Translation Bureau Research Articles

Yu Keping, Democracy Is a Good Thing: Essays on Politics, Society, and Culture in Contemporary China

“Democracy is a good thing. This is true not only for individuals or certain officials, but also for the entire nation and for all of the people of China.” So begins Yu Keping’s seminal essay that is the inspiration for the title of this compilation of his most important essays. Yu, the Deputy Director of the CCP’s Central Compilation and Translation Bureau and Director of the Center for Chinese Government Innovations at Peking University, plays an important role as a close advisor to both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. It is because of that relationship and his standing within the CCP that makes this anthology of his works compelling for anyone interested in the rise of democracy in China. While Yu’s original article has been the subject of both much discussion and heated debates within and outside of China, the book is much more than just a series of readings on “Democracy with Chinese Characteristics.” Rather, the book provides an excellent assemblage of Yu’s most influential works ranging from a discussion about the state of both political science and public administration to an assessment of the continuing struggle for intraparty democracy within the CCP to good governance. Yu also provides insightful social commentary ranging from an assessment of China since the opening and reform of the late 1970s to a call to preserve China’s culture in the face of modernization and globalization. The book is divided into four parts, reflecting the breadth of Yu’s concerns: Political Development in Reform-Era China, Social Transformation and Civil Society, Culture, Modernity, and Sustainability, and Globalization and Governance. The essays contained in each section were originally published in scholarly journals or magazines between 2006 and 2008. Most have been translated into English for the first time for this anthology. The essays themselves reflect Yu’s underlying thesis: that China can make a transition to democracy with relatively “minimum political and social costs.” J OF CHIN POLIT SCI (2010) 15:341–342 DOI 10.1007/s11366-010-9106-2

A Persian Mahabharata: The 1598-1599 Razmnama

By the time the Mughal Emperor Akbar ascended the throne in 1556, at the age of thirteen, the vast Turco-Mongol empire dominated virtually all of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and would continue to expand during his reign. The empire was an Islamic state, but the Muslim elite were a minority. Akbar's maintenance of power depended upon the success of his strategy to incorporate Hindu and other religious and political factions into the imperial bureaucracy, and to allow a degree of autonomy in various regions of the empire. Beyond admitting non-Muslims into the royal administration and household?where Hindus worked in such positions as military commanders, finance ministers, tax collectors, scribes, cooks, and artists?Akbar abolished the bitterly resented poll tax (jizya) on non-Mus lim males, required by Islamic law, and a pilgrimage tax on Hindus traveling to their sacred sites. He also married the daughters of many high-ranking Hindus throughout the empire to further gain the loyalty of the non-Mus lim population. Akbars policies?liberal but also politically expedient? resulted in five decades of imperial reign of exceptional tolerance for non Muslim art, science, and religious views. In 1574, Akbar established a translation bureau (maktab khana) at his capital of Fatehpur Sikri. Here, the emperor's top scribes and secretaries were given the task of translating a range of Sanskrit texts, including the Rajatarangini (The History of the Kings of Kashmir) and the Ramayana, into Persian. Akbar also commissioned Persian translations of Arabic encyclopedias and histories and the complete Baburnama?the Chagatai Turkish memoirs of Babur, Akbar's grandfather and the founder of the Mughal dynasty.1 The activities of Akbar's translation bureau indicate his desire to do more than pacify Hindu opponents of his rule. The project was part of a larger, long-term effort to make Persian the official language of the Mughal Empire and the common tongue not only at court but also among lower ranking members of the imperial bureaucracy. Clerks, scribes, and secre taries were compelled to learn Persian, and, indeed, a multi-tiered curricu lum was developed to teach the official language. Large numbers of Hindus

Dialogue on Post-Capitalism

The influential marketing analyst Peter Drucker's idea of post-capitalism has attracted considerable attention in recent years in the People's Republic of China. One of its proponents is Professor Li Huibin of the Contemporary Marxism Institute of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China, who has written extensively on questions of economics and philosophy. The dialogue was initiated at the invitation of Professor Li when Professor Arif Dirlik of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was a visiting scholar with the Contemporary Marxism Institute during the summer of 2006. The dialogue takes up questions of the relationship between Drucker's theory and Marxist theories of capitalism, the intellectual usefulness of “post-capitalism” in understanding contemporary developments in capitalism, and its possible relevance to the developmental strategy of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

