Jun Jiang, a student on the MA in Translation with Business Interpreting (TBI) at the University of Bath, has been awarded First Prize in the 15th United Nations St. Jerome Translation Contest (Student Track) for her translation of a New York Times article about Tina Turner into Chinese.
“It wasn’t easy,” says Jun. “In fact, I struggled painfully to convey the subtlety of the text. Failing to do that could distort the underlying message. We are always taught that our priority is to ensure the accuracy of the original text and keep the register consistent. Frankly speaking, to achieve this I must have made over a hundred revisions. It was a pain. But luckily I survived and my efforts paid off in the end!”
The award comes as a huge confidence boost, but Jun is far from complacent: “At the bottom of my heart, I am fully aware I still have a long way to go. This prize is like the first stop in my journey to becoming a qualified translator. I will bear in mind what I have learned throughout the year and continue honing my translation skills. ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish’, they say - there is no such thing as perfect translation.”
Humble as ever, Jun feels greatly indebted to those who have taught her at Bath: “I’d like to thank Jane, Miguel, Dr. Kumar, Xu Lin, Paul and my other teachers. Without their support and help, I would not have been able to win this prize. To me, it is a recognition of my study on the Translation with Business Interpreting programme and demonstrates my growth over the year. I feel honoured and proud to be a Bather and TBIer, and hopefully someday in the future, I can make Bath proud again!”