Karin Betz

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Karin Betz at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019

Karin Betz (* 1969 ) is a sinologist , translator , dancer and disc jockey .

Live and act

Karin Betz studied Sinology , Philosophy and Politics in Frankfurt , Chengdu and Tokyo . As a sinologist, she has been translating Chinese literature into German since 2008 and has already published important works in German by Liu Cixin , Liao Yiwu and the Chinese literature prize winner Mo Yan . In an interview, she said the publishers were looking for a Chinese Murakami Haruki. Even novels by well-known Chinese authors like Mo Yan are still hard to find Western readers, but there is a slowly growing group of literary friends who want to learn more about China by reading Chinese novels.

According to Betz, it is a challenge that Chinese novels are usually more than 400 pages long in German translation and are not viewed as very modern by Western readers . Chinese literature continues to use many proverbs and poems, old-fashioned jokes, and names of historical figures unknown to Western readers. As in Japan, patriotism still plays a major role in China. Authors are often judged by Asian literary critics by how well they represent the country's traditions. Classic quotes and phrases are difficult to translate and interpret. Therefore, such books are only read and understood by a small group.

Karin Betz does not translate the word, but its meaning. She wants the German translation to have the same effect on the reader as the Chinese original. That is why she often takes one to three years to translate a novel, wrestling with each word until she finds a good solution based on her feeling for the text and her interpretation of the entire work. The characters in Chinese novels speak in Chinese with different voices: In Mo Yan's Die Sandelholzstrafe , a delicate woman, a great statesman or a clumsy butcher master use very different ways of speaking, which Karin Betz had to live up to in German.

Since German publishers are usually unable to read the books in the original language, they are often reluctant to order translations of Chinese books. As a rule, you do not order a German translation until there is already an English translation that is more or less selling well.

In addition to Chinese and Japanese, Karin Betz also speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian. She occasionally reads out her translations or takes part in events about the works she has translated.

Tango fatal

In a research period in Japan Karin Betz has over the music of Astor Piazzolla the Tango Argentino discovered for themselves. In 2001 the first trip to Buenos Aires followed . Since then she has performed as a dancer and DJ. She lives in Frankfurt am Main , where she regularly organizes the Milonga Pan y Tango and translates tango poems.

For her, tango is more than music, more than movement. Metaphorically it stands for everything unfathomable: love, longing, greed for life, memory. In her book Tango fatal: Stories from the dance of passion , she presents sixteen texts by Henning Mankell , Julio Cortázar , MA Numminen , Jorge Luis Borges , Elsa Osorio and others.

Review and appreciation

In a scientific study carried out at the Shanghai International Studies University into the German translation of Mo Yan's novel Die Sandelholzstrafe , edited by Karin Betz , the German edition is rated as a successful translation that can serve as a model for literary translation. Since Karin Betz when choosing between domestication and foreignization the foreignization preferred, Werner Koller's demand for the five different equivalences between the source language and target language met, and the content and the style of the original remain in its German translation as far as possible get.

In 2013, Karin Betz was awarded the recognition award of the Zug translator scholarship .

Publications

Web links

Commons : Karin Betz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ January 17, 2019, 6:30 p.m .: City Life - Voices from China: Sheng Keyi 盛 可以 in conversation with Karin Betz (translator) and Nora Frisch (Drachenhaus Verlag), Confucius Institute Frankfurt
  2. ↑ a b c d Dennis Abrams and Porter Anderson: Fans of Chinese Literature Look for Rising Readership: In: Publishing Perspectives, March 14, 2016.
  3. ↑ Tanuki-sama: Interview with Haruki Murakami's translator Ursula Gräfe. Tanuki Republic, December 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ Struggle for Visibility - Translator: Creator in the Shadow. Hamburger Abendblatt, October 17, 2019.
  5. ^ Deutsche Welle: Mo Yan is also a realistic author.
  6. ↑ Sylvia Menzdorf: Argentinian dance: The writing Tango DJane. World, June 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ Zurich, April 18, 2018, 8:00 p.m .: Karin Betz and Miriam Mandelkow in conversation about pagodas and subways: untranslatable? # 3 - cosmos.
  8. ^ Translator, poorly paid and often overlooked: The "everyday literary heroes." Saarbrücker Zeitung, October 17, 2019.
  9. ↑ Unionsverlag: Karin Betz.
  10. ↑ Tango fatal: Tales of the dance of passion.
  11. ↑ Du Yun: Appreciation of Du Yun's master's thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Xie Jianwen. , July 5, 2016.
  12. ↑ Fri, May 30, 2014, 11:30 am, Transparent Translator.
  13. ↑ 10.10.2018, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m .: "German-Chinese literature mediation" - Discussion with the CCTV moderator DONG Qing 董 卿, MAY Jia 麦 家, Karin Betz, Hans-Jürgen Balmes, Dr. Nora Frisch, and Michael Kahn-Ackermann, Confucius Institute Frankfurt
  14. ↑ Michael Weise: At Ling: Expelled. About China. Translated by Karin Betz. 22nd November 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Betz, Karin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sinologist, translator, dancer and disc jockey
DATE OF BIRTH 1969