From Culture to Business

In translation studies, there has been little interest in how the economics of translating affects the wording of translations and the quality ideal with which translators work. To investigate this, the article begins by looking at the history of the Canadian government’s Translation Bureau, contrasting the pre-1995 period, when translation was done for socio-political purposes, with the past 10 years, when the government appeared to pursue translation more as an employment-and profit-generating activity in which Canada could do well. The second part of the article considers whether the changes in the government’s approach can be seen in terms of the ‘industrialization’ of translation. The third part examines the relationship between the economic and the linguistic at the Translation Bureau in terms of the approach to quality control, the conflict between quality and quantity, and the managerial structure. The article concludes that when translation comes to be treated as an economic end in itself rather than a socio-cultural activity which incidentally provides people with a living, this has an impact on linguistic output.

The Jundishapur School

Located in the region of Alam (modern Khuzistan), Jundishapur was founded by the Sassanid emperor Shahpur I in 260. This city was home to the Jundishapur school (madrasah), one of the most important science centers in history, that harmonized within itself classical Greek philosophy, Indian culture, and the Persian scientific heritage. This fact becomes clear when one looks at its rich curriculum, which ranges from medical science and pharmacology to philosophy. This complex consisted of several sections, such as a medical school (bimaristan), a pharmacology laboratory, a translation bureau, a library, and an observatory. It also had a deep influence on Islamic culture and civilization through its professors, who, in the early years of `Abbasid rule, began to settle in the capital city of Baghdad and eventually established a similar school modeled on their school in Jundishapur. From that point on, these professors made a significant contribution to Muslim medical science and philosophy.

The Jundishapur School

Located in the region of Alam (modern Khuzistan), Jundishapur was founded by the Sassanid emperor Shahpur I in 260. This city was home to the Jundishapur school (madrasah), one of the most important science centers in history, that harmonized within itself classical Greek philosophy, Indian culture, and the Persian scientific heritage. This fact becomes clear when one looks at its rich curriculum, which ranges from medical science and pharmacology to philosophy. This complex consisted of several sections, such as a medical school (bimaristan), a pharmacology laboratory, a translation bureau, a library, and an observatory. It also had a deep influence on Islamic culture and civilization through its professors, who, in the early years of `Abbasid rule, began to settle in the capital city of Baghdad and eventually established a similar school modeled on their school in Jundishapur. From that point on, these professors made a significant contribution to Muslim medical science and philosophy.

The Long-Term Forecast for Weather Bulletin Translation

Machine Translation (MT) is the focus of extensive scientific investigations driven by regular evaluation campaigns, but which are mostly oriented towards a somewhat particular task: translating news articles into English. In this paper, we investigate how well current MT approaches deal with a real-world task. We have rationally reconstructed one of the only MT systems in daily use which produces high-quality translation: the Meteo system. We show how a combination of a sentence-based memory approach, a phrase-based statistical engine and a neural-network rescorer can give results comparable to those of the current system. We also explore another possible prospect for MT technology: the translation of weather alerts, which are currently being translated manually by translators at the Canadian Translation Bureau.

Unemployed Female Translators in Saudi Arabia: Causes and Solutions

The present study found that 90% of female Saudi translators who graduated between 1990 and 1996 are not working as translators. Although translation jobs are available in hospitals, translation bureaus, and embassies, many graduates find the jobs open for women unsuitable because of working conditions, stringent qualifications, staff policies, salaries and benefits. Others disliked the nature of the work and cited insufficient information about employment opportunities, lack of motivation, and familial, social, and cultural factors as reasons for unemployment.

Gestion et traduction : Un mariage de raison

This informative article entitled "Management and Translation : A Marriage of Convenience" describes how, in the day to day operations of the Translation Bureau as well as its future-oriented activities, management and translation have, over the years, formed an indissociable bond. Five fields - contracting services, terminology and documentation, recruitment and training, office automation and computer translation - are examined in some depth. Those wishing to obtain an English version of this article or more information should contact the author at the Planning, Management and Technology Branch, Translation Bureau, Secretary of State Department, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OM5.

