It is very interesting how Hirano talks about the intended readership and the purpose of translation. It made me realize that while I should always respect the author, and the author comes first, there should also be certain changes to let the intended audience understand the text and the culture better. She gave the example of juku, and I thought it was an amazing example. In my perspective, juku was where I went to after school as well, so it made sense to me; however, if I was translating the book, I would not have been considerate enough to add explanations for my English-speaking audience. It also reminded me of when I was translating the term oseibo. I didn't translate it to an English term but added a footnote, but after reading this excerpt, it made me think maybe it wouldn't be bad to add descriptions in the text for more fluent reading.

Iris Ho