10/5 Reading Comments

 

I found the interviews with Carpenter to be very interesting. I liked how she said, “You have to strike a balance between being creative and not changing the feel or intention of the text.” I strongly agree with this statement, as when I am translating, I often find myself struggling with creativity, as I try to stay loyal to the text as much as possible. I realized that there is indeed a lot of creativity in translation, although it might not seem like that from readers. I also thought it was interesting how she brought up the example of a murder novel when discussing translation strategies. She stated that it’s essential to truly read through and understand the text before the translation process starts. Although this concept might seem obvious, when translating, sometimes I translate as I am reading the original text. However, this could be misleading as it’s essential to understand the entire story to avoid making mistakes and having to re-translate. 

Another thing I thought was interesting was Carpenter’s justification for using slurs in her translations. She states that in translation, it is absolutely essential to have a feel for how people talk. This is important to communicate all aspects of characters, so the readers can accurately picture the story. Carpenter stated in her translation of The Hunter, the characters all had distinct personalities and voices that had to be communicated in the translation as well. She then states that although she usually avoids using slurs in her translations, she used the f-word in her translation for effect. She says that it was essential for her to use an offensive word, to communicate the character’s feelings. She also uses an example from her translation of The Hunter to depict how difficult it is to choose the correct words in English. She says, “Thanks that don’t sound wrong in Japanese may just not work in English, and you have to change them.” When I am translating, I come across this problem quite often as well.