10/13 Reading Comments

 

I thought that Terry’s pointers were very interesting. Although I didn’t like his introduction paragraph about how translations are like women, I appreciated his other pointers about translations. Terry’s points made me realize certain things in translating Japanese to English that I had never realized before. For example, he talks about repetition, and that Japanese writers often use repetition, but when translating, it usually reads better in English when the repetition is omitted. He also states that rhetorical questions are often used in Japanese writing, but they should not be included in English translations. He says that if the translator translates the rhetorical questions from Japanese writing into English, it would make the writer sound “childish or pompous, neither of which is desirable.” I thought that the example of itadakimasu was very interesting, as this could not be translated into English. This is not only due to differences between the English and Japanese languages, but also their respective cultures. It would be very difficult to come up with an English word or phrase that reflects the accuracy of the meaning of itadakimasu.

In Rigg’s writing, I thought that it was interesting how he went through the steps of effectively translating Japanese writing. I found it very relatable when he was describing the two main ways a translator approaches a task. He stated that you could either move one sentence at a time, creating a draft from the first reading of the writing. A drawback to this method is that the translator wouldn’t know what happens in the end, which could cause misleading translations. I thought it was interesting how he talked about this, as it was very similar to what Carpenter said in her interview in the readings from last week. He also states that the other approach is to read through to the end while looking up words or background as you read. Although this method can be slower, I agree with Rigg that this will ultimately lead to a better and more accurate transition.