The translation journey is like an adventure into the linguistic world.

The translation journey is like an adventure into the linguistic world.

I enjoy reading both Vietnamese and English books, but translating books makes me understand them much better. I find that translating books not only helps me learn more about English and Vietnamese, but is also a great way to learn more about cultures around the world.

Lily sets out on the translation journey…

When I translate, I have to understand every word and every story in the book. This helps improve my vocabulary a lot. For example, when I translate fantasy books The Guardians of Childhood, I have to learn about mysterious characters, exciting adventures, and how they tell stories. Every time like that, I learn many new words in English and how to express them appropriately in Vietnamese. Writer Ha Thuy Nguyen helped me understand literary expressions in Vietnamese. Although it is just a picture book, author William Joyce writes in literary language so it is difficult to translate, different from other common picture books. Up to now, the book series is still the most difficult language challenge I have ever participated in.

Especially, when translating books about human history through book Unstoppable Us, I also get to explore the cultures of foreign countries. I find them really interesting because I not only get to read books, but also "travel" through the history of mankind, from ancient civilizations to the modern era. I learned about important events, great inventions, and how they affected the world today.

I hope that one day, the books I translate will help people, not only in Vietnam but also around the world, understand more about the history and culture of humanity. I believe that through books, we can connect with each other no matter where we are in the world.

Uncle Le Duy Nam, CEO of Book Hunter and a translator, is guiding Lily to translate books at home, helping Lily understand the different grammatical structures between English and Vietnamese.

THE GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD – Lily's first translated book series

Among the many books that Mr. Le Duy Nam suggested for me to translate, I chose them THE GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD, a book series about guardians who protect children on Earth. Lily chose the book because the guardians resemble Lily's mother and her mother's friends who do community projects every day.

The famous animated film THE RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is built and developed from the idea of the book series THE GUARDIANS OF CHILDHOOD. The book series includes 3 picture books and 5 novels, but Lily can only translate 3 picture books. 3 picture books include:

People of the Moon: The book is about a lost child from the Golden Age, trying to protect children on Earth and finding and awakening other guardians.

Jack Frost: The Moonman's journey as Nightlight's bodyguard fights against Pitch - the Nightmare King, falls to Earth, loses his memory, and then becomes Jack Frost - the guardian of children's joy.

God of Dreams: A funny god, always smiling even when facing nightmares. The God of Dreams is the guardian angel who protects the dreams of children on Earth.

Through the process of translating and closely following the books being printed and reaching readers, Lily learned that having a book on the shelf is not easy at all.

So, the thing is,

The person who made the manuscript (can be the author or translator) and the editors and proofreaders all work very hard to choose the right words to express all the ideas in language.

Then there's the designer, who has to work hard to draw the details and arrange the details properly. Lily also heard that Book Hunter's designer hurt her back while drawing letters.

After that, Lily also followed her aunts and uncles to visit the printing house. Printing people work hard, working continuously and carefully, paying attention to every little detail so that the images from the files on the computer appear correct and beautiful on paper.

And even after holding the book in hand, the process of preserving and transporting the book still requires a lot of effort!

Through that, Lily loves the books her mother bought for Lily even more, and even the books that her mother has not yet bought for Lily!

Lily translates the historical narrative book “Unstoppable” by Yuval Noah Harari

Wow, it's great to be able to participate in the project of translating the book "Can't Stop" by Yuval Noah Harari! This was a truly memorable and enriching experience for me.

This book is a work for children, it leads readers - especially children aged 8 and up - on the magical and colorful journey of the Sapiens species. I like the way Harari tells about human history in a humorous way. I've learnt a lot during the process of translating this book and that is not only about human history but also about how to convey complex information in an easy-to-understand and interesting way. I feel very excited in an attempt to make this work closer to many other kids in Vietnam.

Many intellectuals, journalists and journalists have praised this book. I find this a great encouragement. I introduced the book to Ms. Khuc Thi Hoa Phuong, director of the Vietnamese Women Publishing House, a person who loves reading historical books and adventure literature. Ms. Hoa Phuong must have been mischievous and curious like me when she was young.

The book was also featured on the Israeli Embassy's website. My mother loves Jewish culture and talks to me a lot about Jews, and now I am known to Jewish people.

List of journalists writing about Lily & the book Can't Stop

Translation of the book “The Silk Roads and the Extraordinary Pages That Made the World” by Peter Frankopan (picture book version)

I really like translating the book “The Silk Roads and the Extraordinary History that Made the World” by Peter Frankopan, first of all because the book is beautifully designed, so beautifully designed! The book is so beautifully designed because the “Silk Roads” were trade routes, passing through many prosperous and wealthy cities, so their history is the history of beautiful objects, magnificent castles… Because of this beauty, I have the motivation to look up many things I do not know, especially in the Middle East.

The book was also very well received by adults, not just children. Everyone was surprised that a book that seemed like a children's book could contain so much interesting and complex knowledge.

My mother and I still cherish the plan to explore the mysterious world of the Middle East, unfortunately this plan has not been realized due to the complicated wars and conflicts there. I hope the war will end soon, so that my mother and I can adventure in the world of "A Thousand and One Nights".

Book Launch Event “The Silk Roads”

List of journalists writing about Lily & the book “Silk Roads”:

The first “all-text” book Lily translated: “Advertising & its Social Effects” by Sarah Turnbull

Since I started translating books, I have only translated picture books with lots of illustrations, written in easy-to-understand language so that children like me can read them. However, Book Hunter has "tempted" me to "take a risk" translating a book "full of words", not only that, it is also very academic, on a topic very close to life and business: "Advertising & Social Effects" by Sarah Turnbull, part of Book Hunter's "Principles of Sustainable Business" series. This is not an easy book to read, I heard my father say, it is even difficult for students.

But I liked the book, even though there were no pictures. Because every time the book mentioned an example of an advertising case, I could look it up and read a lot of interesting stories surrounding it. I often exclaimed: “Ah, so I was fooled by advertising like that!”

On the day of the book launch at Du Du Coffee, many uncles, aunts and business owners or experienced marketers in many different industries came to talk about the book with me. During the talk, I also got to “listen” to many more stories about business and trade in Vietnam and many advertising “tricks” that only exist in Vietnam.

Right now, I am taking a break after a series of consecutive book translation projects. I also do not know what book I will translate next! It will probably not be easier than the ones I have translated, because I am a translator who “cannot stop”!

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