"Eight ways to say you" Response (Bruce)

     I was pleasantly surprised to see Hirano mention that Yumoto's primary goal with the English translation was to "make her work accessible for the North American audience," as it shows an appreciation of the difficulty of translation. Often times, beyond translating language, a translator has to translate culture. All the while, they must strive to maintain the structure and emotions that the author intended, and they must keep the editor happy. It's quite an intense balancing act, for what feels like little recognition. 
    Another part I found interesting was her discussion of structure, that Japanese is much more subtle and vague at points whereas English tends to be direct and clear. I don't necessarily subscribe to this comparison, however. With the 20th century literature movements, I feel that vagueness and subtlety has become much more accepted. The success of authors like Vonnegut, and even Gaiman as a recent example, shows as much. I think what really differs is the attitude towards consumers. Perhaps a Japanese publishing house is more confident that their consumer base would be receptive to more surreal text that challenges the reader to think, whereas North American companies tend to appeal to the lowest common denominators.