In the article “Poetry in Translation” by Roger Pulvers, he discussed what would be the appropriate transition of “Watashi wa zettai ni makenai!” into English. If I were to translate it with no context, I would say, “I will not give up!” or, “I will not lose!” However, Roger rendered it as “I’m definitely going to get through it!” He made a point that this sentence could also be translated as “I absolutely won’t give in!” But this version would imply a negative force. Both are correct translations, but by changing the nuance and wording, it may give off different energy. I thought this was a useful concept to keep in mind, especially when translating poems.
Then in the article “Through a Glass Darkly: Is Translating Poetry Possible?” by Janine Beichman, the author talks about many aspects of translating poems, like methods of retaining details, sound and rhythm, and lineation. I was particularly interested in how haiku is translated into English. A big appeal of haiku is its rhythm of 5-7-5, and I wonder how the details can be retained while keeping its rhythm. The haiku translation of Ishihara Yatsuka’s “Red Fuji” is “black frozen, road going into night, a snowy peak stands out.” Here, the translation portrays the original well but loses its rhythm of 5-7-5. Though one could argue that the author has to choose between rhythm and detail. More interestingly, to recreate the image of the road extending into the darkness, the translator purposefully put “road” into the second line instead of connecting it with the adjective in the first line. I thought rearranging the lines was an interesting technique to retain the imagery of the original.
-Allen Tian
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