南方以南 ｜ The Morning Snow

I’m opening a new blog tab today, to share some thoughts about translation, and all the great translations I come across during my studies on translation and interpretation. Of course, thoughts are mine, but the great translations may be mostly from others, my classmates, colleagues, and professors. They are the best translators and interpreters on earth. Yet they are the most hardworking ones, too. I feel humbled and blessed to have the opportunity of studying with them. In the end, I hope one day I will contribute more to this “everyday glossary”, and hope it will become helpful for others who are passionate about language studies.

Today, I’ll share one translation for “Procrastinate, and flourish.” It’s one of the favorite mottos of Mr. Paul Volker. He liked and believed in the power of rumination. He made a lot of important decisions which impacted the history of the United States.

This sentence is from a paragraph of our translation (English to Chinese) homework. Our professor Y.Zhang suggested a translation that I will never forget in the rest of my life.

事缓则圆。

In Chinese, it means: take time to think through before you start doing something. The more you ruminate, the more successful things will end up being.

I was stunned when I heard him suggesting this translation. Literally. I think it speaks well for itself. It is 200% a great translation. It opens my eyes to see better the beauty of Chinese. It, is, just amazing. A thousand thanks to Professor Zhang!!!! I can’t appreciate it more.