Reading Comments for 9/14 (Proddy S.)

 The readings were really enjoyable and insightful. Starting off with the first reading, I was really drawn into one specific phrase mentioned earlier on in the text about how translation can be hard due to the subtleness that is often overlooked. As a Murakami fan, the first thing I thought of were his philosophical themes in his books that are so subtle yet hold so much meaning and it made me see through the eyes of a translator about the difficulties in dissecting those subtle words, meanings, and metaphors in order to still make the story flow while containing the main message. You really have to translate in a way that captures the most atmosphere present in the books/novels. I really liked the idea of picking an author who’s writing style resembles that of the author one is going to translate. It really made me think about how I might approach my future tasks in translation. 

I loved the interview with Rubin and Gabriel especially about the part where they explained how they would translate humor. I find that humor plays a major role in many books in general; therefore, getting an insight to how they derive upon their chosen words for humor was really interesting. Sticking to the story while trying to create puns or words is a challenging task. I read Kafka on the Shore over the summer and as it was introduced as an example in this interview, I found this point really intriguing. Using wordplay that correspond to the cat themes in the story, using “paws” or a wordplay with the word “pause” was something really clever. However, I also view this as moments where translators have to take risks in making decisions with varying opportunity costs. By choosing to stick with a mindset that readers have a basic understanding of Japanese culture it may be better to refer to a lot of Japanese aesthetic and cultural terms, but the opportunity cost of that is the lost in mood and tone of the text if the reader has no basic knowledge on Japanese culture in general. I think this is a matter of give and take as well.