Thoughts on keeping native words in translation?
Thread poster: Christopher W Gladden
Christopher W Gladden
Christopher W Gladden  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:03
Japanese to English
Sep 24, 2015

Hi,

I guess this will be a super newby question. Anyway, I've been doing quite a bit of travel related translation lately, and I wonder if English equivalents for rather widely known terms such as 温泉、旅館、露天風呂、など are really necessary.

Usually I'll just use italicized romaji followed by the English in parentheses, but this is cumbersome, particularly when the term is repeated umpteen times.

It seems to me anyone planning a trip to Ja
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Hi,

I guess this will be a super newby question. Anyway, I've been doing quite a bit of travel related translation lately, and I wonder if English equivalents for rather widely known terms such as 温泉、旅館、露天風呂、など are really necessary.

Usually I'll just use italicized romaji followed by the English in parentheses, but this is cumbersome, particularly when the term is repeated umpteen times.

It seems to me anyone planning a trip to Japan will already know such terms, and stylistically the romanized Japanese I think almost always sounds better. Is there a standard as far as this goes though? My hunch is the answer's going to be "it depends."

Thanks for your thoughts!

Chris
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Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 13:03
Japanese to English
It does depend Sep 24, 2015

It depends on the audience, on the client and on the translator's individual preferences. For the record I usually translate things like 温泉 (hot springs), 旅館 (traditional Japanese inn) and 露天風呂 (open-air bath), but I usually leave things like festival names or culture-specific terms with no ready English equivalent alone, after checking that there really is no easy way to put them in English first.

 
conejo
conejo  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:03
Japanese to English
+ ...
Always use English unless there is no reasonable equivalent Sep 24, 2015

TransAfrique wrote:

It depends on the audience, on the client and on the translator's individual preferences. For the record I usually translate things like 温泉 (hot springs), 旅館 (traditional Japanese inn) and 露天風呂 (open-air bath), but I usually leave things like festival names or culture-specific terms with no ready English equivalent alone, after checking that there really is no easy way to put them in English first.


Hello. I tend to agree with TransAfrique on this... you simply can't assume that the audience will know Japanese words like this. Unless they have spent some time studying about Japan, it's unlikely. There are lots of people who go to Japan without any knowledge of the language or local words. As such, English needs to be used.

There are some exceptions, but I think they are exceptions rather than the rule. Remember that your goal is to make the text understandable to people who only know English, and putting a lot of Japanese words in there without explanations is not helping that goal, because you can't assume that your audience will know.

There have been cases where I did use Japanese words. But usually that was situations where there was no equivalent of that word in English and it was a very specific thing that only exists in Japan or in Japanese culture, and where the meaning would be lost if I made an equivalent in English. In these cases I used the Japanese romanized word in italics and an explanation in parentheses.

Names of festivals, if there is a reasonable English equivalent I would use it, but might do something like "Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival)".

[Edited at 2015-09-24 11:31 GMT]


 
Christopher W Gladden
Christopher W Gladden  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:03
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Cheers Sep 25, 2015

[quote]conejo wrote:

TransAfrique wrote:

There are lots of people who go to Japan without any knowledge of the language or local words. As such, English needs to be used.


That's a very good point. I've tended to think the kind of terms I mentioned are like "sushi" or "sake," just sort of known across the board. But you're probably right. Thank you both for your feedback. Much appreciated.


 


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Thoughts on keeping native words in translation?






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