LoT Book CLub - Book 2 - Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

[Ghoulish Delight]

Really? This is the second Murakami book I've read, and I've found them to be very well translated*. Perhaps it's my subtitled anime training, but I think the translation reads very easily while still maintaining a lot of the uniquely Japanese style.



*Edited to add: Well, I suppose without learning Japanese and reading the originals, I can't vouch for them being truly well translated...but I have found them eminently readable.

[blueerica]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

I think Japanese may be an incredibly hard language to translate into English, because I almost always find the writing somewhat frustrating. I imagine a lot gets lost in translation, and as I read the English I find myself wishing the English itself was *better*.

It doesn't, on the whole, effect how much I enjoy or dislike the overall story, but I've such a love of individual sentences and phrases, and those are - for me - a bit few and far between in this book. I had to keep reminding myself that it's a translation, and the fault really lies with my own inability to read in other languages. Ah, well.

I agree quite a bit with what EH is saying here, and I have found it to be quite true for myself. I'm still waiting for that bit that propels me into staying up until 5AM to read the book, as opposed to staying up until 5AM to play video games.



Might happen soon, though.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Really? This is the second Murakami book I've read, and I've found them to be very well translated*. Perhaps it's my subtitled anime training, but I think the translation reads very easily while still maintaining a lot of the uniquely Japanese style.

*Edited to add: Well, I suppose without learning Japanese and reading the originals, I can't vouch for them being truly well translated...but I have found them eminently readable.

It's a matter of taste, I guess. I finsished The Wind Up Bird Chronicle loving it, but I slogged through the first 100 pages because I thought the writing style (or, rather, the English translation) sounded amateurish. That abated as I became more used to it, and became more interested/invested in the storytelling. But it took a lot of time. I had a similar problem with Battle Royale. Prefer the Manga to the book's prose, and again I think it's the translation. I wouldn't say the translations are poor, so much as Japanese-to-English translations may frustrate me on whole.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by blueerica

Might happen soon, though.

For me it happened somewhere between pages 300 and 400 (as discussed in my LJ). Onwards, my friend. Onwards!

[Alex]

I'll be near the Kinokuniya bookstore in San Francisco next week and I was thinking about getting a Japanese language copy of After the Quake to get Lani's opinion on the translation.

It really hard with translation to know what belongs to the translator and what belongs to the source. It can make a huge difference (I've read Crime and Punishment in three different translations and one of them is vastly superior to the other two). I enjoyed the first story in After the Quake very much but at several points the writing consisted of lengthy periods of short, simple, declarative sentences which I find a little tiring.

I assume that is carried over from the source and not a writing style introduced by Jay Rubin.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Eliza Hodgkins 1812

I wouldn't say the translations are poor, so much as Japanese-to-English translations may frustrate me on whole.

I can understand that. It took me a while after I started watching anime in earnest to get over that feeling with the subtitles. English translated from Japanese almost seems like its own language sometimes. I guess I really am just fluent in it, 'cause these translations seem very natural to me.

[blueerica]

I should remind everyone that if there ever a woman fluent in Japanese translated to English, it's me. I'm living in the House of Japanese Translated To English. /cough

I am still slightly uncomfortable with the translation, mainly because the situations, the acts are not always plausible to me. I am not far enough into the book to say either way, though. I'll just have to plug forward.

[SacTown Chronic]

Wait, ya'll started a new book while I was away? Guess I'd better get humping.

[Alex]

I've tried a couple times to go ahead and join in on this one but haven't found a bookstore yet that has it in stock and I'm too lazy to deal with ordering it.

[SacTown Chronic]

I'll check my local used book store and my even local'er B&N. If I strike out in those two places, I promise to cut and run.