I really enjoyed Carpenter’s anecdotes about subject matter information she got from talking to those around her, not just the authors or specialist consultants. There are so many elements of everyday life that are best expressed by the people who live doing those things, not just those who study them (for example, her connection who rode motorcycles vs. author and film historian Donald Richie). It was also worth noting that some of these subject matter experts were English speakers and only interacted with the translated text, since I feel like up until now we have talked about specialist vs. layman Japanese speakers as references but not informants in the target language.
From the interview and what we discussed in class today, I thought more about the possible role of the author in translation and how it could lead to good or bad results. If the author speaks English, they can both give valuable insight into the translated result, but they could also try to assert influence over the translation in ways that may or may not be helpful/appropriate. On the other hand, one of Carpenter’s translations discussed in the other reading required careful, precise treatment and the author did not speak any English. In this case, everything was back-translated into Japanese for review, which was necessary to verify that the complex ideas were properly conveyed. Some of the difficulty and length of this process could have been shortened without another translation step required for author review.
Overall, it was nice to see that Carpenter (of course, as a seasoned and respected translator) gets to deal with a variety of texts, styles, and forms, rather than being pigeonholed into working with only one author, era, etc. This could be the translator’s choice as well, and many people across different fields choose to become specialists for good reason. However, as more of a generalist myself, I like seeing others who do a variety of things succeed and be competent in them.
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