10/13 article comment

I thought this week's readings were very interesting and insightful, however before I begin discussing the articles themselves, I would like to point out a phrase in Terry's article: A Live dog. They said that "translations are like women: if they are faithful, they are not beautiful; if they are beautiful, they are not faithful. It might be added that translations, like women, must avoid sounding ridiculous if they are to succeed". I agree that this concept is accurate to what Terry is trying to say about the job of translating itself, however relating it to women - I took a personal offense. Just later in the same article, Terry made clear that American readers do not like to be offended by the text they're reading. Well it seems that this text proved itself right! Aside from the misogynistic comment, I agreed with his thoughts on the job of translating. I agree that one of the most difficult thing when translating is trying to not sound offensive in the English translation. Phrases such as "it's a given" sounds slightly degrading in English, but perfectly normal in Japanese. However all in all, I feel that all the problems with translation that Terry pointed out all roots from the difference in culture. I did a mini test myself translating between Chinese (a language that is very similar to Japanese, and close to Japan geographically), I found myself heisting a lot less, and that it was actually much easier than English 

I also liked Rigg's method of calling translation 'transmigration' instead. I feel that the term transmigration is a term that aligns better with translating Japanese to English due to the fact that they are two languages that are very distant from one another. Distant meaning that the countries in which the two language originated from - England and Japan - had no contact throughout most of history, and only gained contact in the last few hundred years. They are distant history wise, and distant location wise.