Hibbett

When reading this I did wonder if there was a good way to show the visual differences of katakana vs hiragana as Hibbett states on later pages that the kana styles were a “resistance to translation [he] couldn’t overcome.” I couldn't think of anything on the fly but after reading the previous posts I do agree that using different typefaces may be a good way to show the visual difference as there are typefaces that are considered more masculine and others that are feminine. It would be an interesting experience to read a book that has different typefaces too since it’s quite rare to see.

When Hibbett talks about Manji’s title in other languages, he states that the Italian translation, La Croce Buddhista or Buddhist Cross “doesn’t really suggest much about the book” as it’s just the symbol but isn’t that the same with the original title Manji which is the name of the symbol? There are many books with titles that are just an object or word that doesn't speak much to the content of the text so I was a little confused regarding his comment about the title.

I think it’s quite interesting that Hibbett describes the two contrasting actions—naturalizing a work vs. trying to keep the original work—with words that are antonyms: they are the two major kinds of faults as well as the two major kinds of virtues. I'm a little uncertain about his equating of naturalizing a text to “improving on it” but it certainly is true that without naturalization some things such as jokes or important instances that are dependent on cultural understanding will be lost to readers who don’t understand the source culture. So naturalizing is both a fault and a virtue—a fault to the source and a virtue for the readers, and vice versa with not naturalizing. 

Lesley