Reading Responses (Micah)

In the article "How Haruki Murakami's '1Q84' Was Translated Into English", I found the various nuances that the translators struggled with to be interesting, and there were many I hadn't really thought of before. For example, the suffixes to address another person -san and -kun were things that the translators mentioned they struggled with. I thought that this would be something they could just omit in their writing, but their mentioning of this nuance made me realize that when translating a story in writing, it really is important to try to capture every detail as it can have an effect on the picture the original author may be trying to paint. I especially realized this when the two translators and Murakami debated over the name of a character that I would not have given much thought to if I were translating.

I found similar insights in the article "Found in Translation." In this article, the translators touched on the nuances of translating humor and culture form Japanese to English. Their responses made me realize that as a translator, you need to have some creative ability yourself, as they mentioned that for things such as wordplay, you have to do your best to find an English version on your own. But most of the time, it won't be too similar and you have to make your own judgement on what fits the best. In terms of culture, the translator noted that he needed to underscore climaxes for the American audience due to Japanese stoicism leading to climaxes conveyed in a toned down manner.