The series consists of three engaging parts:

1. Educational Video: An introduction to the key terms and concepts in the song, providing valuable insight into its cultural and historical references.
2. English Translation: A clear and thoughtful translation of the lyrics, making the poetic beauty of the song accessible to a broader audience.
3. ASMR Lyrics Reading: A soothing experience featuring an ASMR reading of the lyrics, allowing you to enjoy the lyrics in a unique and calming way.

Click to watch all three parts combined in one video on YouTube.

Feedback Received

It is delightful to be able to engage our clients in a dialogue about culture, poetry and translation!

A client of Monterey Language Services shared a wonderful interpretation of Blue and White Porcelain of her own with us after reading our translation. She thought the song described the beloved landscape scenery of China as captured in blue and white porcelain pottery.

How did this story happen? Let us share how Monterey Language Services turned this beautiful piece into a fascinating project!

Spreading the Joy of Translation

The song “Blue and White Porcelain” by Taiwanese artist Jay Chou was released in 2007, so why did we choose it for our 2024 summer project? The idea didn’t come after a lot of planning or brainstorming, but as a sudden enlightenment.

At the start of the summer, Mei-Ling kept hearing “Blue and White Porcelain” in different places, so she decided to learn it. The more she sang the song, the more the beauty of the Chinese culture embedded in the lyrics resonated with her. Appreciating the poetry of the lyrics, Monterey Language Services decided to share the song with a broader audience by translating the Chinese lyrics into English.

Even non-Chinese speakers were able to join in this effort. In this video, Layla, a Spanish interpreter whose native language is English, read the translation as a poem. We then developed the reading further using ASMR techniques.

This story is an inspiring example of the power of translation to facilitate communication between people of different languages and cultures.

Collaborative Teamwork

This project is the product of collaboration between many colleagues and professionals. The end result surpasses what one person is capable of doing alone.

We started the project with Christoph, whose Chinese-to-English translation follows the syllable-count and meter of the original song and provided the foundation for what was to come. See our previous blog post for more information.

After the English translation video was complete, Shreya joined in. She suggested adding an educational video with eye-catching images to explain the key terms in the lyrics.

Layla thought the English translation was poetic, so she performed a reading in her clear and gentle voice. Her soothing tone inspired Shreya to suggest creating an ASMR version.

Finally, we wanted to create a complete sensory experience. Gary edited the background music and added sound effects such as rain falling on leaves, fire crackling, and pottery wheel clicking. These effects enhanced the video and made it atmospheric.

We are proud to mention that the younger generation also played a part. The background image of the ASMR video was drawn by De-Yi Lee, a junior high school student.

For this project, we have many people to thank, including the song’s original composer and singer Jay Chou and lyricist Vincent Fang. The song inspired a lot of creativity, which has made this project very enjoyable.

Through the collaborative efforts of many talented individuals, we were able to produce a video with a clear vision.

Video Editing

The combined video has three parts, and we created it in three different phases. As the videos consist of many different elements, video editing was required to combine and synchronize them. Smoothing the audio and creating seamless transitions between different segments were also fun to handle.

In the introduction to Parts One and Two, we used a stunning animated image of falling flower petals, while a blue and white bowl rotates in the background. On its own, the animation is beautiful, but when put it into our video, we felt that the speed was a little too fast.

The video is aimed to relax rather than energize, so we decided to slow the animation down, reducing the speed by half. The effect was immediate and magical. The animation was seamlessly integrated into the rest of the video.

From start to finish, we made sure that there are smooth transitions throughout the video. Our aim was to find a balance between joy and serenity as well as between majesty and simplicity, while maintaining a relaxing mood on the whole.

Translation Journey

Before translating the lyrics, we took the time to decide on our approach. We weren’t merely trying to produce a mechanical, one-to-one translation of the words. Instead, we aimed to create a singable English version that mirrored the rhythm and flow of the original song.

At the same time, we also wanted to faithfully convey the story told by the original lyrics. Therefore, every word went through a great deal of consideration and scrutiny.

To keep the translation accessible and easy for a non-Chinese audience to understand, some proper nouns had to be dropped. These included references to a Song dynasty style potter’s mark on a vase, and a town in Jiangnan, a region in China known for its romantic river scenery.

Both terms are richly evocative to a Chinese listener, but their dense cultural meanings could not be explained within the limitations of the syllable count.

For the Song dynasty reference, we simplified the phrase to “old potter’s mark”. Although “antique” may have been better at capturing the intended meaning, “old” was a better fit for the syllable count.

On the other hand, we omitted the reference to the Jiangnan region altogether. As Jiangnan’s literal meaning is “south of the river,” we gave up geographic specificity but kept its romantic associations by using the word “enchanted” in the same line.

After a process of painstaking deliberation, we are happy with the translation. It is both faithful to the original lyrics and singable to the original meter.

Interpretations of the Song

Song lyrics can be considered a form of poetry and can have many different interpretations. During the translation of the song, we had a debate about whether the speaker in the lyrics is addressing a blue and white porcelain vase or a human love interest.

