The Myriad Voices of Language

The Myriad Voices of Language

Michael Tsegaye

A prevailing thought entering into this course was: "how can interpreters avoid imposing their own ideology when conducting interpretation?" My initial thought was that the interpreter should labor to shed their ideology and attempt to "faithfully" execute the will of the author. This "negativist" standpoint towards conscious application of language becomes faulty when we consider two facts; language is inherently relative to the speaker's experience with the words, and simply knowing their dictionary translations is not the same as having formed stories with those same words.

What strikes me as effective is not possessing less ideology (which is impossible to entirely shake off), but rather the study of many uses of the same language. Reading what conversations and texts look like depending on those dispatching and receiving them provide a translator with indispensable tools to accurately represent the purpose and meaning of the source material.

With this in mind, I would propose that the winner for "hardest" group to translate would easily be adolescents and young adults. In practically all cultures, young adults are the most flexible with their use of language, largely due to newfound freedom and a wish to break from traditions. Most additions to the English (and Japanese) languages originate from popular culture generated by people 18-24 years old, before being co-opted by young children and then all other adults.

Thankfully, I am a young adult, which is why I want to take this opportunity to translate a piece of young adult slang that is commonly used by Japanese people my age: 「ワンチャン」（abbreviated from ワンチャンス). Jisho.org uses a literal translation and only reserves the third and last to define it as meaning "one night stand." Personally, I have seen many young people (and practically only young people) use ワンチャン purely in a sexual context. Even then, I do not think "one night stand" is how I would define it. To me, I have seen it used more in contexts in which a person would find someone attractive, but would find flirting (or ナンパ) so risky that they would essentially be "shooting their shot," with the expectation that they would only have one chance to take such a risk (and then potentially engaging in a "one night stand"). The reason for this risk could vary greatly, but the anxiety involved in the encounter remains mostly constant. Similar ideas exist in the English speaking world, which is why you often hear young people asking, "would you shoot your shot?"