In a rental house in Star City, Liu Li sat in front of his laptop, took a sip of cool instant coffee, breathed a long sigh of relief, and sent the document to the project manager.
The work is finally done!
He couldn't wait to put on his headphones and enter the corresponding channel of the voice software.
Liu Li lowered his voice and whispered: "I'm here, and the work is finally done, but my roommate is sleeping, so I speak very quietly."
In Maili, a lively and pleasant female voice sounded: "It's okay, you can listen to me!"
Her voice is like a layer of fried bread wrapped around ice cream, crispy on the outside and soft and waxy on the inside.
Liu Li's tired face unconsciously showed a smile.
The girl's name is "Sweet Snowflake". Liu Li met her while playing a game similar to Script Killing with friends on the Internet. Later, he discovered that she had many of the same hobbies as him and felt that they were compatible, so they often played together and became Becoming more familiar.
Liu Li has a crush on her.
"But it's too difficult to fall in love online or in a different place." A certain thought flashed through his mind, Liu Li thought with a wry smile.
He himself is still sharing a house with others, so what can he give her a lifetime commitment?
"Besides, is her affection for me really mixed with emotion? Or is it simply a feeling for a friend? It's hard to say."
Thinking of this, Liu Li felt a little irritated, and finally the game was loaded. He could put his anxious feelings behind and concentrate on enjoying the game.
After a busy day, Liu Li was looking forward to this moment.
The girl's working hours are very irregular, and it is not easy to meet Liu Li during her rest time. Liu Li cherishes this time very much, chatting with her all the time, and beating up her opponents together.
With her, Liu Li hardly felt tired or sleepy, but felt extremely excited, energetic and confident.
Perhaps it was because his body was filled with passion, and his game operation also improved, and Liu Li scored a big score.
The subtle morning light came on, passing through the gap between the heavy curtains and the wall, and shining on Liu Li's face.
Liu Li was listening to the girl share her life. She recently went to a coastal city where there happened to be a typhoon. The wind was very strong and scary. She was hiding in the hotel shivering. Fortunately, the wind has stopped now and her work is over. , she decided to spend a few days there.
Liu Li was very envious after hearing this. He had no travel experience, and the only trip he made was from his hometown to Star City for school. He had nothing to share about his daily life with girls, so he could only serve as a compliment.
Buzz buzz!
Liu Li's cell phone vibrated with a call. He took it and saw that the caller was "Teacher Ding."
"Sorry, I'm taking a call from work." Liu Li said in a low voice.
"Okay, I'll wait for you." the girl responded.
He put down his headphones and walked out of the rental house quietly.
"Hey, Teacher Ding, is it so early?"
Liu Li is a translator who takes orders online. The caller is "Ding Yanhong", the project manager of "Sirius Translation Company". Liu Li signed a contract with the translation company and has a formal contract, but he is not an employee. He takes orders online. Their translation list is now a big one.
Ding Yanhong went directly to the topic: "Hello, Teacher Liu, I read your translation, and it seems to be slightly different from the customer's requirements."
Liu Li was anxious to go back to playing games and asked: "What's the problem?"
Ding Yanhong said: "The client hopes to keep the flavor of the original text as much as possible during translation. Remember this requirement is written in the document?"
"No." Liu Li defended: "Teacher Ding, this is an ancient Chinese translation, classical Chinese, translated into English. How can we translate the so-called flavor? Can we also write some poetic and picturesque old English poems for him? Give him a complete translation. Can he understand it?"
"Translating ancient texts from Chinese to English is inherently difficult, and there are not many people who can do it. It's enough that I can translate it for him in a clear and elegant way, so why do I need the flavor of the original text?"
He was a little impatient and was playing games with his sweetheart, but was interrupted early in the morning.
Ding Yanhong said: "If it really can't be done, I will ask the salesperson to talk to the customer and you can change it."
"If you can't do it, they may deduct money."
Hearing this, Liu Li felt uncomfortable, but he really needed money. The rent had to be paid, and social security was also deducting money from his card every month. Daily living expenses, krypton gold expenses for new mobile game pools, and buying Money for a new phone…
"I, let me think about it again." Liu Li said with difficulty. He had no idea how to change the translation.
