Posted June 15 2026
Hi, I am Hanfu, a graduate student at UofT. Previously, I studied East Asian studies and mathematics and completed my bachelor’s degree at U. of St. Mike’s College.
I am looking for people interested in (1) English-Chinese translation and (2) LGBTQ movements to work on a translation project. (The former is a requirement and the latter is a recommendation.)
We will be translating the book Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. In the context of an existing traditional Chinese (translated) copy, the aim is to produce a simplified Chinese copy that
- Is easily readable without the “translationese” feeling. In this spirit, we will not allow the use of AI for the purpose of translating anything beyond a word/phrase.
- Contains an abundance of footnotes discussing cultural references and historical contexts for readers who are likely unfamiliar with the United States culture and society at the time of the setting.
- Has 0 copyright dispute issues. The author has agreed to translation (https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/translations/) that are by attribution and non-commercial. For some reason, there seems to be copyright disputes over the traditional Chinese version. I have a feeling that it has much to do with the translator choosing to work with a publisher. We will self-publish online perhaps with a CC license that adheres to the author’s commands.
The book is roughly 700 pages long when printed on a brochure-like layout (A5 paper). More precisely, it is 342 pages long in the official PDF. Given that there are 26 chapters, the goal is to complete the translation in
a) 2 months, if we begin in summer.
b) 2 semesters, if we begin in fall.
The workload varies depending on how fast you can translate a single page of text. However, I would say that it would take at least 3 hours to translate 5 pages. DO NOT EXPECT TO USE AI. Everyone will translate the same content and I will cross reference translations to produce a final copy. We will meet very regularly (perhaps once per chapter) to discuss choices in translations.
Now, it’s time to discuss what you could get out of this.
- You will receive no monetary compensation. This book will be open-access, and you may not sell digital/printed copies for money. I might take everyone out for dinner once in a while for celebration, but that’s it.
- You will be able to put it on your CV/resume. The future of language studies and translation is … bleak. However, if you are undergraduate student, I would say that this is something that looks nice on your CV.
- You will be able to share this wonderful story of Jess with possibly over a billion more people in the world.
- If you are taking math courses, I could offer some free tutoring sessions.
If you are interested in working with Hanfu, contact her on Discord @petaladrift or via email, hanfu.gong@utoronto.ca