R. Copeland Reading (Daniel)

    One of the things that I found to be most interesting in “Hearing Voices: My Encounters with Translation,” was when Copeland delved into the “flowers in salt” translation. The first aspect was obviously how the written text of “Daughters in Boxes” was derived from the speech itself, and how the written texts of the speech were only the policemen's transcription and the news articles that published Kishida’s alleged speech. The issue that I found to be so interesting was Sharon Sievers’ work, titled Flowers in Salt, which was inspired by Kishida’s speech. The description of flowers in salt was actually not a part of Kishida’s speech at all, but rather a mistake in the translation process. What I found truly eye-opening was Sievers’ commitment to her translation of "salt." While acknowledging that it was not a direct translation, she still stood by it because of the symbolic meaning and power that it contained. I think it is very interesting to think about how these mistakes and misinterpretations can lead to remarkably impactful outcomes. However, I also feel like this was an exceptionally unique moment that would be very hard to replicate, as deliberate misinterpretations would more often than not be pointless if your goal was simply to translate.