

How to translate Japanese - ableal
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1569460.ece

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luxpir
Good find, that was a great read.

I'm not sure Japanese is being replaced, just going through a period of rapid
change. Like many other languages living under English's shadow. I see French,
one of the most conservative linguistic cultures, constantly mangle English
idioms into supposedly creative and original French.

The article made me wonder about that lucid, unstructured quality of the
Japanese language and whether that was a reflection of Japanese culture.
Peaceful, unassuming, curious. It mentioned the structured thought of the
Western mind in contrast, which on the face of it seems beneficial, but on
reflection might channel thought down narrow, blinkered lines.

Perhaps we could learn from Japanese vagueness of expression. Freedom to
interpret multiple meanings could lead to increased connections and
discoveries across social, scientific and political areas. This, instead of
constant affirmations, confirmations, congratulating and ego-stroking might
actually be one of Japan's greatest gifts to the world. It's not as if it has
held them back as a nation and culture, after all.

This small island, tucked away on the periphery of planet Earth, has led the
world in technology, art and science. Perhaps it is not a world literary
power, but perhaps that's only right for the culture around the language.
Maybe the author's longings for classics in Japanese to match those of her
French degree course were a case of unmanaged expectations. Like the Tokyo-ite
surviving on the cheapest of noodles just to fund their Louis Vuitton habit,
perhaps the author is missing the point of the wider context surrounding
Japanese language and culture, and how it relates to the rest of the world. If
she were less angered by what doesn't exist and more in praise of what does,
she might be more at peace with her language and culture.

That's all a whole lot of speculation and assumption on my part, but sometimes
it's fun to break out of fact-land and get a little vague. Cheers to the
article author, book author, translators and link sharer here for the
reminder.

~~~
ableal
I occasionally filch URLs from from
[http://www.aldaily.com](http://www.aldaily.com), which was the case with this
one. Their tag was:

 _" The Japanese literary scene is plagued by rehashed American literature.
Contemporary novelists are “brainless writers of crap.” Exhibit A: Haruki
Murakami..."_

(I modestly used as a title the last sentence of this bit:

 _" Mizumura discusses the problem in a broad cosmopolitan context, warning
the world not only of the impending fall of Japanese but the likely fall of
all national languages in the age of English and the internet. Japanese is
just the canary in the coal mine."_

but the inexorable "original article title" HN policy eventually prevailed ;-)

