Response to the 9/15 Readings (Grace) - The Difficulty of Translation

The Difficulties of Translation - Grace

I agree with Wendy Lesser's notion that monolingual readers are trapped in a gilded prison. While English, my native language, has been used to craft some of the best works of literature of all time (The Canturbury Tales, Animal Farm, and Dune to name a few), other acclaimed literary works written in other languages are out of reach for many monolingual readers in America. As a result, monolinguals are forced to rely on translators to act as an intermediary between them and the original work. Due to this reliance, it is imperative that translations of the highest quality are released. However, what makes one translation better than another? What are some of the difficulties that translators face? Interviews with translators of Murakami shed some light on answers to this question. 

In "Found in Translation", two of Murakami's primary translators, Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, discuss the difficulties that they faced translating Murakami's 1Q84. Rubin struggled with over-explaining various elements of the novel. I can relate to this when I am trying to write scientific papers. It is difficult to distinguish whether or not a particular concept should be explained, and, if this is so, how much of an explanation is needed. I find it interesting how there are parallels such as this in the writing process for two different kinds of writing. In addition to over-explanation, Gabriel also brings up that culture is difficult to translate. I couldn't agree more. I can only imagine the struggle of trying to explain a foreign culture to readers whilst still keeping the rhythm of the original work. Maybe brief footnotes (if allowed) would be able to solve this problem?

“How Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 got Translated into English” provides a more detailed account of the interview with Philip Gabriel. What surprised me the most while reading this interview was the sheer amount of time it took for Gabriel to finish his portion of the translation. Despite only translating the last third of the novel, it took him 10 months alone to finish only the rough draft! Before reading this, I thought that translations of a novel would take, at maximum, a few months to complete. With this interview, Gabriel brings to light how meticulous the translation process truly is. Another thing that surprised me about translated literature was that authors sometimes make changes to their original work for the translated version. I thought that something like this was blasphemous, as if the author were tainting their original story. I no longer think this, as an author should be able to change whatever they want to about their own story, but I still am flabbergasted that even great authors like Murakami feel the need to change their stories after publication. I wonder if Murakami later implemented any of his changes to the Japanese version of the novel?

Finally, “Fans around the world reading Haruki Murakami in parallel worlds” and "The Mysteries of Translation" provide insight into the effects that different translations have on readers. The first article by Michael Emmerich explains how the language that a translation is done in can really change how readers view the work and its author. For example, Emmerich observed that a Chinese student's view of Murakami and his stories differed drastically from his American students. The Chinese student was more focused on the key themes of and the terms Murakami uses in his stories whilst American students described Murakami as 'realistic' and 'difficult.' Emmerich also goes on to state that the difference in what language Murakami's works are read in shape how he is perceived to write and the tone in which he writes in. I don't find any of this surprising however, as translators, even if they deny it, are partial in their translations. This is further explained in the latter article by Wendy Lesser, who prefers different English translators of Murakami's work due to their writing style. What a translator chooses to include, exclude, and explain all differ by translator. So, the difficulties of translation manifest in the form of the claims made in these final two articles.