Response to the Readings (Daniel)

  I really liked how in Wendy Lesser’s “The Mysteries of Translation,” she provides a comparison of two separate translations of a passage from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. What especially stood out to me as I read through the two translations was how these two excerpts, while conveying the same core meaning, differed significantly in tone and style. I could see how if you were to read an entire book, you could gain so much more or miss out on so much depending on who translates the work, greatly impacting your reading experience. Moreover, for literature that has been translated by multiple translators, such as 1Q84, it was very interesting to learn how through the translator’s own efforts to stay as true to the original as possible and the editor’s efforts to establish consistency, it is possible to create a smooth, coherent translation.

When reading about the Chinese and English translations of Murakami’s work in “Fans around the world reading Haruki Murakami in parallel worlds,” it was very interesting to learn how students from different parts of the world viewed Murakami in distinct ways due to language differences. It prompted me to ask myself questions such as: Are some languages naturally more vague? More direct? Are some languages more suited for conveying particular emotions or concepts in literature? I believe all these questions open up a very complicated exploration of the relationship between languages and perception.