Translator's Journal - Miraculina Entry 2

Marunouchi Magical Translator Journalina

Week one, entry two: we’re in Japan, you know…

I'm kind of steadily working now. There’s a huge snow storm this weekend, so I’m sitting by the window watching it while I translate. It hasn’t gotten too bad yet, so it’s really pleasant. In any case, I feel like a lot of the concerns I’m having in the early stages are very run-of-the-mill translator problems; they’re not unique to this text and I’ve encountered them a thousand times before (though they end up different each time). Every Japanese translator is always confronted with a shouganai or an otsukare that they have to figure out, and the “it can’t be helped” and “good work today” are such easy cop-outs that they’re a major pet peeve of mine. I turned one shikatanai into “it is what it is,” but I might come back to that later.( Read more... )