In San Francisco last week, I did go to the Kinokuniya bookstore for "Totto-chan" and while I was there I saw the Japanese translation of Harry Potter. Initially I was against reading Japanese translations of English books because I thought I'd acquire a more natural rhythm of the Japanese language by reading books originally composed in Japanese. But that is still a bit difficult for me. So on impulse, I bought Harry Potter.
I've read the English version several times, and some passages I know very well. This makes so much difference trying to read it in Japanese. Since I know what it's trying to say, all I have to pay attention to is how it's said in Japanese. And though I don't know every kanji, or even half the vocabulary, knowing the English version makes it much easier to piece together the meaning and to make informed guesses of the vocabulary. I can get the sense out of whole passages, without understanding each individual piece. I can skim a page and find my place. The squiggles have cohesed into meaningful patterns. It's a really exciting feeling and very motivating. In some ways it's like skimming through the descriptions dense with nautical terms in a Patrick O'Brian book. I don't stop reading to look up the difference between a coxswain and a bosun or larboard and starboard.
Now that I'm home, I'm able to compare the translation to the original, look up words in my dictionaries, and add new compounds to my kanji cards. The grammar is straightforward. The thrust of my study is on vocabulary acquisition.
I wonder about many peculiarities in the translation. For example, some kanji are supplemented with furigana; others, not. Since this is a childrens book, I expected some indication of the level of kanji required. In America, childrens books usually indicate the age range of their target audience. The sentence structure matches almost exactly. For example, the subject of the sentence and the person's name is repeated just as it would be in English. Uncle Vernon is always referred to as バーノンおじさん. The Japanese reader is really short-changed on the puns, and the significance of names, which are rendered in katakana. There is no way to understand that Slytherin is a variation on slithering 「にょろにょろ」, "to slip or slide like a snake" or to connect Gryffindor to the mythical griffin, the combination of eagle and lion used on coats of arms.
Rowling draws heavily on Latin and Greek roots to create an "old school" atmosphere, to distinguish between the ordinary world and the magic world, modern and medieval. All of this tone is lost in Japanese when the names are katakanized. Japanese is rich in onomonopoetic words that would translate the flavor of writing better. Rowling's choice of Latin-based words, instead of Anglo-Saxon equivalents, could be indicated with on-read kanji compounds, perhaps with katakana for pronunciation.
Since this is my first attempt to read a book in translation, I don't know how these things are usually handled. When a Japanese reads a book like this, does the structure of the sentences seem foreign and English-like? the repetition of personal names? the extensive use of pronouns?
Elsewhere
You can find a comparison of the Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese translations of Harry Potter on cvjlang. The discussion on the translations of Rowling puns is what got me interested in trying to read Harry Potter in Japanese in the first place. I am intrigued with his analysis of Dumbledore's style of speech in Japanese. I wonder if I'll ever be able to pick up on those kinds of nuances.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
July 06, 2004
Comments
The Japanese story: When Yuko Matsuoka's husband died on Christmas Day 1997, the Japanese translator inherited his small publishing house, Say-zan-sha. She had decided to continue publishing when Harry Potter arrived out of the blue. Despite being a non-native speaker of English, Matsuoka read Rowling's first book in a single night. "A wave of shock ran through my body and mind," she recalls. "And I said to myself: 'Here is something I have waited for. Here is something which must have waited for me! It is fate!'"
As a translator, Matsuoka wanted to express this feeling she had when she first read the book, so she changed as little as possible. It took fourteen months to complete, and she laughs at some of the tricky and eccentric British words she had to come to grips with, like "knickerbocker glory," "stoat sandwich," "galloping gorgons," "a load of old tosh" and "codswallop." But that wasn't the half of it: Imagine trying to explain the British school system or differentiating between spells, jinxes and other magical words for a Japanese readership. Unlike her U.S. counterparts, however, Matsuoka didn't alter the title of the first book (which refers to the substance that, in ancient legend, converts base metals into gold). "The philosopher's stone is a well-known concept among Japanese fantasy fans," she says. "So I kept the mysterious image faithfully in my translation: Kenja-no-ishi." Much of Harry Potter's success in Japan is due to the women in their twenties and thirties throughout the country who have taken the young wizard to their hearts. Calls and letters flood in every day to Matsuoka, most begging her for the second book. Matsuoka is hooked on the way the stories convey moral values such as love, friendship and courage without sounding moralistic.
Comment by: Helen M. Jerome. Posted July 9, 2004 08:32 PM.
Hi M! Long time no write... I wanted to e-mail you but don't have your contact info. Can you drop me a line so that I may contact you?
Comment by: James. Posted July 10, 2004 01:35 AM.
Melissa! As my 12 year-old-daugher (who has just moved out of the Harry Potter age after imbibing it for the last three or four years, would say, "You go girl~!" I am very impressed with your progress and admire your persistence. Hope all is well. I tried to comment on the recent "Who we are" entires, in particular to Robin who also sent me an email and to Jin Ling (I think it is) here in Phoenix but it didn't seem to let me post. I am overwhelmed here with stuff but coming back to your site has been fun. I'll be in touch. Jeanne
Comment by: jbl. Posted August 6, 2004 03:11 PM.
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Reading Harry Potter in Japanese.