Taiwanese poem selected for Irish translation competition

台灣詩入選愛爾蘭翻譯比賽

Taiwanese poetry spotlighted for its musicality, echoing the works of Irish novelist James Joyce


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — One of Ireland's most prestigious universities partnered with Taiwan's de facto embassy to launch a translation competition that calls for English renderings of a poem written in Taiwanese.

On Tuesday (July 12), Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for Literary & Cultural Translation announced the 2022 Poetry Translation Competition. Translations must be submitted by Oct. 1.

Dubbed a “Translation Slam,” this year's competition turns to a Taiwanese poem by the Taiwanese writer Gustave Cheng (Tēnn Sūn-tshong (鄭順聰) in Hokkien). Participants will translate his poem “Through Centenary Square” (掠百年的埕過) into English.

The competition started last year when participants were asked to translate the award-winning Taiwanese poet Tsao Yu-po's (曹馭博) poem "Night's Amnesty" (夜的大赦) from Mandarin into English.

The centre’s professor, James Hadley, pointed out that this year marks a century since the Irish writer James Joyce published his masterpiece "Ulysses." Echoing the intense musicality of Joyce’s works, a Taiwanese poem has been singled out this year. To bring out the poem’s musical features, the organizers have invited Cheng to record his reading of the poem for event participants to reference.

Taiwan’s envoy to Ireland Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆) said that Ireland has a great tradition of honoring linguistic diversity, and the Taiwanese-English translation competition in Ireland is aligned with that effort. Future translation events may also highlight poems written in Hakka or Taiwan’s indigenous languages.

Cheng also posted on his Facebook page that everyone apt in English and Taiwanese is welcome to participate and reflect on Taiwanese poetry's long history.


Founded in 1592, Trinity College Dublin is steeped in history and has nurtured some of the most brilliant minds in the world over the years. Among them are world-renowned authors such as Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett.