Spread your good mind to others / 把你的好心传给别人。
In this episode we talk with Claire about her lunar new year monster story, its themes of fear and generosity and why the color red and fireworks are so closely linked with this celebration. We also discuss language difference and connection, and fascinating concepts like Tao that can teach us more about living well with others.
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[Speaker 1]
Speaking in Mandarin
[Speaker 1]
The Legend of the Nian Beast: Once upon a time, according to legend, in ancient China, there was a monster called Nian who lived deep in the sea all year round…
(music)
[Speaker 2]
Welcome to Storytelling Translationships. You were just listening to a clip from Claire's story, Lunar New Year, in Mandarin and in English. To hear the full version, please visit our website, translationships.net. I am Cristina Sánchez-Martín and my co-host Taiko Aoki-Marcial and I sat down with Claire who told us more about the story, the possibilities of connecting these by language differences, and fascinating concepts like Tao that can teach us more about living well with others.
[Speaker 3]
All right, Claire, thank you so much for coming and speaking with us today. I think maybe we can start off by just, can you tell us a little bit about who you are, your name, you know, where you're from, anything else that you think you want to share with people who are listening?
[Speaker 1]
Okay. Hi, my name is Claire. I'm from Taiwan. I have been to America for seven months, seven to eight months. I love to live in Seattle because this city is really beautiful.
[Speaker 2]
Me too. Okay, so during the winter, we learned about storytelling and you told a story, Lunar New Year, right? Can you tell us a little bit more about it? Can you provide a short summary of what the story is about for those who haven't read it or listened to it yet?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, no problem. I would like to ask everyone, do you know why Chinese people would like to decorate their home in red or why they always wear red color and display firework during Chinese New Year? There's a very good reason, because there's a legendary story that once upon a time, there is a Nian monster, always attacked people on every Chinese New Year's Eve. And one day, a wise man who visit a village and to beg for some food when the villager escaped from the monster. He told a woman who was the only person to help him that he can drive away the monster if let him stay her house for one night. And why the Nian monster went away because he was afraid of the red color and the firework sound. So, after that, people started to follow a wise man’s suggestion and wear red clothes and display firework to keep all beasts away. And next day, they visited their friends and congratulate their friends in the first of New Year. That's why people, why Chinese people love to wear red color and display fireworks.
[Speaker 3]
I learned, I always, I knew that red was really important for the new year in Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year, that red was like a really special color and really important. But I never knew kind of the story behind that until you told that story. So thank you.
[Speaker 1]
You're welcome. I'm happy to tell everyone this great story.
[Speaker 3]
Can you also tell us maybe your memories around the story and the details of the story? Like when did you first hear it? Who did you hear it from? Like where were you? What is the context in which this story kind of came to you in the first place?
[Speaker 1]
I don't remember exactly, but I think I heard this story when I was in elementary school. I think I knew this story from the book, which I borrowed from my neighbor. When I was young, my neighbor, my neighbor's parents always buy a lot of a books for my neighbor. And because I really love to read stories. So I borrow from them and then they have one story that is this story. So, and also, I think one day I have ever asked my grandma about why we display fireworks during Chinese New Year and why we need to wear red color, why we have a red envelope, something about the question I asked my grandpa and grandma. And then my grandma and grandpa taught me, we do that, they will give a good fortune. Yeah. It will bring good fortune to us. But maybe they don't know the reason. So after that, I read the story. So I just realized, oh, because there is a Nian monster story. So that's why people wear red color. Yeah.
[Speaker 3]
Are there other are there other stories about, is the Nian monster is this like a character or you know like is this a figure that appears in other places in other stories or is it just in the story this monster?
[Speaker 1]
Only in this this story. It's interesting, right?
[Speaker 3]
Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah. There is a student in the program where I teach from Taiwan as well, who gave me a children's book about the red envelopes and about the red color too. And it's written in Mandarin and in English so that I could read it. Yeah, I want to show it to you at some point, because it's really beautiful.
But speaking about that, we wanted to ask what it meant to you to tell the story in Mandarin and in English, since you told the story in both languages. And was the retelling process similar or different? Did anything change when you were telling the story in English as opposed to Mandarin? And what would you tell the teachers that you work with about this process of retelling the story in different languages?
[Speaker 1]
I think most of the part are simple. When we describe a story, they will, the word describe a song or describe like a poetry. And it is hard to translate in English. So sometimes it's quite hard to describe. I only can use a similar. But actually, it is not 100% then in Chinese. Yeah. Yeah, but it happened because some of words, we cannot translate.
[Speaker 2]
Do you remember any specific examples? It's okay if you don't. But just thinking back maybe.
[Speaker 1]
I didn't remember that. Maybe I can find it. Like, okay, letter sound like called Ping Ping Pam Pam. Ping Ping Pam Pam. This is a sound, sound word in Chinese. It describes firework, firework displaying. But it's hard to translate in English. Like ping ping pam pam, do you have a ping ping pam pam this sound in English? Yeah, that is one. Oh, and there is one word as Chinese called people shouting and horse also shouting. That actually is poetry. But this word, this sentence is also hard, hard to translate in English. If I translate each of words, there will be people shouting, horse shouting, but it's not correct to translate each of words, right? So like this sentence, I don't know how to describe in English. I only can say I describe like chaos. People run around and the situation like chaos, something like that.
[Speaker 3]
That's so interesting. I want to, what is the word? How do you say the word that is people shouting and horses shouting?
[Speaker 1]
In Chinese we call 人 (rén), 喊 (hǎn), 马 (mǎ).
