Friday December 24, 2010
Classic tale 'Three Kingdoms' retold in Malay
By RACHAEL KAM
[email protected]
KUALA LUMPUR: The classic tale of Three Kingdoms is now being told in Malay, after painstaking translation from Chinese by two editors. Yuen Boon Chan and Woo Tack Lok, who are established book and dictionary editors, took six years to translate the historical Chinese novel, which they have titled Hikayat Perang Tiga Negara, into Malay.
“Three Kingdoms has already been translated into more than 10 languages. We felt it was a good book which should be translated into Malay for all Malaysians to enjoy,” said Yuen after presenting the 1,200 pages of the Malay manuscripts to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) director-general Datuk Termuzi Abdul Aziz here yesterday.
The presentation was witnessed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who had earlier given away prizes to winners of a Chinese short story competition for higher learning institutions.
Dr Koh (centre) discussing the book Three Kingdoms with Termuzi (left) and Malaysian Translators and Creative Writers Association president Goh Hin San
Yuen, 67, said that with the translated work, Malaysians who don’t read Chinese could learn about the characters in Three Kingdoms and Chinese politics of some 2,000 years ago.
He said the biggest challenge in translating the 120-chapter book was not in the choice of words or structure in Malay but in making out the meaning of the classical Chinese that the author used.
“It was so tough to understand the classical Chinese that we needed more time,” added Yuen, who is a committee member of the Translation and Creative Writing Association of Malaysia.
He said he and his co-author had to be good not only in Chinese but also in Malay. He added that the DBP would now handle the Malay manuscripts and deal with the layout and printing.
“We expect the book to be published by the end of next year,” he said. Dr Koh said it was not easy to read such a big book even when reading it in Chinese.
“For me, it is quite a daunting task to finish the 120 chapters of Three Kingdoms,” he said, adding that the Malay version could help in the understanding of the different cultures of Malaysia.
