Why Metaphors in Translation

Both readings discuss how much translators can change the original when translating from Japanese into English, and what it means to be “faithful.” I think this is a difficult question to answer. As soon as someone starts translating, they face the impossibility of being completely faithful to the original. We have also discussed different metaphors for translation before. Maybe there are so many because the process is so different for each person. 

I found the metaphor in “A Live Dog” interesting(the title itself is already invoking curiosity). Terry writes, “If no one is going to read what is translated, there is very little reason for translating it.” He also asks, “If, by translating more literally, I end up by putting something that is readable and enjoyable in Japanese into something that is irksome and foreign-sounding in English, have I really been faithful to the author’s style?” He asks a lot of rhetorical questions, but his main point seems to be that keeping the work alive matters most. For him, this means imagining how an English-language novelist would have written it. However, I’m not sure I agree. With the internet and increasing connections across cultures, readers are becoming more familiar with different ways of writing. I think preserving more of the original’s form might actually make a work feel more alive.

Riggs compares translation to reincarnation, but this metaphor does not quite work for me either. She writes, “After all, the physical body of the original piece has to be obliterated and reincarnated in a totally different guise in order for the soul (message) to be reborn in the next (English) life.” First of all, I think this metaphor is a little scary. Also, can a text’s form and message really be separated like a body and a soul? I feel that the body and soul are connected. If someone had a different body, wouldn’t their soul experience the world very differently too? Still, I agree with her emphasis on empathy: “Without understanding and empathy here, the translator could create a monster rather than an English essay.” I think the ability to empathize with the author is an important part of translation.

Translation really is something fluid, as difficult to grasp as water. Maybe there are as many theories of translation as there are people who translate.

Kerry