Re: Of Facts and Fiction


to tenchi@usagi.jrd.dec.com
from "Dr. Briefs" <brief@ix.netcom.com>
subject Re: Of Facts and Fiction
date Fri, 02 Aug 1996 23:49:42 -0700
At 10:32 PM 8/2/96 -0700, Gregory Matteson <matteson@ccnet.com> wrote:
[snip]

>        Eugene Lee may razz me about my very bad Japanese, but I only first
>started thinking about learning Japanese about 3 years ago at age 42, this
>is very late for someone who, though facinated by languages, is really not
>very good at learning to speak and hear them. At least I try, which is a lot
>more than can be said for most of my fellow Americans. However I have
>studied a number of languages seriously, taking 2 years of university
>German, and a couple of linguistics courses.  I think that I can apply what
>I am saying without regard to my facility, or lack thereof, in the language
>in question.

The best thing would be for us to try and persuade Pioneer/AIC or some other
publisher to publish (Viz, maybe?) an English version of Tenchi 101, which
should be more faithful to the original text, and you wouldn't have to worry
about not knowing much Japanese...

[snip]
>"That is, unfortunately, a mis-translation because of some ambiguity in the
>original Japanese sentence.  As I've mentioned before, the actual "More
>Details" section was originally written in a semi-interview format.  What
>this means is that Yousuke Kuroda asks the questions in more detail, and
>Masaki Kajishima replies.  "Semi"-interview because not everything in the
>"More Details" section is in Q&A format, it also includes interpretation of
>the questions and answers, or "Kuroda's thoughts."  The quote in question
>was actually a statement by Kuroda, but because of the ambiguity from the
>lack of pronouns in Japanese, it can also be interpreted as coming from
>Ryoko herself, leading to an incorrect translation."
>        If you want to fault me for extracting a wrong interpretation of
>what you have said, I hope at least you will back down from any implication
>of blaming the language.  If the reading of the text is ambiguous, then it
>was published in ambiguous form.

There's nothing wrong with the original structure of this sentence, and
nothing really wrong with the original sentence, nor its translation.  To
the native Japanese speaker, I'm sure the text was not ambigious at all, but
remember, that translation you have is a *fan* translation by a person who
is not a native Japanese speaker, and admitted that his knowledge in
Japanese was still lacking. Also in changing the original structure of the
"More Details" section, certain things were omitted.  These are the factors
that caused the bulk of the problems in the translation.  Many Japanese
sentences will be hard for me, as well as other non-native speakers who are
much, much more knowledgable than I am, to interpret, while being quite easy
and obvious to native speakers (those who buy the book).


Glenn Wang <brief@ix.netcom.com>  http://www.netcom.com/~brief/
    "If God had intended Man to smoke, He'd have set him on fire."
***********************************************************************
Member of #SAS#, the Sasami  *"I won't forget (this sky)
        Appreciation Society * I won't forget (this dream)
                             * The gentle seasons I now share with you
"I ran into my ex-girlfriend * In sadness (the days I shook and),
    yesterday...             * In joy (the days I cried),
 Then I backed up and ran    * These are important memories."
    into her again.          *    -Omoide ga ippai (Full of Memories),
 I miss her sometimes."      *          "Ranma 1/2 Nettouhen" OP, 1990
                  -Jeff Ross *           Translation by Theresa Martin


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