Lost in Translation
When you study English,/you may be tempted to translate English into Japanese.// A professor of translation studies from Canada/gives a warning.//
　　You find yourself/wanting to say something in English.// However,/the words just don’t come into your mind.// You want to say “Mata ashita” in English,/but you don’t know how.// You want to be understood completely.// What do you do?// Well, you may simply ask your bilingual friend,/“How do you say ‘Mata ashita’ in English?”// She will answer,/“See you tomorrow.”// The problem is solved.//
　　The expression “How do you say ... in English?” is so useful/that you may want to use it/every time you are at a loss for words.// There’s nothing wrong with that,/but the assumption behind this question/could be wrong.// Japanese expressions/may not always have exactly corresponding expressions in English.// And the same is true for English.// English expressions/may not have exactly corresponding expressions in Japanese.// As you will see,/translation sometimes fails.//

　　Now,/let me tell you about a personal experience.// When I was a student in Kyoto,/I often visited temples and shrines.// I was wondering/what makes Japanese gardens attractive.// I remembered being told/that the essence of Japanese gardens is wabi-sabi.// I didn’t know what exactly this expression meant,/so I consulted my dictionary.//
　　Wabi-sabi  was defined as “elegant simplicity.”// And a more detailed explanation followed:/“Wabi  and sabi  are the highest aesthetic values/in traditional Japanese arts.// They refer to a sense of quiet sadness/and the encouragement of simplicity.”// I felt like I was lost in a deep cloud.// The concept was too complex/for me to understand.// But years later,/as I sat on the wooden veranda of a temple,/looking out at the garden,/I thought I finally had a sense of wabi-sabi.//
　　This episode shows/that it is often very difficult,/if not impossible,/to translate some concepts/from one language into another.// This is true/not only for an abstract concept,/but also for commonly used expressions in Japanese.// How about mottainai,/shikataganai,/otsukaresama,/itadakimasu,/and itsumo osewa ni natteimasu ?// See if you can find/equivalent expressions in English,/or ask your bilingual friends/if they are around.//

　　Now, let us go beyond English and Japanese,/and look at some of the world’s other languages.// According to some linguists,/there are over 7,000 languages in the world,/so what I’m going to show/is just a tiny sample of words we can’t translate easily/into English or Japanese.//
　　Swedish offers an interesting example,/as shown on Slide 1.// This word (resfeber ) means/“the restless beat of a traveler’s heart/before the journey begins;/feelings of being nervous and excited.”//
　　Here is an example/from the Dutch language.// Look at Slide 2.// This word (gezellig ) means “cozy;/a positive warm feeling you have/when you are with loved ones.”// It’s amazing/that one word can describe this kind of feeling!//
　　Slide 3 shows an example from Finnish.// This word (poronkusema ) means/“the distance a reindeer can comfortably travel/before taking a break.”//
　　Slide 4 shows an example from Arabic.// This word (gurfa ) means/“the amount of water/that can be held in one hand.”//
　　You may find it fascinating/how different languages conceptualize the world/in different ways.// It seems there is no limit/to what you can say in simple words.//

　　Before concluding my talk,/let me share with you/a couple of Japanese words/which I find really interesting.//
　　Imagine that you are strolling in a park/on a bright summer day.// You breathe in the fresh air;/you are looking up at the trees;/you see the sunlight/filtering through the leaves.// How do you describe this kind of sunlight?// Komorebi.// I find this fascinating.//
　　I buy lots of books.// People ask,/“Have you read all those books?”// Of course not!// I often leave books unread.// I just pile them up/without reading them.// Japanese has a word/to describe this kind of “reading”:/tsundoku !// I love it.//
　　As speakers of Japanese,/you may not find these words unique.// Yet,/non-native speakers of Japanese/often find them unique to Japan.//
　　Learning English/is not just about words and rules.// It can allow us/to see the world in different ways.//
　　Lastly,/may I give you a small piece of advice?// Translation is sometimes used/to make sure you have understood/the English text you are reading,/but remember/that there might be something lost in translation.//