I have always been viciously envious of the Japanese language's usage of onomatopoeias. It physically pains me how English equivalents are few and far in between-- that the Japanese language can express in a single word what takes English an entire sentence. In the same vein, I find myself empathizing wholly with the ideas expressed in "Jumping Into The Pond."
Semantically, translating onomatopoeias from Japanese to English is quite meticulous. One cannot come up with a tonally similar translation for ワクワク, as no such equivalent exists in the English language. It is that reason, among thousands of others, that truly shows the astounding gap between these two languages. They are two languages that are resolutely unique within their respective language trees, with the art of translation and interpretation acting as a bridge between the two worlds.
The art of translation is one that takes immense effort and dedication-- as is shown by Carpenter's three-year translation job. She likens translation to filling in a coloring book- a ridiculously apt simile. One may rearrange the colors as they see fit, as long as the meaning of the image is not lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment