Explore the world to find yourself.

Translating books and traveling are two seemingly unrelated, even contradictory, activities. However, from translator Tong Lien Anh's perspective, they are journeys of mutual cultivation, through which people continuously explore knowledge, live a life rich in experience, and are spiritually enriched.

Tong Lien Anh on a trip to experience and explore the far north of the United States. (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Translating books - A journey of quiet reflection

What led you to book translation, and what do you find most challenging and most enjoyable about it?

I was born and raised in a mountainous district. My enormous study was the sky, the earth, the sparkling starry summer nights; my enormous book was the poems and stories from my father's memories. When I first learned to read, I became fascinated with everything around me that had words.

For me, translating books is a very in-depth form of reading, delving into the essence of a work, the only difference being that reading now serves not only myself but also thousands and tens of thousands of readers.

This forced me to transform from a reader who merely enjoyed the work into a more responsible, committed, and persistent reader. It's also an emotionally charged adventure in the world of words, but translating a book is a quiet adventure where you often have to go alone and accept the loneliness.

Mark Twain had a great quote about language: "The difference between the right word and the near-right word is such a big deal, it's the difference between a lightning flash and a firefly."

Translation is a challenging job because it requires not only fluency in the language, but also a deep understanding of the subject matter, as well as sensitivity and a connection to the work. The refinement process is often the most time-consuming and "painful." Sometimes, I spend weeks struggling to translate a single word or term, and still am not satisfied. There are sections I retranslate during the first and second editions of the book, and still am not happy with the result.

The most recent book I translated was while on a business trip through Northwest Vietnam, the Central Highlands, and Central Vietnam. Every day, I set my alarm for 4 am to dedicate two hours to translation before traveling hundreds of kilometers to remote villages.

This experience helped me cultivate perseverance, patience, and a relentless motivation to learn and overcome my own limitations.

Explore the world to find yourself.

Movement - A vibrant journey

As you shared, translating books requires quietude, intense concentration, and a degree of solitude. However, you travel a lot, and you recently recounted your journey of translating your latest book while on the go. What makes you love traveling, and how does it relate to reading and translating?

I see myself as a river, where life is nurtured within its banks, and all the abundance that flourishes on both sides is achieved through the unblocked flow of water. For me, movement is not just about traveling far or changing one's location on a geographical map, but also about immersing oneself and interacting in the most vibrant and direct way with the knowledge and beauty of nature, culture, society, and people…

I am grateful that my job has given me the opportunity to constantly "flow" out into the wider world. To date, I have traveled to nearly 30 countries and territories around the world. 2023 was an incredibly special year; I had unforgettable experiences setting foot on four continents and twice traveling across my own country. These journeys broke all the physical limitations, the narrow perceptions, and the beliefs I had set for myself.

The book "Lifelong Learning" by author Peter Hollins, translated by Tong Lien Anh and Le Anh Thu, has been reprinted twice within a month of its official release. The book was nominated by VTV readers as one of the top 10 must-read books.

Through my travels, I can touch, feel, smell, hold, grasp, observe, understand, and verify… the things I read in books. I believe that someone who has read or translated books about Israel will undoubtedly experience a much more intense emotion when touching the Wailing Wall in the Holy Land than a traveler who has only visited the area. Similarly, someone who has been captivated by the works of Jack London will be overwhelmed with emotion when living under a wild moonlit night in the far North of America, watching that pristine light reflect on the frozen rivers and lakes surrounded by silent, snow-capped forests.

Sometimes, the most beautiful moments in life are when we see what we read and imagined throughout our childhood appear right before our eyes, or when the wildest dreams of youth suddenly become so close that we can touch and grasp them. That is the incomparable happiness of someone who reads, translates, and experiences and immerses themselves deeply in this life.

Tong Lien Anh during a visit to a literacy class in Phong village, Nghe An province. (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Adventure and the life you dream of

In your opinion, what is the significance of reading, translating, and traveling in each individual's learning journey, helping them "find themselves" and live the life they desire?

In Peter Hollins' book *Lifelong Learning*, there's a quote I really like: "The vast area unexplored by human experience, existing outside the narrow confines of formal schooling, is the most important domain of education."

Reading is the foundation of self-learning, the starting point of a lifelong learning journey. Translating books, a further step, is a way of reading and "narrating," sharing what one reads with many people. But stopping there is not enough. Continuously experiencing and immersing oneself deeply in those experiences is the way to connect the vast knowledge gained from reading and translating with real life.

Therefore, for me, reading, translating, and traveling are interconnected journeys that complement and nurture each other. On these journeys, each of us will explore the world outside and inside ourselves in the deepest, most complete, and most fulfilling way.

Ms. Tong Lien Anh is an expert in adult education and lifelong learning. She graduated with honors from the Master of Education program at Monash University on a full scholarship from the Australian Government and has twice been honored with a UNESCO Lifelong Learning Scholarship.

She is an expert/consultant for organizations such as UNESCO, DVV International, SEAMEO CELLL... During her 10 years working at the Ministry of Education and Training, she was in charge of projects and programs promoting lifelong learning and building a learning society in Vietnam.

Tong Lien Anh is the author and speaker of hundreds of articles, television programs, and talk shows promoting reading and learning in Vietnam. She is the translator of several best-selling books such as: Profit Zone (2009), Mergers and Acquisitions (2010), Online Marketing in the Digital Age (2011), Where is the Toilet? (2020), and Lifelong Learning (2023).

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tong-lien-anh-kham-pha-the-gioi-de-tim-ra-chinh-minh-260158.html