The reading by Roger seems to nail the concept of poetry often having a feeling or a sense of musicality to it when reading to one's self or event out loud. Specifying that not only should the translation make sense and identify with the concepts of the original text, but it should also follow a scheme that is similar to the original text and one that the readers can follow and immerse themselves into. Janine expands on this in the translation of Red Fuji. While placing "road" onto the next line doesn't make sense, it actually keeps the originality of the peace as well as the strange feeling of moving the word onto the next line like in the original.
Additionally, Janine dives into other translations in which even the change in simple words such as "only" vs "on" in Wagauta, the meaning of the line not only changes, but it becomes more clear to the reader. And since the meaning is more clear, that means that the translation also becomes closer to the original text. Other things such as choosing different formatting structures or reducing syllables are also unique techniques in preserving the original meaning. While changing the structure, they almost allow a new structure to be created and used for the purpose of conveying the same idea. Janine discusses how translation has had many arguments regarding how many lines a tanka should be translated into and in the end it seems like poetry in itself doesn't convey to a structure but instead a purpose and a meaning. And therefore if you are able to convey that in addition to a flow of some sort you are doing it right.
-Catherine Vess-O.
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