as a problem. Because such a discussion is helpful to improve our translation level. Please see the English translation of Li Shangyin's Seven Laws of Sui Palace (Li Shangyin also has a poem called Sui Palace, and today we are discussing one of the seven wonders). Look at the original Chinese text first: Sui Palace, his Ziquan Palace has been occupied by clouds, just as he wants to take the whole Yangzhou as his own. If the imperial seal had not been seized by Tang Taizu, he would have set sail long ago. Fireflies are gone now, leaving the weathered grassland, but they are still perched by weeping willow crows at dusk. If he met, the world was in chaos, and the later Emperor Chen, do you think they would mention a "Garden Flower"? . Look at Stephen Owen's translation. The palace hall of Lavender Spring in Sui Palace is closed in mist and rose clouds, but he wants to occupy Weed City as the emperor's home. If the jade staff had not fallen into his hand with the handle of the sun, I believe those brocade sails would have risen to the horizon long ago. Even today, there are no fireflies on rotten plants, but there will always be crows at dusk in weeping willows. If he met Chen's last ruler underground, he should not ask for "blooming in the backyard". Li Shangyin's poems are obscure, and there are many allusions besides twists and turns. I believe this poem is also difficult for ordinary readers in China to understand. As a foreign scholar, it is not easy to translate it into this way. Today, I won't comment on the translation of this poem, but only discuss the third sentence, "If the imperial seal was not sealed by the emperor of the first Tang Dynasty". This poem may not be too difficult for China readers who are familiar with allusions, but for a foreigner, no matter how good his Chinese is, it is still difficult to understand. This move, first of all, is the word "decree". Jade seal, the royal seal, a symbol of imperial power, is generally translated into imperial seal; ; The scepter is the scepter of the monarch, which is very different from the imperial seal of our country. For westerners, there seems to be no concept of what a decree is. But at least it makes sense, and there is not much difference in understanding. The key is the following part. This couplet means that if the emperor's decree had not fallen into the hands of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, the dragon boat brocade sail of Emperor Yang Di would have sailed to the ends of the earth. The translator noticed that this is a subjunctive mood, but the meaning after translation is not clear. If he hadn't held the scepter of the monarch in his hand, I'm sure these brocade sails might have traveled to the horizon. Here Owen translated "Sun Angle" into sun-knobs, which is a literal translation. The knob means "a knot of a spherical projection, trunk, etc."; It can also refer to boils, tumors and so on. ",this is a polysemous word. However, foreign students will never understand "a man with a sun knob" anyway. Owen himself may have noticed this, so he added a long note after the "Sun Knot": Before the founder of the Tang Dynasty revolted against Yang Guifei, someone saw a "Sun Knot" on his forehead and proudly said that his face predicted that he was destined to become an emperor. Before the founder of the Tang Dynasty rose up against Yang Di, it was observed that there were "sun-shaped protrusions" on his forehead, that is, from the perspective of physiognomy, he was destined to become an emperor. This note is well written, but foreign students still can't understand it. Because this annotation doesn't really mean it in Chinese: Tang Jian at the end of Sui Dynasty said that Li Yuan "has a dragon court every day, and the world is looking forward to it." "Ancient astrologers believe that the frontal angle is as perfect as the sun, which is the phase of the emperor. Li Yuan's nickname is "Rijiao". How can American students understand these things? That "Japanese Horn Dragon Academy" doesn't know what to say. In the translation of this poem, the translator replaced Li Yuan with "he", and then used a with phrase as the attributive and "sun-knobs" to modify "he". Students who have no cultural background in China can't understand it anyway, even if they read the notes. I checked the domestic translation, only found "but the imperial seal was enchanted by the early Tang Dynasty", and I think the translation of this sentence is wordy and unclear, which has lost the essence of China's allusions and is not straightforward, and I don't know who translated it. Another translation, translated by a gentleman named Zeng Peici, is: However, the fate of the jade seal abandoned him and gave it to a man with a unique forehead. This translation has translated a "distinctive forehead" into a "sun angle", which can be described as painstaking. But the meaning is not clear, foreigners will not understand. Summarizing the above three translations, Owen translated the hidden Li Yuan into "He" and "the sun-knobs", which were ingenious, but the students didn't understand it, so they had to make up for it with notes. In the second translation, "the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty" expressed the meaning of "Sun Angle" too bluntly, thus losing the characteristics of allusions in China's poems. The third kind, using "the one with a bright forehead", will also confuse foreign readers. Overall, is Owen's "sun knob" better? Anyway, he added a note. Please express your opinions. How to better translate this poem? How should domestic translators translate and deal with allusions?