Is perfect translation possible? (part2)
Jul 05th 2009 03:05
Strictry speaking, perfect translation is impossible.
Because we can't translate word which is deeply concerned culture.
Do you know this story?
In cetain an international conference, a Japanese man was asked to do job which is terrible troublesome.
And he said, "善処します".
A translator translated this like this, "I'll do my best". Lately, this made a big trouble.
As you know, Japanese culture is said ambiguous culture.
Surely "善処します" have meaing like that. But this word deeply concerned Japanese culture.
If Japanese people say "善処します", people think "I sholudn't have hope" by tacit agreement.
When we refuse the thing which we don't to do, Japanese people tend to avoid refusing directly.
So Japanese have expression such this.
Because we can't translate word which is deeply concerned culture.
Do you know this story?
In cetain an international conference, a Japanese man was asked to do job which is terrible troublesome.
And he said, "善処します".
A translator translated this like this, "I'll do my best". Lately, this made a big trouble.
As you know, Japanese culture is said ambiguous culture.
Surely "善処します" have meaing like that. But this word deeply concerned Japanese culture.
If Japanese people say "善処します", people think "I sholudn't have hope" by tacit agreement.
When we refuse the thing which we don't to do, Japanese people tend to avoid refusing directly.
So Japanese have expression such this.
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Jul 05th 2009 03:54
Jeff
I think "I'll see what I can do" is a pretty good translation. Saying "I'll see what I can do" means you don't really expect that you will be able to do anything. I think that depending on the formality and the context in which 善処します is used in Japanese there are a few different sayings you could use in English which correspond pretty well. "Act accordingly", "deal with the matter in an appropriate manner" being a few.
- English
- Strictry speaking, perfect translation is impossible.
- Strictly speaking, perfect translation is impossible.
Comment
- Because we can't translate word which is deeply concerned culture.
- Because we can't translate words that are deeply connected with culture.
Comment
- In cetain an international conference, a Japanese man was asked to do job which is terrible troublesome.
- In a certain an international conference, a Japanese man was asked to do job which is terribly troublesome.
Comment
- A translator translated this like this, "I'll do my best".
- A translator translated this as "I'll do my best".
Comment
- As you know, Japanese culture is said ambiguous culture.
- As you know, Japanese culture is said to be an ambiguous culture.
Comment
- But this word deeply concerned Japanese culture.
- But this word is deeply connected with Japanese culture.
Comment
- If Japanese people say "善処します", people think "I sholudn't have hope" by tacit agreement.
- If a Japanese person says "善処します", people think "I shouldn't have hope" by tacit agreement. Not totally sure what you mean by "I shouldn't have hope"
Comment
- When we refuse the thing which we don't to do, Japanese people tend to avoid refusing directly.
- When we refuse something which we don't want to do, Japanese people tend to avoid refusing directly.
Comment
- So Japanese have expression such this.
- So Japanese has an expression such as this. The "Japanese" in my correction is referring to the language, not the people. If you want to refer to the people you'll have to do something like "So the Japanese have an expression such as this"
Comment
Jul 05th 2009 16:18
Xin
I think it's impossible to have a perfect translation too. It's really unfortunate! I always feel like there must be so much I'm missing, so many beautiful poems and stories I'm missing out on because I can't completely understand a language.
- English
- Is perfect translation possible? (part2)
- Is a perfect translation possible? (part2)
Comment
- Strictry speaking, perfect translation is impossible.
- Strictly speaking, a perfect translation is impossible.
Comment
- In cetain an international conference, a Japanese man was asked to do job which is terrible troublesome.
- In a certain an international conference, a Japanese man was asked to do a job which is terribly troublesome.
Comment
- Lately, this made a big trouble.
- Lately, This created a big problem.
Comment
- Surely "善処します" have meaing like that.
- Surely Of course, "善処します" does have a meaning like that.
Comment
- But this word deeply concerned Japanese culture.
- But this word is also deeply connected to the Japanese culture.
Comment
- If Japanese people say "善処します", people think "I sholudn't have hope" by tacit agreement.
- If a Japanese person says "善処します", people will think "I shouldn't have hope" by tacit agreement. (In English, it is more common to say "I shouldn't get my hopes up", but I'm not sure if you are saying it means there is absolutely no chance of the task being completed. In that case,"I shouldn't get my hopes up" wouldn't work. :P)
Comment
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