I wrote a review in Chinese and asked ChatGPT to translate it. Here is our conversation:
Me: Can you please translate the following paragraph in Chinese to English?
G: Of course! Please provide the Chinese text you'd like me to translate.
Me: 刘子超是一个国内的书友推荐的。《午夜降临前抵达》(中欧游记)是他的第一本游记。我的第一印象是好重的翻译腔。不奇怪,作者也是翻译,翻译过 John Updike 的书。书里处处掉书袋,倒也掉得不难看,只是作者的口气模模糊糊像20世纪白男作家,例如:“我买了单,走出门,双手插在大衣口袋里。湿冷的海风忽然迎面而来,像姑娘们凉薄的嘴唇”。我比较喜欢那股兴致勃勃想了解世界的精神。书出版于2015年,有些观察蛮有意思:“相比一个没人关心政治的社会,一个人人都热衷参与政治的社会,反而更可怕—只有集权时代才会出现的情况”。然而,集权社会的政治是从上到下推进的,不想搞也得搞,让你搞什么你就必须搞什么。2015年Trump、Brexit和新冠还没有发生、中国的GDP眼看要超过美国了… 才9年,一个时代已经过去了。又:花了不少时间Google 游记里提到的人名地名的原文。原来的里雅斯特就是Trieste!
G: Liu Zichao was recommended by a domestic book enthusiast. "Arriving Before Midnight" (A Journey through Central Europe) is his first book. My first impression was that the translation felt quite heavy. Not surprisingly, the author is also a translator who has translated books by John Updike. Throughout the book, there are plenty of literary references, which aren't too bad, but the author's tone is somewhat vague, reminiscent of 20th-century white male writers, for example: "I paid the bill, walked out, and put my hands in the pockets of my coat. The damp, cold sea breeze suddenly hit me in the face, like the chilly lips of young girls." I quite like the enthusiasm to understand the world portrayed in the book. Published in 2015, some of the observations are quite interesting: "Compared to a society where nobody cares about politics, a society where everyone is enthusiastic about politics is even scarier—such situations only occur in authoritarian times." However, in authoritarian times, politics is pushed from top to bottom; whether you want to participate or not, you have to. Whatever they tell you to do, you must do. In 2015, Trump, Brexit, and COVID-19 hadn't happened yet, and China's GDP was on the verge of surpassing that of the United States... Only nine years have passed, and an era has already come to an end. Also, I spent a lot of time googling the original names of people and places mentioned in the travelogue. It turns out "里雅斯特" is Trieste!
(Except for a few mistakes and stilted sentences, the translation is not bad!)
Me: 好重的翻译腔 is not "that the translation felt quite heavy"
G: My apologies for the oversight. "好重的翻译腔" can be more accurately translated as "a translation style that feels heavy" or "a heavy-handed translation style." Thank you for pointing that out!
Me: 好重的翻译腔 means the text, although written in the original language, feels like a translation from other languages
G: Thank you for the clarification. In that case, a more accurate translation would be "the text reads like a heavy-handed translation from another language."
Me: In sentence "原来的里雅斯特就是Trieste! " , "的里雅斯特" is the full name, not "里雅斯特".
G: Thank you for the clarification. In that case, the correct translation of the sentence "原来的里雅斯特就是Trieste!" would be: "So the original '的里雅斯特' is actually Trieste!"
(It made it worse. A better translation is: “It turns out "的里雅斯特" is Trieste!)
Me: In sentence "刘子超是一个国内的书友推荐的" , "国内的书友" is not "a domestic book enthusiast."
G: You're correct. "国内的书友" refers to "book friends within the country." A more accurate translation would be: "Liu Zichao was recommended by a book friend within the country." Thank you for pointing out the nuance!
Me: “我比较喜欢那股兴致勃勃想了解世界的精神” can be translated better.
G: A better translation for "我比较喜欢那股兴致勃勃想了解世界的精神" could be: "I particularly admire the enthusiastic spirit of wanting to explore the world."
(“比较” is not “particularly” in this sentence, but I have had enough, so I let it go.)