Translation work is a meticulous craft; in order to do the job properly, one must juggle vocabulary, syntax, semantics, and cultural nuances endlessly. However, it is precisely that which makes translation such a beautiful artform-- the way in which it acts as a bridge between two cultures formerly worlds apart. In Cathy Hirano's "Eight Ways to Say You: The Challenge of Translation", she spoke to this idea heavily-- particularly in the translation of cultural nuances. How does one stay closely faithful to an author's original words, yet still make the text accessible to an audience with an utterly contrasting culture?
When discussing the translation of juku, I found it remarkably interesting that the original author approved adding a brief explanation of what "cram school" is to the novel. Prior to my starting of studying translation work, I suppose I believed that the author and the translator remained somewhat separate. The author had published their book in the country in which they reside, and the publishers would handle publishing it internationally. Frankly, I took comfort in that being incorrect-- that authors distributing their works abroad care about making their stories accessible to other cultures. It seems obvious that this would be the case, yet I still found myself smiling at the fact.
After reading the article, I wondered to myself how such translations can be made when that space isn't able to be afforded, like in movie/TV show subtitling/dubbing. Without the wiggle-room that can be carved out in written translation, performing the balancing act to its greatest success most likely proves extremely difficult.
Evan
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