Eight Ways to Say 'You" - The Challenges of Japanese Translation - Grace

 Eight Ways to Say 'You' - The Challenges of Japanese Translation

    Cathy Hirano's article "Eight Ways to Say You: The Challenges of Translation" touched on some of the problems that translators face while trying to localize a piece of literature.  She describes her primary goal when translating a piece from Japanese to English: to invoke the same feelings that a Japanese reader would have in her English readers. This view aligns with how I see translators: Intermediaries between the original work and foreign readers. However, accomplishing this goal does not come without challenges, many of which Hirano addresses in her piece. One example is the overall structure of the Japanese language in comparison to the English language. Hirano describes Japanese as more creative and brief. Sentences often offer little clarity to readers, who must be able to infer what the author is trying to convey. Whilst in English, sentences are more clear and to the point. The subject of the sentence is always clear, and the organization of the author's thoughts are more visible in a work. I myself often struggle with deciphering the meaning of longer sentences, which appear jumbled and emotional to me, a native English speaker. However, I am sure the opposite is true for a native Japanese speaker, who would most likely find English to be bland and blunt (and might even be offended by the bluntness of the language).

    Another barrier that one has to face when translating is a cultural barrier. For example, when translating The Friends, Hirano had to add explanations to certain terms that are well-known to Japanese readers, but which an English reader might not be familiar, such as her translation of juku (cram school). Instead of simply writing cram school, which would only confuse English readers, she chooses to provide a brief explanation of what cram school is. I personally think that this was a good solution in this case, as the explanation did not distract me (in my opinion) from the contents of the paragraph, whilst a footnote might have taken the reader out of the story.

    I also found it very touching when Hirano describes her son's (He is half Japanese and half Canadian) reaction to her English translation of The Friends. Despite being less-than proficient in the English language, her son's reactions to the English translation of the novel paralleled her own. She describes his reactions: "...laughing at the funny parts....He wept, heartbroken at the old man's death (I still cry there, even now)..." (Hirano 60). With this moment, I believe that she accomplished her goal. Like Hirano, I hope I can invoke similar feelings in my readers despite the presence of a cultural barrier.