Comments on Readings- Carly

     A common theme that I noticed throughout the readings is the question of how big of a role the translator has in how the original author's writing style is perceived. When reading The Mysteries of Translation, I was shocked to read about how some readers feel a bigger impact than others, depending on whom the translator was. Lesser, dreaming about there one-day being "the perfect translator" felt a bit dramatic. However, when thinking about it again, I can empathize with some of those feelings as well. For instance, there have been times when I tried to read a fan-translated manga before purchasing, and the difference in the feeling I get while reading the official translations compared to the fan translations is stark. The official translations have a more easily digestible rhythm, and the way the sentences are broken up allow for the climaxes of the story to hit every time. When learning a language, one of the most difficult parts to grasp is the intonation, and I think this can even be felt in writing as well. This might be one of the most important factors that influences someone's reading experience for English-translated works.

    In the interview with Philip Gabriel about his translation of 1Q84, when he was asked about making an attempt to adapt to the previous translators of Marukami's works, it didn't seem like that was a big focus for him. Personally, I think considering how different translators choose to approach certain aspects of speech like certain jokes and puns, it would be very difficult to try and replicate the vibe of another translator. On top of that, being a translator is a job that required extensive training to build personal skill, so wouldn't a translator come into a job with the intention to use their own techniques to be able to bring the original piece to life in another language? Everyone has their own internal grammar and vocabulary acquired through their personal experiences, so it would be impossible to be able to completely morph your writing style into another. 

    Lastly, while reading, I thought about what different readers will value and what influence that may or may not have on the translation. The reason I thought about this is that initially I assumed that people who read Marukami's works have an interest in Japan or Japanese authors, so they would want the translated book to feel as "Japanese" as possible. With that being said, there are probably many other situations where the target audience of the book may just want to read a story that happened to be written by a Japanese author. In this case, I wonder how the original piece may be changed to fit the needs of the reader. Because even thought the original piece in Japanese exists, the translated piece relies on the translator's creative ability to capture the original meaning while also making it feel like it is not a translated work at all.