Comments on Readings - Aaron

Mysteries of Translation

I found it interesting that Lesser mentions that it is possible to "lose an author through a change in translators," but also possible to "gain one in the same way." She mentions how she noticed that the translator for Murakami changed, and her reaction to reading Birnbaum's translation is much more enthusiastic than when she got used to "Jay Rubin's perfectly good translations." I believe that having a balance between the original author's tone and what the translator seeks to convey is important, as she talks about her experience about immediately wanting to know more about a translator versus only wanting to know a little more about the original author of the text. 

Found in Translation

The translators mention in the article that Murakami is a translator himself, which begs the question of why he doesn't assist in translating his own works, alongside these people. Furthermore, Jay Rubin mentions again the idea that some literatures in different languages fail to "make you afraid or delighted in some way." The two translators also talk about the idea of wordplay and how they aim to keep translations of puns/ humour as closely worded to the original text to preserve the tone as well. Like the example of "taking a 'paws,'" I think it's quite important for translators to have creativity as well as shown in such situation where they are tasked to maintain a pun in two such different languages as Japanese and English. I do resonate with the point that it is better to learn the language than read a translated text; when I consume Japanese literature (books, TV, or manga/ anime) gaining exposure to the translated form always seems to be a little lackluster when compared to the original. Whether it is a difference in speech manner or just the wording, it just never feels the same.

How Haruki Murakami's '1Q84' Was Translated into English

Gabriel discusses the lengthy process that translating 1Q84 took, and I can relate to such a task as I've worked with the Taipei Government's Tourism Bureau before to come up with and translate an original itinerary I made. Such an article that is almost 5-10 pages long in a Word document took a few weeks to completely translate, so the fact that Gabriel had to translate a literal book compared to a few pages seems so much more difficult. He also brings up the idea that nuances of Japanese food are obscured in translation, and from my work experience I can say the same when I translated Taiwanese food names to English for the article; iconic Taiwanese street foods, when translated into English, sound somewhat plain and not worth trying specifically. I agree that brevity is an important part of translation; while it is crucial to effectively convey the text's meaning to the reader, explaining too much also eliminates the uniqueness of the so called 'writer's voice.' 

Michael Emmerich: Fans Around the World Reading Haruki Murakami in Parallel Worlds

I find it normal that everyone around the world has a different image of Murakami - after all, like other articles have mentioned that translating brings about a different tone and demeanour of the author. Emmerich tells the author that he was surprised when his students said their impressions of Murakami were "difficult writer" and "realistic," which brings about the idea that maybe the translated works and/ or culture difference is a potential reason for this disparity. Similar to Hayao Miyazaki's works, which allude a lot to Japanese culture and history, particularly around the period of WWII, audience members who are not familiar with the tone and context may find the translated texts a little vague. Templado then writes about the difference in "voices" between Murakami and his translators, saying while the original text sounds "drier than Birnbaum's" and Gabriel's voice "wetter." While hard to put into words, reading the different texts in their respective writers' manners each evoke a unique feeling.