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.
1
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.
When you study English,/you may be tempted to translate English into Japanese. A professor of translation studies from Canada/gives a warning.
1
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.