Carpenter Readings - Ellerie

 In the essay written by Juliet Carpenter, she explains how difficult it is to explain certain phrases from Japanese to English without the cultural understanding. It was interesting that she pointed out onomatopoeias, which I've always found difficult to learn and to translate. Japanese onomatopoeias seem to be much more expansive and have their own language that can't be found among their English counterparts. She mentions that even within a children's book, it is difficult to get across the same feelings because there is no direct translation available for those words. Instead, you have to find their closest English meaning, often through metaphors or common phrases, such as "raring to go". It's also difficult to get across word play and jokes that don't translate directly. There can only be so many liberties taken with changing the text in order to get across the humor or undertones of a scene.

In the interview, Carpenter explains the close relationship she had with the original author and how that helped her with the translation. I feel like being able to collaborate with the author that closely is not possible often, and I wonder how that affects the translation of the story. I wonder if the author being able to reread their work again closely and finding new mistakes or things to add can make the translation easier or harder, or a mix of both. It also made me think about how difficult it would be to get feedback from an author who is not able to speak English at all, and what the process would be like for that.