A teaching technique for helping college students of Chinese poetry comprehend the complexity and error often caused by translation is discussed. The author illustrates how she provides the equivalent English word for each of the Chinese characters in a poem from the "Shih-ching," and requires students to prepare their own translation of the poem. Student analyses of the meaning of the poem are then discussed. It is suggested that this process, which directly involves the student in interpreting the poem, offers a greater opportunity for developing poetic insight than does the reading of commercially-prepared translations. (RL)