J. Carpenter

The Carpenter reading was really enjoyable to read. One of the first points she talked about was the onomatopoeias used in Japanese language and how the solutions she came up with to overcome them. Not only did she have to find a way to translate them correctly, but also create examples to illustrate them. Throughout the reading, she mentions a lot about getting help from other people who are well-versed in there subject, for example, her brother for music, roommate's brother for motorcycles, etc. This shows that translation goes further than just blindly translating, and trying to make sure you are knowledgeable about what you are translating.

Carpenter also talks a little about Arthur Binard. Binard is an American writing Japanese poetry and he does his own translations. I just found that a little funny because she also talks about how he translated one of his poems differently (poem mentions his mother several times but only comes up once in the translation). She said that if she was the one translating, she would not have been able to do that. Binard said that decision was because he thought that if it was in English, it would show a kind of mother complex that doesn't show in Japanese. But if anyone else was translating it, it would have probably stayed in, especially if he wasn't alive to correct it. 

Seidensticker comes up in the reading a few times as well. She talks a little about how her translations are done more on instinct so it is a harder to explain why she decides to do something. I find that a little interesting because I also can never really explain why I did something, especially if I decide to look at it at a much later time. Also pretty cool to see our own professor in a reading. Maybe we can read one of her own articles for class.

 Brian