[Speaker 3]
Four words.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, four words 人 (rén) mean is people. 喊 (hǎn) mean is shouting, screaming. 马 (mǎ) horse. 是 (shì) mean is horse is shouting. So these words are hard. How can I describe horse shouting in English?
[Speaker 3]
I think you did. I mean, the idea of chaos, you know, when I think about like people, you know, like people shouting and horse shouting, I think the way you described it makes a lot of sense, like that idea of, you know, like chaos and...
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, it's the one there's one example. It's not a good example, but it’s similar. Can you imagine 911? When 9911 happened, it is chaos, right? And you can imagine so many people and even animal run away and shouting for help. And maybe dog barking or yeah, because it's very chaos. This has just come to my mind.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah, that is a good example of chaos for sure.
[Speaker 1]
Some of Chinese words are hard to exactly translate in English. Yeah, I only just can, only can use a similar meaning.
[Speaker 3]
Going back to what Cristina was asking just a little bit, like, keeping that in mind, like how difficult it is, you know, to translate certain ideas or certain words. What do you think your, your teachers or like English teachers that you work with should know or how should they keep this in mind when, when you're talking about stories or talking about language or talking about translation?
[Speaker 1]
I think, in this case, I would ask my teacher, does it have a similar story or similar meaning in Western country that I can refer to or use to explain my story? So people can, when people read my story in English version, if they have a reference, they may more understanding what I'm talking about. Yeah, because they have a story from their country and which they be familiar. Oh, that's what you want to describe. Your culture, your story. Yeah, but maybe, yeah, maybe there's no exactly the same story in Western concepts, but if if have that will be that would be great.
[Speaker 3]
I like that idea of just like seeing if there's connections that people can make to, you know, like to the to what they already know to like understand a new story better, even if it's not always possible, you know, I like that idea a lot.
[Speaker 2]
Okay, moving on to the next question. We see that in the story, community and relationships seem to be important themes. For example, at first, everyone in the community except for one old woman ignores the old man who comes asking for food and shelter, but this old man is the only one who ends up knowing how to keep the village safe. So does this story help us to understand how people can be in relationship to others, both strangers as well as friends and family, and how so?
[Speaker 1]
I would say people, because people, most, some of people, they don't have enough wisdom to solve the problem, even though no matter connect with people. That's why you can see more and more people, they have a less and less true heart, less and less considerate other people's feelings, yeah. So in this story, people only care about whether they're sad, care about their life. That's not wrong thing, but if you can also consider others and our society, our country, or our neighborhood, will be, will be better, right? So there is one word we call the virtuous, virtuous cycle, right? So this story also teach people, need to care not only yourself, but also others, right? So like the wise man, in this story, there's a one wise man, actually he saved everyone's life, right? People no need to escape every Chinese New Year's Eve after finding a solution. So…
[Speaker 2]
That makes sense.
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, so I think in this story lens, I found that there also have not only, not only tell everyone about Chinese culture, but also teach people you need to be very kind and and see the right to your, to others.
[Speaker 3]
That's a great thing. I guess that goes kind of to, that goes kind of to our last question or the question that we're gonna think about next, which is, what do you think is important about sharing the story? Or what do you think, what do you want people who listen to it or to read it, what do you want them to take away from it?
[Speaker 1]
Yeah, this great story to teach people. Most people, most of people choose to escape mentally when they make difficulties. In fact, the correct attitude is to find a solution or correct method to fundamentally solve it, right? Otherwise, you cannot always just, always to escape or hide the problem, right? You need to face it and look at it and solve it. So in Chinese, we call this is Tao. The Tao is from nature. When you see someone need to help and just help because that is from your nature of heart. So we call Tao. Yeah.
And how to inspire people? I think people need to learn, to find a way, to find a class, to learn. Then spread to others, spread your good mind to others. So that's why I also study something about Tao, something about how to, what is the correct way to be a right person. Yeah.
[Speaker 2]
That's so beautiful. I love those takeaways. It's giving me a lot to think about and to try to do better as well.
[Speaker 3]
Yeah, it makes me also want to explore more about that idea. I know I've heard the, you know, like the concept of Tao before. It makes me want to explore and learn more about that concept and that idea, because it seems so important.
[Speaker 1]
Yes.
[Speaker 3]
Well, that's a great-- I think that's a great final idea or message to leave it on.
[Speaker 2]
Yeah.
[Speaker 1]
Yes.
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Credits
[Speaker 3]
This podcast has been produced with the support from Humanities WA, the University of Washington Simpson Center and the College of Arts & Sciences and a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant. Special thanks to our guests for generously sharing the treasures that these stories are for their families and communities. More information on their stories and others involved in this project can be found on our podcast website, translationships.net.
[Speaker 2]
The title of our podcast was inspired by the Force 11 Open, Multilingual and Global Scholarly Communication (OMG) working group, which challenges the “global scholarly communication community [to] develop more openly and equitably “trans-lationships” (translational relationships) across cultures, languages, regions, boundaries, disciplines and worldviews” (Del Río Riande, Lujano, and O’Donnell 2020) as it appears in Spence and Brandao’s article “Towards Language Sensitivity and Diversity in the Digital Humanities.”
[Speaker 3]
Our collaborators for this project include language and pedagogical support from Shariliz Poveda, Eloisa Aguirre, Francisco Siderey, and Bixin Fu; technology and logistical support from Frank Macarthy and Elliott Stevens.
The intro song is a remix of Mercedes Sosa’s Balderrama by Kermesse, a group from Buenos Aires, formed in 2015 by duo, Fase and Gurtz (aka Muno) licensed under the creative commons.
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