100 Books in Japanese - Book 1
I start with a book that was near and dear to my heart as a child, and was fittingly the first novel I ever read cover to cover in a foreign language:
Title: ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石
(Harii Pottaa to kenjya no ishi)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Summary: There's this boy named Harry Potter. He finds out on his eleventh birthday that he's a wizard. If you don't know the rest of the story, shame on you.
Thoughts: You'd think reading this book in Japanese would be cheating since I can practically recite it in English, but you'd be wrong. Seeing the sentences twisted and convoluted into Japanese was just as hard to understand as anything else. Yes, I knew what was supposed to be happening, but the ridiculous words and grammatical structures used to render these things were still a pain in the ass to pull apart. I'm told some of this is to blame on the translation, which is horrible. I agree wholeheartedly.
Translation Corner: To start, I have to say: the translation sucked. A lot of the language used was archaic and frustrating, even to the Japanese people I knew. I asked questions to fellow teachers and friends, and more often than not they had to look things up as well in order to help me - this is not how a book aimed primarily at children should be translated. I understand that there were time constraints, but that is no excuse for such an inaccessible book.
On top of this ridiculous language was the decision to make every spell spoken stupidly explicit. Yes, Japan has a reputation for favoring heroes that announce their every move before they make it, be it in martial arts or magic, but there was no need for that in Harry Potter. The English version features spells that do not immediately explain their meaning during casting. The first time I read, 'expelliarmus' I had no idea what it meant. It made it more fun that way - like learning a whole new language. The Japanese translation makes each spell impossible to mistake. Their casting amounts to shouting: "Lumos - Light Up!" Yes, they say both the spell and what it's supposed to do. This gets under my skin in ways other things only dream of. And it gets so gorram tiresome during sections like the 'wingardium leviosa' chapter. Or shall I say, "Wingardium Leviosa - Float!"
The last main problem I had with the translation was the outright errors I found. Some were more easily brushed off than others - misinterpretations in color (Japanese blue and green are almost completely interchangeable) for example, were easy to ignore. One mistake stuck in my head, though: during one of the early Quidditch matches, if not the first, Harry is nearly shaken off his broom mid-game. Hermione, wishing for his luck and continued life, crosses her fingers. It's a simple gesture, crossing one's fingers. It brings up roughly 25 billion hits in Japanese Google alone, the first of which adequately explains the gesture's significance and actual appearance in Japanese. All of the images on the search are right. It is an easy gesture. It's been around so long that surely even people at the turn of the millennium, when this translation came out, had access to someone with some idea of what it meant.
So how was it translated in the book? It was literally written that, "Hermione made a cross with her fingers." Yep, you read that right. And if there's any doubt, the word for cross was the same one used for the Christian cross, and the reason Buffy never got popular in Japan (would you have watched something called, "Buffy and the Cross of Love?"). So instead of crossing her fingers, Hermione made a cross with her fingers like she was trying to ward vampire's off from her friend and his insane broom. Seriously translator - get with it.
Words Learned:
慌てる(あわてる） - to get flustered
Would you recommend this to others?
Yes and no. It is a great exercise in translation theory and what not to do, but if you're looking to enjoy the story just read the English version. The Japanese isn't worth your time.
Title: ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石
(Harii Pottaa to kenjya no ishi)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Summary: There's this boy named Harry Potter. He finds out on his eleventh birthday that he's a wizard. If you don't know the rest of the story, shame on you.
Thoughts: You'd think reading this book in Japanese would be cheating since I can practically recite it in English, but you'd be wrong. Seeing the sentences twisted and convoluted into Japanese was just as hard to understand as anything else. Yes, I knew what was supposed to be happening, but the ridiculous words and grammatical structures used to render these things were still a pain in the ass to pull apart. I'm told some of this is to blame on the translation, which is horrible. I agree wholeheartedly.
Translation Corner: To start, I have to say: the translation sucked. A lot of the language used was archaic and frustrating, even to the Japanese people I knew. I asked questions to fellow teachers and friends, and more often than not they had to look things up as well in order to help me - this is not how a book aimed primarily at children should be translated. I understand that there were time constraints, but that is no excuse for such an inaccessible book.
On top of this ridiculous language was the decision to make every spell spoken stupidly explicit. Yes, Japan has a reputation for favoring heroes that announce their every move before they make it, be it in martial arts or magic, but there was no need for that in Harry Potter. The English version features spells that do not immediately explain their meaning during casting. The first time I read, 'expelliarmus' I had no idea what it meant. It made it more fun that way - like learning a whole new language. The Japanese translation makes each spell impossible to mistake. Their casting amounts to shouting: "Lumos - Light Up!" Yes, they say both the spell and what it's supposed to do. This gets under my skin in ways other things only dream of. And it gets so gorram tiresome during sections like the 'wingardium leviosa' chapter. Or shall I say, "Wingardium Leviosa - Float!"
The last main problem I had with the translation was the outright errors I found. Some were more easily brushed off than others - misinterpretations in color (Japanese blue and green are almost completely interchangeable) for example, were easy to ignore. One mistake stuck in my head, though: during one of the early Quidditch matches, if not the first, Harry is nearly shaken off his broom mid-game. Hermione, wishing for his luck and continued life, crosses her fingers. It's a simple gesture, crossing one's fingers. It brings up roughly 25 billion hits in Japanese Google alone, the first of which adequately explains the gesture's significance and actual appearance in Japanese. All of the images on the search are right. It is an easy gesture. It's been around so long that surely even people at the turn of the millennium, when this translation came out, had access to someone with some idea of what it meant.
So how was it translated in the book? It was literally written that, "Hermione made a cross with her fingers." Yep, you read that right. And if there's any doubt, the word for cross was the same one used for the Christian cross, and the reason Buffy never got popular in Japan (would you have watched something called, "Buffy and the Cross of Love?"). So instead of crossing her fingers, Hermione made a cross with her fingers like she was trying to ward vampire's off from her friend and his insane broom. Seriously translator - get with it.
Words Learned:
慌てる(あわてる） - to get flustered
Would you recommend this to others?
Yes and no. It is a great exercise in translation theory and what not to do, but if you're looking to enjoy the story just read the English version. The Japanese isn't worth your time.