(from Maoyue Xie)
Discussion Questions for “Notes from Interlingual Hell: The translation of Essays and Journalistic Prose”
1.Riggs stated that the Japanese essays or articles are often loosely organized, etc. whereas the English versions need to be more logical considering its international readership. Do you believe this to be true?
2. Riggs argues that the term transmigration is more adequate than translation, especially when it comes to Japanese-English conversion. As a translator, would you like to transmigrate (make it easier for readers) a piece or to translate (stay close to the original)?
3. Riggs points out that there are two main ways a professional translator approaches the first phase (producing a draft). One is to start out cold and another is to read through to the end at first. As a translator, which approach do you prefer?
1. I can't really speak on this matter since I've never read any Japanese essays or actual articles, but I feel like the Japanese pieces are probably organized in their own way that makes sense in Japanese. I can imagine how it could be a strange structure if translated directly into English, though.
ReplyDelete2. I think it depends on the skill level of the translator and what the piece being translated is. For literature and other creative works, direct translation is probably best since you want to stick as close to the author as possible. Articles or essays, however, may involve transmigration as making the author's point is the priority.
3. I usually prefer to read the whole thing first so that I understand the entire context of what's going on. I feel like I might miss some key nuances or implied things that can only be understood by reading the whole work first.
1. I really don't know how typical Japanese essays/articles are like so I don't want to pretend that I know the answer. English ones can sometimes be logical but not always the case.
ReplyDelete2. It depends on the literature that is being translated. For literatures serves for different purposes I think depend on the situation I would use whichever one coveys readers better in a more appropriate way.
3. I will personally read through the text and make connections to it first. Having a general idea of how the story/content flows helps me to organize my thoughts when translating.
1. I feel like it really depends on the piece, as well as the intention and audience of the text, but I do not know enough about Japanese academic writing to know. However, I do think there is pressure on the English version to be the “universal” version of the Japanese text.
ReplyDelete2. Like Riggs mentioned, if the essay or article is loosely organized or is not coherent, I would want to transmigrate the piece, so that the audience can understand what the piece is conveying. For more creative pieces of literature, my goal would be to translate, because the beauty of the piece lies in its original form.
3. I think I would need to skim through the text once before I start translating, just to have a general idea of what the text is about/ what it is trying to convey. Then, I would translate each sentence marking any words that are difficult to translate or that could have multiple translations. Finally, I’ll go back and change any words/ phrasing that sounds awkward or needs revision.
1. This feels like a generalization, although I have not read many Japanese articles/essays so I can't really say. I'm not convinced, though. The author of this article makes it sound like English readers absolutely demand 100% clarity, which does not make sense. In the deathly-boring instruction manual spirit of this piece of writing, I think that efforts should be made to preserve the original tone of an article/essay translated from Japanese to English.
ReplyDelete2. Here I would agree with Riggs that some "transmigration" is often necessary. The intrinsic differences between English and Japanese make it so that information usually can't be translated one to one. Oftentimes, sentences need to be merged or rearranged a bit for the piece to come across effectively in the target language. But once again, it's important to me that the original tone of the piece be preserved as much as possible.
3. My experience is limited, but I prefer to read all the way through (ideally aloud), while making notes, before translating. Even if I don't get everything, it helps a lot to have the gist of the text in my head when I actually begin to try to put it into English.