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

Eliza Hodgkins 1812 · 07-20-2006, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I wouldn't be surprised if Murakami was consulted on the project.

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.

blueerica · 07-20-2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

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 · 07-20-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

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 · 07-20-2006, 01:43 PM

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.

07-20-2006, 01:43 PM	#4
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	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.
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