Yeah: I definitely wouldn't say that these should *never* be translated as questions -- it's hard to think of anything I'd say *has* to be done a certain way -- but when the text feels as if it came out the way it did because of the language, rather than because of a decision on the part of the author, I take the license to translate som…
Yeah: I definitely wouldn't say that these should *never* be translated as questions -- it's hard to think of anything I'd say *has* to be done a certain way -- but when the text feels as if it came out the way it did because of the language, rather than because of a decision on the part of the author, I take the license to translate something that sounds natural in 文言 into something that sounds natural in English. In this case, having Su say "What night lacks a moon? What place lacks bamboos and cypresses?" in English just felt a little too Drama Kid.
Yeah: I definitely wouldn't say that these should *never* be translated as questions -- it's hard to think of anything I'd say *has* to be done a certain way -- but when the text feels as if it came out the way it did because of the language, rather than because of a decision on the part of the author, I take the license to translate something that sounds natural in 文言 into something that sounds natural in English. In this case, having Su say "What night lacks a moon? What place lacks bamboos and cypresses?" in English just felt a little too Drama Kid.