Afiq

 Copeland Response

First off, I really enjoyed the way that the article was written, as it seemed that translation was something that Copeland was truly passionate about and devoted her time to mastering the art of translation.

I have also experienced times where I just wasn't sure about whether there was an equivalent translation to some word or phrases in Japanese, a recent one being the white rice and bread Japanese phrase in the magazine article. But when Professor Elliott told me that a similar phrase in English could have been "bread and butter" I think I realize that for most words there has to be a somewhat similar translation in English, but it just depends on the translator themselves to see what they have in their locker of vocabulary/experiences. This also intertwines with what Copeland says about translations being born from the heart and mind of the translator. I especially believe this to be true since enrolling in this class as I saw translations that differed so much from each other, even though the Japanese text was exactly the same for everyone. 

Near the end, Copeland also talks about faithfulness to the original. This is always a recurring issue in translation, and it seems that many translators have differing opinions about it. I thought it was insightful to think about it from the perspective of what exactly are you faithful to, whether it be the words in the original, the requests of the author, or your own morals, the root of that faithfulness will surely affect the outcome of the translation.