I found Cathy Hirano's perspective on translating valuable, as she touched on a lot of the questions I had for what is and isn't allowed while translating. One of the main aspects I noticed which I believe makes a huge difference in translation is how good of a writer the translator is themselves. I think people who value the art of writing and don't just think of translating as a one-to-one task are able to produce translations that people are able to enjoy as if they are reading the original. Hirano using the word "arrogance" to describe her translating process is a harsh but accurate word. As a writer that pays attention to the reception by the target audience, I think a level of arrogance is needed in order to ask the author of a novel to change whole sections of their story in order to adapt it to a different demographic. Translators who do not have this quality run the risk of producing translations that the target audience cannot connect with.
Hirano touched on humor and tone in translations. Due to cultural differences, not only is it hard to contextualize jokes in another language, the sense of humor tends to differ depending on the country as well. I think I prefer her method of changing parts of the punchline to make the joke land in English. In Hirano's case, instead of focusing on how to translate "you" she emphasized how annoyed the character by using affected speech was a very clever way to get the point across. In her case, instead of simply saying "he said" or some version of that, she instead illustrates the setting of the place when translating. Although it would probably be challenging, I would also like to attempt to translate, not entirely focusing on equivalent vocab. Instead, I want to focus on making the translation immersive through culturally relevant discourse, even it means having to go over the same translation multiple times to get it right.
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