Hirano shared a lot of useful tips on translation in her essay. To be honest, I was kind of surprised when she suggested deleting the original text and making up a completely different joke as the solution to translate culture-specific jokes. For me, it opens new possibilities of what a translator could do more than just translating the meaning. According to Hirano’s essay, one significant thing in translation is to let the readers experience emotions that the author wants them to experience. Therefore, it is ok to revise the texts for readers that have different cultural-background, and it is necessary to add on some explanations for specific terms, such as “juku” that Hirano mentioned. In the aspect of creating new content with the author’s consent, the process of translating becomes more like doing art, since it does need creativity and courage to make decisions. More than that, It is also based on the translator’s understanding of one culture and the use of language. It is important to have a great knowledge of human activities in different countries as well. Like what Hirano said, she watched American movies and read American children’s books to understand how children in America speak to each other. I used to focus on translating the contents more accurately: never add an unnecessary word, and never delete any word in the original texts. But now I learned, translation is far more than that. The purpose of translating literature is about conveying the emotion and reading experience to readers.
Linwei Fu
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