Siedensticker on Translation

I thought Siedensticker's comments on his translations were very interesting. I agreed with his perspective on ambiguity and faithfulness, particularly that faithfulness does not always equate to literalness or direct interpretation. This opinion echoes a familiar belief among the translators we've heard from: a translator's goal is to capture a "feeling" through translation. Sometimes, this process requires moving away from direct translation, as Siedensticker demonstrates. In his translation of Snow Country, Siedensticker opts for wording different from the original because it creates the same confusion in English-speaking audiences that was present in Japanese. It is interesting to consider how differently ambiguity is supported through the linguistic rules of Japanese and English. In Japanese, there is much more room for being vague because Japanese allows you to omit the subject, whereas English grammar requires more context.

Kenna Ward