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.
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.