Thoughts on "Eight Ways to Say You" -Allen

    The first interesting point I came across is the idea of treating translation as a mechanical process. I agree with the author that for a creative piece of writing like Yumoto's "The Friends," translating word by word would fail to convey the message of the original. However, for something like a research paper or a user manual where keywords must be chosen carefully, perhaps translating word by word would be the best option.

    Another point is how Japanese sentences have backward grammar. This is important to keep in mind because the verb is mentioned last, and an author may use this to create tension. I remember watching an anime a while ago in which character A was calling character B. It was character B's birthday, but B didn't know A remembered. So, A called B on the phone and said, "ケーキ...作る!" The English translation was, "I am making... a cake!" When I watched this scene, I wondered how the English translator could rearrange the sentence to preserve the original order while sounding natural. There is a subtle difference in mentioning the cake first, which builds tension for what is going to be said next.

    I also like how the author included an extra section explaining what a Juku is in the context of Japan. In America, cram school is less common (the first thing that comes to mind is Kumon), and students tend to attend for shorter periods. In Japan, though, whenever I hear a friend mention Juku, they always associate an exhausted tone with it, as if it's something they don't like but have to go to.

    Lastly, the topic of different ways to say "you" reminds me of the different forms of "I," like watashi, boku, and ore. There is a famous scene in the anime movie, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa), where the main character is judged for how he refers to himself, and he says, "私...わたくし...僕...俺.” The English translation was, "I (watashi), I (watakushi), I (boku), I (ore)," which felt awkward because the parentheses and need for explanation ruined the humor. I wonder if there is a way to preserve the humor while translating this.

https://youtu.be/79ZyG-mNLpg?si=y9qN8Av5MyFBn8Dz