The only language I know with any fluency is English. I want to read The Trial by Franz Kafka. The Trial was written in German and if I read an English translation I feel I am not really reading Kafka. Am i the only one who feels this way? Does it even matter?
I watch anime. So, no.
But we’re talking about books and I just realised what community I’m in. So, I’ve read No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. Prolific Japanese author from the… I think 1930s or 1940s? Definitely not contemporary. There are a few translations out there, but the one I read (pink cover with a shadowy shape of a person) was pretty good. I mean it was a good book. I can’t speak to how well it was translated. English and Chinese/Japanese are basically the most alien to one another, so translation is not always so straightforward. To understand any Japanese (or Chinese, similar story) you either have to learn the language, the history, the cultural nuances, and maybe live there for 10-20 years… or you have to accept that a translation by someone who has is good enough for you.
German is much closer to English so translation should not prove to be controversial. An interesting anecdote I have about German translation is the industrial metal band Rammstein. In 1998 they were not very well known in the US except for appearing in a David Lynch movie (on the soundtrack). But they wanted to appeal to Americans, so they had someone translate two of their singles to English, and they sang them without question. The song Du Hast is pretty popular, but it was mistranslated. “Du hast” can mean “you hate,” but it can also mean “you have,” as in like “have me do something” or “compel me to do something.” Like “my mom had me do the dishes.” And they wrote it in the latter sense. It was never meant to say hate. But he sings “you, you hate, you hate me to say, you hate me to say and I would not obey.” This… kind of makes sense. But what Till is trying to say is “you, you have, you have me, you have me to say, you have me to say and I would not obey.” “Have” doesn’t really work here, it just sounds weird, but, you can kinda get what he’s going for. It’s more like “you… you force… you compel me… you force me to say and I would not obey.” That’s what he means. Not hate. Though, he probably also hates the person for having him say something he doesn’t agree with.
With Japanese? Much more complex, but similar issues. Like we might say “gomenasai” which kinda means “sorry” (some people like to be cute and say “gomenasorry”). We also might say “sumimasen” which also… seems to mean sorry, but it also seems to mean “excuse me.” So what it is… it’s like “sorry for bothering you but…” So it’s a more formal “Excuse me” if that makes any sense.
Thank you. That makes sense. I can’t even imagine the difficulty of translating something so complex into English. It’s funny you mention Rammstein. The movie they appeared in, Lost Highway is actually my favorite film of all time. I’m a casual fan of theirs. Amerika is my favorite song of theirs.
That’s awesome. I don’t get Lost Highway, or Lynch in general, but Lost Highway is cool. Just rewatched it a couple months ago, introduced my wife to it. First saw it when it was fairly new. I think I rented it on VHS. But that movie was my introduction to the song “Rammstein,” but the local record store didn’t have Herzeleid, the album it’s on, they had Sehnsucht, which has Du Hast. I still like both albums (ended up getting the first one later).
I have a good friend who’s seen them live from the front row. Wouldn’t be surprised if some of his hair got burned in the pyro stuff. They do a lot of it.