Mireia Vargas Urpí wins the Marcela de Juan Prize for translation from Chinese into Catalan

The award, now in its fourth year, is an initiative of the UAB Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, the Research Group on Translation from Chinese into Catalan/Spanish (TXICC) and the Confucius Institute Foundation of Barcelona. It is awarded on odd-numbered years, alternating the distinctions for translations into Catalan and Spanish.

The award was presented on 26 October at a ceremony at the headquarters of the Confucius Institute Barcelona. In her speech, Vargas described the novel as "a gift for a translator" because "it is not an easy book" that has allowed her to "learn many things", and commented on the different registers with which the characters speak and other aspects that make the adaptation into Catalan complex. She thanked her colleagues and students at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the UAB, where she teaches, and dedicated a few words in particular to Professor Sara Rovira, whom she praised as a "mentor, reference and friend".

The award was presented by the UAB Commissioner for Language Policy, Laura Santamaria, and Professor Albert Branchadell, who acted on behalf of the Dean of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting. Branchadell took the floor to wish the competition a "long life" and to emphasise that this is the first time that the winner has been an active lecturer at the faculty, which he described as a "bastion" of Chinese language and culture studies in Catalonia, given that it is present in the three degrees offered.

The director of the Confucius Institute Barcelona Foundation, Li Peihua, also took part in the event, thanking the jury for their work and speaking on the special difficulty of literary translation, where "not only must one master the language but also have a broad social and cultural knowledge". Carles Prado, a member of the jury, noted the high quality of the translations presented in this edition of the prize and wished "that they all find their place in the publishing sector". And, on behalf of the publishing house Chronos, Antoni Herrero and Gonzalo Rodríguez took advantage of their speech to announce that the author of the novel, Wu Ming-yi, will be coming to Barcelona next November.

Lecturer and translator

Mireia Vargas Urpí is a lecturer of Chinese and Chinese translation at the UAB, where she did her bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies. She also studied Chinese language and culture at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. She is a member of several research groups and conducts research in the fields of Chinese translation into Catalan, digital literacy in Chinese teaching and learning, and Chinese translation, and mediated communication in public services. In addition to L'home dels ulls compostos, she has translated into Catalan Sanmao's Diaris de les Canàries and Diaris d'enlloc, and Li Ang's Matar el marit. She is a sworn translator from Chinese into Catalan and has also translated, on occasion, in the private sector. Since May 2023, she has been participating in the podcast on Chinese literature L'any de la rata.

Tribute to a reference

The Marcela de Juan Prize has been awarded since 2017 and includes a cash prize of 4,000 euros. In previous editions, it recognised two translations into Spanish by Alicia Relinque (El Pabellón de las Peonías o historia de alma que regresó, by Tang Xianzu) and Belén Cuadra (La muerte del sol, by Yan Lianke), and Carla Benet's translation into Catalan of L'amor que fa caure ciutats, by Eileen Chang. This year's jury was made up of Manel Ollé (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Carles Prado (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), Silvia Fustegueres (TXICC) and Olga Torres Hostench (Dean of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the UAB).

The award is named after one of the most outstanding figures in the field of translation from Chinese into Spanish. Marcela de Juan was born in Havana in 1905. She was the daughter of a Chinese diplomat and a Belgian citizen, and lived for long periods in Madrid and Beijing due to her father's postings. As a translator, writer and interpreter from Chinese into Spanish, she carried out an extremely important task of disseminating Chinese culture in Spain, with special dedication to literature. She was especially devoted to the translation of short stories and poetry. He did not limit himself to specific authors or periods, but translated works from different dynasties. He died in Geneva in 1981.