"Yeah." Ding Yanhong said politely: "The client wants to see the first draft at twelve o'clock tonight, please hurry up."
After saying that, she hung up the phone.
Liu Li returned to his room in frustration and sat in front of the computer.
He said dejectedly: "Sorry, there is something urgent at work, so I can't accompany you."
"Well, I'm a little sleepy too, so I'll go catch up on some sleep first." The girl yawned.
Liu Li looked at the time in the lower right corner of the computer. It was already half past eight.
"Good night." Liu Li said.
"good evening."
After the girl's voice disappeared, Liu Li felt that his suppressed fatigue suddenly surged up, like the five-finger mountain overwhelming Sun Wukong. He couldn't support it at all. He poured another cup of instant coffee, preparing to use the power of caffeine to fight against his sleepiness.
He opened the original translation and reference materials that Ding Yanhong had given him on the desktop.
This manuscript has no name and is incomplete. There are missing parts in both the front and back text. Liu Li guessed that it was part of a certain Taoist scripture. Maybe the client was a game company and he made up a half-written paragraph and wanted to translate it into English is sold abroad, but he didn’t search for the above content on the Internet anyway.
He has done many similar requests before, and even translated a description of a self-created monster written by a certain game company that imitated the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and it was no problem.
But it’s not like, if it’s original work from a game company, Ding Yanhong will also send reference materials provided by customers to explain the translation of some of the proper nouns, or at least give the website address of the game’s official website to facilitate translators to find information.
This customer didn't give anything. All the reference materials were free resources that Liu Li found online using his Internet spirit.
Liu Li titled the manuscript "Unknown Taoist Sutra Fragments.pdf", which has a very spiritual atmosphere and can be regarded as joy in suffering.
Normal translators work eight hours a day, which is about the workload of translating 5,000 Chinese characters or words. Liu Li is faster than them, but because it is ancient Chinese and there are many Taoist nouns, the translation speed is very slow. Slowly, Liu Li sometimes regrets taking this order, which is more difficult than he judged when he got the document.
He needed to first understand the general meaning of "The Fragment of the Unknown Taoist Scripture" and then express the general meaning in the language of another different culture. Liu Li originally thought that he had done this well enough, but he did not expect that he would have to maintain it. What kind of flavor...
If Party A moves his mouth, Party B will run away and break his legs.
Looking at the original text and his own translation, Liu Li was stunned for half an hour. The coffee was cold and he drank it all. There were people outside, and he still didn't know how to change the flavor.
I read the original text again and recited it silently in my heart. Liu Li was fighting before his eyes and couldn't bear it anymore.
"Go to sleep first, then wake up and do it again."
He turned off the computer, took off his glasses, lay on the bed, pulled up the quilt, and laid it out.
The sunlight outside the curtains had penetrated, and the noisy voices reached his ears. Liu Li felt sleepy and unable to sleep, which was extremely uncomfortable.
In a hazy moment, he seemed to be hallucinating and saw a Taoist temple surrounded by fog. Everything here was blurry and he could not see clearly. As he was walking in it, he suddenly heard someone singing loudly.
The voice was solemn, sacred, and full of rhythmic beauty. Liu Li clearly couldn't understand this vocal recitation, but he instinctively realized that the other person's language had the same origin as Chinese, but was older and had a heavy tongue-licking sound, which was not in line with modern times. People's speaking habits.
"By the way, the key is rhythm." Liu Li thought.
He suddenly realized that perhaps "The Fragment of the Unknown Taoist Scripture.pdf" itself is a chanted song. After translating it, if the same rhythm can be maintained, the so-called flavor can be preserved.
Thinking of this, he sat up from the bed and realized that it was just a dream.
"Did I think of this subconsciously, and my subconscious reminded me through dreams?"
The sunlight outside the curtains became brighter, and the time came to noon. Liu Li sat in front of his laptop, opened the text, and prepared to modify the translation.
