Why Haruki Murakami’s Novels Are Hardly Lost in Translation
Is Japanese-English translation a wild goose chase?
Have you seen the film Lost in Translation (2003), written and directed by Sofia Coppola? It is about the interactions between a man and a woman from the US who meet in Tokyo. As the title shows, they feel insecure and lonely in a foreign country and consequently need each other.
From my perspective as a Japanese, many of their reactions are comical. However, this film paints a vivid picture of the confusion most Westerners would feel if thrown into Japan. Although many Japanese may have shed their kimonos and are wearing European garments, their values and lifestyles radically differ from those of Westerners.
Several readers have recently asked me to write about translations of Japanese literature. As a translator between Japanese, French, and English, I will share some of my thoughts, hoping they will inspire you to think about different languages and cultures.
In this article, I will first discuss why the work of Haruki Murakami (村上春樹, 1949-), the most famous contemporary Japanese writer, has been so readily accepted in the West. We then looks at examples of what is lost when translating the works of Murakami and other Japanese writers into English.
