There was a comment made in this reading about how it was difficult to translate from a language like Japanese into English because the amount of choices you have to make. However, I find it hard to believe that this is just an issue with unrelated languages like English and Japanese. I feel like this is not simply just a linguistics issue, but something much bigger than that. If a translator is particularly focused on rhythm and vocabulary, they would probably feel like a similar language would be easier to translate. I personally feel like even languages that are similar are very distinct because of the culture behind the language. This is apparent when looking at different dialects of English, although it is the same language you get a different feeling depending on what country or city that English dialect is coming from.
Another thing I found interesting while reading, is that Seidensticker is very particular about the writers he chooses to translate for. He specifically said that "postwar products" didn't interest him at all. I think it is understandable and probably a good thing as well. People who are closer in age to the writer will probably have some shared perspectives on what the world was like at the time a certain book was written, or a world event happened. Having this relation would probably produce more appropriate translations, having the prior context of how the world was actually reacting to an event in real time. Whereas, on the other hand, it would be harder to buy into a person translating a high school story when they are years or even generations removed from their school years.
No comments:
Post a Comment