One interpretation was that the speaker is an art lover recalling his encounter with a beautiful blue and white porcelain vase in Jiangnan. The art lover’s treasure hunt led him to discover the porcelain vase hidden behind a splashed-ink landscape painting among other works of Chinese art.

The other interpretation is that this is a love song that uses metaphors from Chinese art to describe his longing and the beauty of his lover.

Creative translation, also known as transcreation, of works such as “Blue and White Porcelain” can spark lively discussion, as there can be many different interpretations of the same text.

Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans

Evidence of interpreters can be seen as far back as 300 BC with the depictions of the Princes of Elephantine. The two were apparently bilingual and were integral to military operations and trade between Egypt, Nubia, and Sudan.

Alexander the Great from Ancient Greece also employed interpreters for communication with India. When Romans dominated society, it was common for them to be fluent not only in Latin, but also Greek from tutors and slaves so as to not have to rely too heavily on interpreters. Roman translations of Greek works are part of what gives us so much mythos to pull from as well.

Of course, interpretation and translation from other languages was a regular event for dealing with outside cultures. For example, in 202 BC, Scipio and Hannibal met together in the presence of interpreters, in what we might call today as a conference interpretation event.

The Bible

In 382 AD, Pope Damasus had St. Jerome translate biblical texts into what is now known as the Vulgate Bible. This was for a form of Latin that the church would use. The history of biblical translations is rich and complex, but noteworthy is Martin Luther’s German translation in the 1500s that allowed the common people to read and understand the word of God for themselves.

Columbus and Cortes

When Christopher Columbus headed to what he thought was India, he hired the interpreter Luis De Torres, who was fluent in Chaldean, Arabic, and Hebrew. However, when he landed in the Caribbean, he decided to capture native Taino people to teach them Spanish and spread Christianity.

Similarly, when Hernan Cortes began his conquest of Mexico, he acquired about twenty enslaved women, one of whom was “La Malinche” as she is known today. He chose her as his consort, and she also served as an interpreter from Nahautl into Mayan, which was interpreted into Spanish by another member of Cortes’s crew.

John Dryden’s Translation Theory

The Ancient Greeks discussed translation theory first and then in 1680, John Dryden proposed three major ideas for the modern era of translation. First was “metaphrase,” which refers to a literal translation; second was “paraphrase,” which refers to translating the meaning more than the exact wording; and lastly was “imitation,” which refers to creative translation of the text.

While these wordings are not often used today, the ideas certainly are. You might hear people talking about “literal translation,” “translation of meaning,” or “transcreation” instead.

While calling a translation company and requesting a quote might seem to be the next logical step, it is useful to consider the benefits of transcreation when it comes to creative content, such as marketing materials.

First, let’s look at what transcreation is.

Although the term entered the professional jargon of marketing and language experts some time ago, its precise definition remains evasive.

In fact, a myriad of other terms are often used interchangeably depending on the context, such as “cultural adaptation,” “marketing translation,” “internationalization,” “multilingual copywriting,” or “free-style translation.”

According to Wikipedia, transcreation is the process of adapting a message from one language to another, while maintaining its style, tone, context, and, most importantly, intent.

In the simplest terms, transcreation means creative translation. It involves taking the message, stripping down the words, and recreating its essence often using different words while preserving the creative and emotional intent of the original.

You might ask how transcreation differs from traditional translation.

The key difference is the desired outcome.

A professional translator strives to be accurate and faithful to the original, as well as stylistically and grammatically correct. This is the gold standard for translation.

Yet, when it comes to advertising content, even the best translation might not elicit the intended reaction in your new audience because of cultural differences.

Below are some examples of why transcreation matters.

• The Scandinavian vacuum maker Electrolux launched its U.S. marketing campaign with the tagline translated into English as “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”  The Swedish company belatedly realized that, instead of highlighting the vacuum’s high power, the tagline turned off shoppers and damaged its brand in the U.S.
• The German sportswear retailer Puma had to promptly withdraw a limited line of shoes produced in the colors of the United Arab Emirates’ flag after receiving negative feedback from Emiratis who believed the product trivialized their flag. The negative reaction was intensified by the fact that, in many Arab cultures, the shoe is considered dirty as it touches both the ground and the foot.
• When Intel decided to bring its successful “Intel: Sponsors of Tomorrow” campaign to Brazilian markets, it had to change the message in Portuguese to “Intel: In love with the future.” This was done after research showed that “Sponsors of Tomorrow”, rendered in Portuguese, implied that Intel did not fulfill its promises promptly.(Samples were summarized from the sources: Wikipedia and Business News Daily.)

Transcreation helps avoid some of the pitfalls related to word usage, cultural context, and global vs. local marketing that come up in the process of cross-cultural advertising.

A professional transcreation expert is creative, culturally sensitive, and marketing-aware. He cares about preserving the “feel” of the original content and strives to evoke the same sensations using culturally appropriate linguistic means.

Therefore, when contacting a translation company about translating your marketing content, we hope you inquire about transcreation. It may prove a worthwhile investment as it helps to make your product more competitive internationally and allows you to reach your sales goals more quickly.

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to request a quote from us.