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Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
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Chinese to English - Rates: 0.05 - 0.07 USD per character / 8 - 15 USD per hour German to English - Rates: 0.05 - 0.07 USD per word / 8 - 15 USD per hour
Chinese to English: “The Hostage”: Excerpt from “The Blade of Silence”, a crime thriller by Lei Mi General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
A Week earlier.
As Fang Mu lit another cigarette, he let his gaze sweep the boundless wheat fields rushing past the train's window.
He was alone, and that suited him just fine. In fact, when Bian Ping had told him that he would be going to Suijing City on his own for this assignment, Fang Mu had leapt at the chance.
Standing in the vestibule between two of the train's cars, he listened to the early autumn air whistle through the door's cracks and crevices. It seemed to blow right through him, clearing his mind. The sensation was wonderfully relaxing, rolling over him like a slow wave and bathing him in lethargy. But with it came the bitter tinge of sentimentality.
He turned to his own reflection in the window. For the life of him, he couldn't remember when that face had last been free of worries, or even what that would look like. Over the years, everything that was soft had turned hard and all the tender parts had become rough.
But that was probably true for far more than just his face.
Fang Mu turned away, gently letting the smoke escape from the corner of his mouth.
Moments of leisure like this were always far too brief.
But that was probably true for far more than just his face.
After little more than an hour, the train stopped in Suijing City.
A young man was waiting for Fang Mu at the station, holding a sign that read, "Fang Mu from Changchong City".
Fang Mu made his way through the crowds and introduced himself with a simple, "Hello."
The man's first response was confusion. He had clearly expected someone different than Fang Mu's young appearance. This could not be their expert, could it? If so, where were his assistants?
"You are," the young man said, hesitating, "Officer Fang?"
"Mhm," Fang Mu confirmed. "And you are from the Municipal Bureau?"
That cleared up, the man quickly stuffed his sign under one arm and offered his now free hand. "Xiao Wang, vice squad." His handshake was powerful and certainly enthusiastic, but tempered by just the right amount of restraint.
Chinese to English: “Taklamakan”: Excerpt from “With Her Eyes”, a science-fiction story by Liu Cixin General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
It was a place where towering mountains and flat plains, grasslands, and forest met and embraced — a mighty grassland located a good thousand miles from the Aerospace Center where I worked. Flying via the ionosphere, our journey took a mere 15 minutes. Many generations of perseverance and hard work had transformed the Taklamakan from a sandy desert to verdant grassland. Now, after decades of vigorous population control, it was once again left deserted, if only of human habitation. Before me, the grasslands stretched straight to the horizons. Behind me, the Tian Shan Mountains were covered in the luscious green of a thick forest, punctuated only by the occasional silvery white snowcaps of the highest peaks.
I took out her eyes and put them on.
The so-called ‘‘eyes’' were actually a pair of remote sensing glasses. When worn, they transmitted visual information to a designated receiver pair of “eyes" via an ultra high frequency signal. This allowed the, often very distant receiver, to see everything saw just as if through his or her very own eyes.
Nowadays, millions worked all year round on the Moon and the Asteroid Belt. These workers faced truly daunting costs if they wished to return to Earth for a vacation. The Aerospace Agency, always concerned with its bottom line, had devised these gadgets to solve their dilemma — and so extra-orbital astronaut had another pair of eyes planet-side. Those on Earth, lucky enough to go on a real»life vacation, could take someone else's pair along, allowing a homesick space worker to share the joy of their trip. Even though these gadgets had become the butt of many a joke, the fact that those willing to wear them received significant subsidies for their travels had made them very popular indeed.
The artificial eyes were cutting edge technology and were continuously being developed and improved. Nowadays, they could even transmit a wearer's sensation of touch and smell by picking up his or her brainwaves. Wearing these eyes on vacation was often seen as a charitable act by the earthbound Aerospace Systems staff, but due to the invasion of privacy the eyes necessitated, far from everyone was happy with the arrangement. As for myself, I hardly saw the problem with them.
The vista that stretched before my own eyes was truly marvelous. Taking it all in, I drew a deep sigh of sheer from delight from the depths of my being. Her eyes, however, rang with soft sobs.
“I have dreamed of this place ever since my last trip, and now I am back in that dream!” Her gentle voice replaced the sobs, “I feel like I am rising from the depths of the oceans, like I am taking my first breath of air. I so afraid of being sealed away.”
Chinese to English (MA (Master's Degree) - University Bonn, Germany)
Memberships
N/A
Software
Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, MetaTexis, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, OmegaT, Powerpoint, QuarkXPress, SDLX, Trados Studio
Bio
I am freelance translator specializing in Chinese > English / German > English translations with a focus on literary material.
In addition to my translation work, I am also a published short story author.
