docs+skills: preserve speaker's voice (语气), not just tone
Reviewer feedback: translations must carry Master Jiqun's 语气, not only register. Add a 'Speaker's Voice (语气)' section to mpi-translation and expand check D3 in mpi-translation-review. Also note the idea of distilling his way of talk into a dedicated skill (docs/idea-jiqun-voice-skill.md).
This commit is contained in:
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
|
|||||||
|
# Idea: distill Master Jiqun's way of talk (语气) into a skill
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Date: 2026-07-20
|
||||||
|
Status: idea / not scheduled
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Background
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Reviewer feedback on a translated article: translations must preserve Master
|
||||||
|
Jiqun's 语气 — the speaker's voice and manner — not just the tone (register,
|
||||||
|
formality). A translation can have the right register and still flatten the
|
||||||
|
teacher's voice.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
As a first step, a "Speaker's Voice (语气)" section was added to
|
||||||
|
`skills/mpi-translation/SKILL.md`, and check D3 in
|
||||||
|
`skills/mpi-translation-review/SKILL.md` was expanded to verify 语气 markers.
|
||||||
|
That covers the immediate need, but the knowledge is currently a short bullet
|
||||||
|
list inside a general skill.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Idea
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Distill Master Jiqun's way of talk into a dedicated skill (or a reference doc
|
||||||
|
under `skills/mpi-translation/references/`), built from evidence across many
|
||||||
|
of his talks:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Collect characteristic passages (source + approved translations) from the
|
||||||
|
terms DB (`loc` fields) and finished articles in `translate-files/`.
|
||||||
|
- Catalog his recurring devices: rhetorical question chains, first-person
|
||||||
|
asides (我经常说 / 我曾在讲座中 / 由此我想到), reasoning connectives
|
||||||
|
(可见 / 所以说 / 事实上), homely analogies (rotting apple, leaking boat,
|
||||||
|
teacup, face mask), gentle admonition with humor, measured unhurried
|
||||||
|
authority, inclusive we/you address.
|
||||||
|
- For each device, give approved English renderings and common failure modes
|
||||||
|
(e.g. question → declaration, "我经常说" → "it is said").
|
||||||
|
- Possibly also cover delivery/register differences between his oral talks,
|
||||||
|
essays, and micro-blog posts.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Open questions
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Standalone skill vs. reference doc under `mpi-translation`? A reference doc
|
||||||
|
is probably enough; a full skill may be overkill.
|
||||||
|
- Who approves the example translations used as evidence?
|
||||||
|
- Should it also cover other MPI teachers, or stay Jiqun-specific?
|
||||||
@@ -85,9 +85,13 @@ issue with line/paragraph references.
|
|||||||
- **D2 Cultural anachronism.** Modern concepts projected onto classical material.
|
- **D2 Cultural anachronism.** Modern concepts projected onto classical material.
|
||||||
Example: translating 般若 as "wisdom" in a scholarly context may flatten the
|
Example: translating 般若 as "wisdom" in a scholarly context may flatten the
|
||||||
term; in a popular talk it may be exactly right.
|
term; in a popular talk it may be exactly right.
|
||||||
- **D3 Tone / voice of the teacher.** For oral talks, preserve the speaker's
|
- **D3 Tone AND voice (语气) of the teacher.** For oral talks, preserve the
|
||||||
warmth, rhetorical questions, and direct address. Do not flatten into essay
|
speaker's warmth, rhetorical questions, and direct address. Beyond register,
|
||||||
prose.
|
check the 语气 markers in `../mpi-translation/SKILL.md` → "Speaker's Voice
|
||||||
|
(语气)": rhetorical questions kept as questions, first-person teacher asides
|
||||||
|
("我经常说") kept in first person, reasoning connectives (可见, 所以说)
|
||||||
|
preserved, inclusive we/you address, homely analogies left concrete, gentle
|
||||||
|
rather than scolding admonition. Do not flatten into essay prose.
