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Oct. 9th, 2013
Shiki Novel Translations 5.0 and notes
Oct. 9th, 2013 07:17 pm Links to Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Translation Notes
Reader Question: Obaa-chan/Ojii-chan and variants of that get used an awful lot in this story. I'd been trying to translate them as Granny/Grandpa/Old Woman/Old Man and the like but there are times I'm not sure if my translation choice quite fits all the variations. Sometimes making it fit the character speaking is a stretch, too; Ozaki sometimes refers to people as just obaa-chan or something which works in Japanese but having him call them Granny seems off. Old man/old lady seems more his style, but I hesitate to translate the more polite Ritsuko calling them that even if she uses obaa-chan. I take issue with forcing my impression of the character voice over the text under any circumstances, including times like this when I think it's more a cultural nuance. English speakers don't tend to call people Granny/Grampy unless they're family or like family--while Sotoba is like one big family at times, Obaa-san/Ojii-san are standard in Japanese. I tried slipping an Obaa-san into one of the chapters here to see how it suits readers, but haven't gone back to revert all formerly translated bits into Japanese, and I can easily revert that one based on the final decision. Do readers have a preference between that being translated out or kept in Japanese?
Suzuki no obaa-chan; it's either going to be "The Suzuki Obaa-chan" or "The Suzuki's Obaa-chan" if kept in Japanese or, in English, "the Suzuki Granny" or "the Suzuki's Granny" and Suzuki Obaa-chan will either be Granny Suzuki in English or just left as Suzuki Obaa-chan.
I will eventually put them all to one or the other, unless of course it's a familial reference. If someone is referring to their own or someone else's grandfather, then regardless of which direction I go with names, I will be keeping those with the English term, such as when the monks are talking about the family of four that died in Mizobe--The man, the wife, the son, the grandpa, etc. If someone talks about becoming an obaa-san or an ojii-san, then I'll still just keep it as talk about becoming an old man, etc. This is only a question of what to do with it as an extension of or as a replacement for a name.
( Chapter 5-1 )
( Chapter 5-3 )
Reader Question: Obaa-chan/Ojii-chan and variants of that get used an awful lot in this story. I'd been trying to translate them as Granny/Grandpa/Old Woman/Old Man and the like but there are times I'm not sure if my translation choice quite fits all the variations. Sometimes making it fit the character speaking is a stretch, too; Ozaki sometimes refers to people as just obaa-chan or something which works in Japanese but having him call them Granny seems off. Old man/old lady seems more his style, but I hesitate to translate the more polite Ritsuko calling them that even if she uses obaa-chan. I take issue with forcing my impression of the character voice over the text under any circumstances, including times like this when I think it's more a cultural nuance. English speakers don't tend to call people Granny/Grampy unless they're family or like family--while Sotoba is like one big family at times, Obaa-san/Ojii-san are standard in Japanese. I tried slipping an Obaa-san into one of the chapters here to see how it suits readers, but haven't gone back to revert all formerly translated bits into Japanese, and I can easily revert that one based on the final decision. Do readers have a preference between that being translated out or kept in Japanese?
Suzuki no obaa-chan; it's either going to be "The Suzuki Obaa-chan" or "The Suzuki's Obaa-chan" if kept in Japanese or, in English, "the Suzuki Granny" or "the Suzuki's Granny" and Suzuki Obaa-chan will either be Granny Suzuki in English or just left as Suzuki Obaa-chan.
I will eventually put them all to one or the other, unless of course it's a familial reference. If someone is referring to their own or someone else's grandfather, then regardless of which direction I go with names, I will be keeping those with the English term, such as when the monks are talking about the family of four that died in Mizobe--The man, the wife, the son, the grandpa, etc. If someone talks about becoming an obaa-san or an ojii-san, then I'll still just keep it as talk about becoming an old man, etc. This is only a question of what to do with it as an extension of or as a replacement for a name.
( Chapter 5-1 )
( Chapter 5-3 )