On Human Rights

In the past period, a number of public enemies in society have deceived a minority of young people, organized a so-called China Human Rights League, and raised such slogans as "oppose hunger and fight for human rights." In doing so, they have tried to beautify capitalist-imperialism on the one hand, and, on the other, vilified the socialist system and attacked the dictatorship of the proletariat. Our newspapers and publications are entirely right in launching their tit-for-tat criticisms. The critical articles are, on the whole, very good, but some tend toward oversimplification and are likely to leave people with the impression that the mere mention of human rights is bourgeois and reactionary. In this issue, we carry an article written by comrades at the Editing and Translation Bureau of Works by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin entitled "Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin on Human Rights" for our readers' edification and reference. From the expositions on human rights by these leaders and teachers of the Revolution, we may learn the basic stance, viewpoint, and methods that will be helpful toward repudiating today's erroneous ideological trends more comprehensively, realistically and convincingly.

Hu Qiaomu's Criticism Essay

In October 1983 Hu Qiaomu began work on an important essay entitled "On the Problem of Humanism and Alienation." According to Party convention, a person of his rank could organize a team to help him draft such an article. Hu Qiaomu chose a group of people from eight different work units in Beijing, including CASS, the Peking University, the People's University, the Central Party School, the Red Flag, the Guangming Daily, the Central Translation Bureau, and the Central Party Literature Office.

National Seminar on Muslims and Islamic Scholarship in Twentieth Century Nigeria

This seminar was organized by the Center for Islamic Studies (CIS),Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDU), Sokoto, Nigeria. Many importantpersonalities and academics of merit attended. The main theme wasdivided into seven subthemes: Islamic scholarship in modem Nigeria, intellectualcontributions of notable Muslim scholars, Muslim relationswith non-Muslims, Muslim religious groups and national unity, the influenceof foreign Muslims on Muslims in Nigeria, contemporary innovation(bidah) and the challenge of Islam, and Muslims and religiouspractices.Twenty-two papers were presented. During the opening ceremony,speeches were made by Zayyanu Abdullahi (vice-chancellor of UsmanuDanfodiyo University) and Sambo W. Junaid (director, Center of IslamicStudies, Usmanu Danfodiyo University). The paper by Colonel YakubuMu’azu (governor of Sokoto State) was delivered by his representative,Muhammad Lawa Maude (commissioner for works, housing, and environment).The representative of Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki (sultan of Sokoto)Magajin Rafi of Sokoto also attended the opening ceremony.In the first session, M. G. Maitafsir (Faculty of Education, UDU) presented“Islamic Scholarship in Nigeria Today: A Way Forward.” He discussedthe problem facing Islamic scholarship and offered solutions. BelloD. Bada (Department of Modem European Languages, UDU), speakingon “The Role of Hausa Proverbs in the Propagation of Islam in Nigeria,”explained how some Hausa proverbs containing codes of “do’s” and“don’t’s” similar to Islam help to establish the Islamic faith and practices.Habib al Hassan (Translation Bureau UNESCO, UDU), in his “TheKnowledge of HisLsb and Its Teachers in Hausaland (1900-1914),” pointedout that many Nigerian scholars specialize in this area. In a similar paper,“How Hisab is Performed in Hausaland (1900-1914),” he showed throughfigures and illustrations how mathematics is mixed with magic to find certainhidden facts and to perform certain good or bad actions ...

The Soviet Armed Forces: A History of Their Organizational Development, A Soviet View. By S. A. Tyushkevich et al. Translated by the CIS Multilingual Section, Translation Bureau, Secretary of State Department, Ottawa. Soviet Military Thought Series, no. 19. Published under the auspices of the United States Air Force [originally published as Sovetskie vooruzhennye sily: Istoriia stroitel'stva in 1978 by Voennoe

The Soviet Armed Forces: A History of Their Organizational Development, A Soviet View. By S. A. Tyushkevich <i>et al.</i> Translated by the CIS Multilingual Section, Translation Bureau, Secretary of State Department, Ottawa. Soviet Military Thought Series, no. 19. Published under the auspices of the United States Air Force [originally published as <i>Sovetskie vooruzhennye sily: Istoriia stroitel'stva</i> in 1978 by Voennoe

Recent Activities of the Literature Bureau, Zaria, Northern Nigeria

Opening ParagraphThe Literature Bureau was originally started, in 1930, by the Education Department of Northern Nigeria, as a Translation Bureau. Its main function at first was to produce Hausa text-books for use in schools, but in the years before the war it was trying to lay the foundation of a more general literature for the Hausa-speaking people. In January 1939 a Hausa paper was started with the title Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo, and an Assistant District Officer was attached to the Bureau to supervise its publication and business side. But in 1940, owing to reduction in staff, such a man could no longer be spared, and the paper had to be run without him.