|
||||||
- **D4 Implicit meaning / implicature.** What the source implies but does not say
|
- **D4 Implicit meaning / implicature.** What the source implies but does not say
|
||||||
(e.g., irony, conventional politeness, Gricean maxims). Ensure the implication
|
(e.g., irony, conventional politeness, Gricean maxims). Ensure the implication
|
||||||
survives or is compensated.
|
survives or is compensated.
|
||||||
|
|||||||
@@ -41,6 +41,40 @@ Quick-find in index: Thầy talks → `"Thích Nhất Hạnh"` + page ≤ 10; te
|
|||||||
4. **Voice**: Direct address ("you"), concrete images, and oral rhythm make Dharma land in English. Abstract noun chains (common in Chinese→English translationese) kill it.
|
4. **Voice**: Direct address ("you"), concrete images, and oral rhythm make Dharma land in English. Abstract noun chains (common in Chinese→English translationese) kill it.
|
||||||
5. **Sutra quotes**: Use standard English Buddhist idiom. Check terse-idiom conventions (e.g., Diamond Sutra "lives" not "bodies").
|
5. **Sutra quotes**: Use standard English Buddhist idiom. Check terse-idiom conventions (e.g., Diamond Sutra "lives" not "bodies").
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Speaker's Voice (语气)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Tone (register, formality) is not enough — preserve the speaker's 语气: the
|
||||||
|
stance and manner carried by sentence mood. Reviewers have flagged translations
|
||||||
|
that got the tone right but flattened the teacher's voice. 语气 lives in:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- **Sentence mood.** Rhetorical questions stay questions ("幸福在哪里?" →
|
||||||
|
"Where is happiness?", not "Happiness is nowhere to be found.").
|
||||||
|
Exclamations and wonder stay exclamatory. Do not convert the speaker's
|
||||||
|
questioning into declarations.
|
||||||
|
- **First-person teacher asides.** 济群法师 often speaks in his own voice:
|
||||||
|
"我经常说……", "我曾在讲座中多次谈到……", "由此我想到……". Keep the
|
||||||
|
first person — do not flatten to "it is often said" or impersonal prose.
|
||||||
|
These asides are how he establishes presence with the audience.
|
||||||
|
- **Reasoning connectives.** His talks argue step by step: 可见, 所以说,
|
||||||
|
事实上, 问题在于. Render the logical gait ("So it is clear that…", "That
|
||||||
|
is why…", "In fact…") rather than dropping it — the reasoned,
|
||||||
|
unhurried persuasion IS his voice.
|
||||||
|
- **Inclusive address.** Default "we" for shared human condition, "you" when
|
||||||
|
he turns to the listener. Do not drift into abstract third person ("one",
|
||||||
|
"people") where the source speaks as teacher-to-audience.
|
||||||
|
- **Everyday analogies, plainly told.** Rotting apples, leaking boats,
|
||||||
|
teacups, face masks — keep the homely image concrete and unvarnished;
|
||||||
|
do not upgrade it to literary language or explain it away.
|
||||||
|
- **Gentle admonition, never scolding.** He points out folly with warmth and
|
||||||
|
a little humor (the "有点烦" pop song, Mo Yan's dodge). Keep the lightness;
|
||||||
|
avoid both sermonizing severity and jokey casualness.
|
||||||
|
- **Measured authority.** Calm, composed, unhurried. No hype, no exclamation-
|
||||||
|
point enthusiasm, no academic hedging ("arguably", "it could be said").
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Check: read a paragraph aloud as if delivering a talk to a lay audience. If it
|
||||||
|
sounds like an essay, a lecture abstract, or a motivational speaker, the 语气
|
||||||
|
has been lost.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
## Pitfalls
|
## Pitfalls
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Pre-flight accuracy check
|
### Pre-flight accuracy check
|
||||||
|
|||||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user