Response to the Carpenter Readings (Grace)

Responses to the Juliet Carpenter Readings - Grace

Juliet Carpenter's various accounts of her experiences translating Japanese literature into English (and occasionally producing bilingual materials as well!) were very interesting to read. In the first reading titled "Jumping into the Pond," Carpenter opens the article by discussing her experience translating a bilingual children's book about Mozart that included interactive components such as buttons that would play music associated with particular feelings felt by Mozart in various sections of the work. She struggled with translating Japanese emotion-based words (ワクワク、ドキドキ) into English equivalents due to how similar of a feeling that a few of these emotion-based words give. In the end, Carpenter ended up taking great liberties with her translations of these words (ドキドキ -> pitter patter, for example). I personally feel that Carpenter strayed too far from the original Japanese. While she tries to keep the translation in the same realm as the Japanese original by trying to incorporate heart-based sounds into her translation, I believe that 'pitter patter' falls more into the realm of gentle rainfall than that of a heart beating or fluttering. I would have translated ドキドキ to 'badump badump' to maintain utmost accuracy to the original Japanese.

However, I did enjoy how she went about explaining the role of a translator. She, like the other translators, discusses the importance of being creative whilst maintaining the integrity of the original text. She does however offer a statement that particularly resonated with me: "...but so much of what I do is actually on an instinctual, gut level that sometimes it is hard to articulate just why something came out a certain way." I had often felt this way while translating texts for this class. Sometimes there is no particular reason for my word choice or how I structure my sentences; it just sounds right. I had felt uncomfortable bringing this up in class up until now because I feared that I would sound stupid or too emotional. Hearing a seasoned translator bring this up as a valid reason for making choices whilst translating made me feel more valid in following my gut instincts.

In the second reading, an interview with Carpenter conducted by Professor Elliot and Lynne Riggs, I was surprised by how closely Carpenter worked with the original author on her translation. I was especially surprised by how well the Japanese author could compose English sentences. This is something that we have not seen very much so far in class. Both Carpenter and the original author's dedication to the translation was awe inspiring, especially because both had other obligations outside of the translation, such as teaching and writing. Carpenter comments that she and the author would put in 8+ hour days in order to finish the translation, which, while not the healthiest of behaviors, was still awe-inspiring nonetheless.