Lin King's Lecture on Multilingual Texts in Taiwanese Literature at Boston University

King’s recent translation of *Taiwan Travelogue*, which won the National Book Award for Translated Literature, has gained attention following its shortlisting for the International Booker Prize. A significant aspect of the book is its narrative about a Japanese writer touring Taiwan in 1938, accompanied by a Taiwanese interpreter. Two MFA students, Lane Harper and Cheryl Ong, both engaged in Japanese and Chinese translation, attended the lecture to explore its multilingual elements.

During her talk, King addressed the complexities she encountered as a translator of a text that serves as a fictionalized translation. She discussed her approach to footnotes, which are integral to understanding the original work. By adding her own explanatory notes, King aimed to clarify historical Taiwanese place names presented in Japanese, ensuring comprehension for English readers unfamiliar with the corresponding Chinese names.

King highlighted her transliteration choices for the Taiwanese language, Taigi, which has seen limited English translation and has recently gained systematization in Taiwan. She referenced the Taiwanese Ministry of Education’s Taigi dictionary for her romanizations and translated food names into Taigi to elucidate implicit meanings in the original Mandarin.

Beyond *Taiwan Travelogue*, King touched on her work with *The Boy from Clearwater*, a biographical graphic novel series that employs a multilingual approach to depict Taiwanese history. While the original editions displayed all three languages in their scripts, the English version utilized color-coding to maintain a sense of multilingualism despite layout limitations.

King also shared insights into her upcoming translation of *A Perfect Day to Put Your Head in the Oven* by Boston-based Taiwanese author Lee Chia-Ying, who attended the lecture. She described the translation challenges, including references to Chinese characters, and noted that the success of *Taiwan Travelogue* has led publishers to be more open to experimental translations.

In a robust Q&A session, King responded to inquiries about potential shifts in the conventions of publishing Chinese and Japanese works in translation and reflected on her experiences discussing the sensitive histories between Taiwan and Japan with middle-school students.

While advocating for broader representation of Taiwanese literature, King emphasized the richness of its diverse voices, remarking, “It’s impossible for one book, one story to represent a whole culture... We are diverse enough to encompass very different views, very different voices, and still be thought of as one identity.”

Lin King's lecture forms part of the Literary Series Archive, which is accessible online.