Week8--Edits to Wikipedia in the past week--ZHANG XIAOTONG(장효동)

 Summary

In the past week, I have been working on my sandbox translation task, which is to translate the Chinese entry "Yangguan Forest Farm Storm" into English in the Wikipedia Sandbox. This entry is about the social concern and investigation event caused by the destruction of the Yangguan Forest Farm shelterbelt in Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, China in 2021. The incident was caused by the Economic Information Daily, a subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency, reporting that the Yangguan Forest Farm shelterbelt was cut down on a large scale, which aroused public concern about ecological and environmental protection.


Interesting Points

1. The challenges of translating ecological protection issues in cultural contexts

In Chinese online opinion, words such as "防护林" and "生态林" are common, but there is no corresponding expression in English. In order to convey the context, I need to search and use structural expressions that are closer to the relevant meaning, while avoiding the use of emotional words to maintain the neutral style of Wikipedia.Wikipedia editing format learning.

2. Learning to edit articles

When editing in the sandbox, I learned how to write articles in the format of English Wikipedia, as well as the correct labeling of names of people and institutions, etc. I also mastered the use of cross-language links and was able to transfer references from Chinese Wikipedia articles to English Wikipedia.

 

Areas for discussion:


How to maintain neutrality on sensitive issues?

Ecological destruction, government management, etc. are highly sensitive topics. As a translator, I must be particularly careful when choosing language. I must not downplay the severity of the incident, but also avoid using words that are biased.

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