true tone translation

Self-introduction

Hi, I’m Christopher MacDonald, pictured at the top of the page hosting the launch of The Book of Beijing at the Manchester Literary Festival in October 2023, with authors Wen Zhen and Gu Shi.

I worked initially as a translator and interpreter in Taiwan and the PRC in the 1990s, before moving into other fields. In 2019 I returned to the translation profession — now based in South Wales in the UK — and since then I have focused on literary, academic and sustainability projects.

I received the Comma Press Emerging Translator award in 2019, for my translation of ‘The Story of Ah-Ming’ by Wang Zhanhei, and in 2020 my translation of ‘12 Todays’ by Temu Suyan was Commended in the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation.

2024 will see publication by Cambridge University Press of my 230,000-word translation of core text for Institutional Genes: A Comparative Analysis of the Origins of China’s Institutions by the political economist Xu Chenggang.

I’m also a DPSI-qualified public service interpreter, and have interpreted for the UK courts, police, local authorities and the NHS. I hold an MA in Translation and Interpretation and an MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation, and am a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) and the Translators Association of the Society of Authors (SoA) — click logos below.