Completed Translation Projects
The Blade of Silence – Translation of 《暗河》by 雷米 [ISBN 978-1492799566]
The Wandering Earth, Classic Sci-Fi Collection (刘慈欣 collection) [ISBN 978-1489502858]
With Her Eyes – Translation of 《带上她的眼睛》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B008RZ544W]
Devourer – Translation of 《吞食者》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B007JL60BQ]
Sun of China – Translation of 《中国太阳》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B007PEYJF6]
Curse 5.0 – Translation of 《太原之恋（太原诅咒）》by 刘慈欣 [ASIN B00CSVNKRE]
Wages of Humanity – Translation of 《赡养人类》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B00CSW0UZI]
Of Ants and Dinosaurs – Translation of 《白垩纪往事》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B00838GX52]
The Wandering Earth – Translation of 《流浪地球》by 刘慈欣 [ASIN B007JL6IYU]
The Micro-Age – Translation of 《微纪元》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B007MJLSZ8]
Mountain – Translation of 《山》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B007V3M9TO]
The Longest Fall – Translation of 《地球大炮 》by 刘慈欣 [ ASIN B008RZ56LS]
Non-literary Translations:
Articles on religion and culture for Taiwanpedia, Two academic essays on film theory, Academic sociological essay, CRM / ERP software translation, Technical inspection documents, Dog training website & course materials, Academic essay on European copyright law, various post-editing & translation projects for SDL, as well as numerous short translations (product testing documents, birth certificates, policy documents, etc.)
Reviews of My Translations
The stories I have translated have received well over 100 5-star ratings on Amazon & Goodreads.com, with an average of all ratings above of over 80% (4 out of 5).
“The story is beautifully imaginative, yet believable. The translators did an excellent job bringing the flow and ambience of Liu's writing into English.”
- Snowplum's review of The Wandering Earth
“To my knowledge, this is the first book I have read that has been translated from Chinese. And it appears that NOTHING was lost in the translation. Storyline aside, the writing is VERY good - descriptive, almost to a fault.”
- WD's review of The Wandering Earth
“His books not only survive translation, they revel in it, resulting in prose that paint a wonderful picture of our world, other unimaginable worlds, ideals, and the sheer potential and tenacity of life.”
- Emily's review of The Longest Fall
“The book is about child trafficking and abuse. It is very well written and the language constructs are much better than first hand English books. Although it shows a very bad part of the Chinese culture, it also shows the honour of the people. A must look at what can happen right around the corner where you live. I cannot imagine reading this book and staying untouched. ”
- Roya's review of The Blade of Silence Amazon top 100 reviewer
“The concept is AWESOME. The writing is great. The technology, great. The cultural examination and speculation, great. The plot is great. The action is exciting. I can't heap on enough raves for these and other qualities.”
- BovinitySupreme's review of Devourer
“I was very surprised at the quality of The Wandering Earth. This was a well-written, detailed and finely-plotted science fiction tale.”
- Richard Meyer's review of The Wandering Earth
“Of course, I don’t know how much of the style should be attributed to the translator, Holger Nahm, but I will say that he or she did what appears to be a very good job.”
- Charles Reace's review of The Longest Fall from eBookworm
“This is one of the better installments in the Fang mu series. I considered it a real page turner. I really enjoyed reading it, and I was left wanting more.”
- Tresha's review of The Blade of Silence
Personal Publication History
“Waiting” in: “Big Book of New Short Horror”, Pill Hill Press 2011
“Perihelion” in: “The Fringe Magazine”, 2011
“Hero’s Feast” in: “Big Pulp”, 2012
"UnRelative" in: Nihilist Sci-Fi, 2012
“As Horizons End” picked up by: “Shelter of Daylight”, 2013.
Bio
Holger Nahm was born in Geneva, Switzerland and grew up bilingually (English / German) in the USA, Switzerland and Germany. He received his M.A. degree from the Friedrichs-Wilhelm University, Bonn, Germany (in China Studies, Psychology and Comparative Religion) in 2008.
In 2010, he started working as a freelance translator. Major Chinese to English language projects he was involved with include: Ten science-fiction short stories by Liu Cixin, a crime novel by Lei Mi, extensive work on the religion & culture sections of the Taiwanpedia, as well as numerous academic essays and several bulk projects for SDL.
In addition, he has worked on a large number of commercial German to English language projects, including such areas as: Business software documentation, technical inspection reports, legal documents and others.
Holger Nahm has authored several short stories published in paying markets: “Waiting” in: “Big Book of New Short Horror”, Pill Hill Press, 2011, “Perihelion” in: “The Fringe Magazine”, 2011, “Hero’s Feast” in: “Big Pulp”, 2012, “UnRelative” in “Nihilist Sci-Fi”, 2012 and “As Horizons End”, picked up by: “Shelter of Daylight”, 2013.
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