ATA 2015: Translating Racially Sensitive Passages and Other Minefields

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J1

Thursday, Nov 05, 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Session Summary by

Sarah Lindholm

In this session, the Japanese Language Division’s 2015 Distinguished Speaker, Juliet Winters Carpenter, used various excerpts from an as-yet-unpublished thirty-page section of her translation of Minae Mizumura’s novel 『私小説 from left to right』to discuss the different ways that she worked with the author to tackle racially sensitive and/or culture-specific content for English publication.

ATA 2015: Challenges of Literary Translation: Finding your Voice

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J-4

Friday, Nov 06, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Session Summary by

Patricia Pringle

Juliet Winters Carpenter shared with us the various types of challenges and choices she faces as she translates Japanese literary works. She gave us some idea of the complexities of translating another's words while expressing a voice that is compelling for English readers and retains the flavor of the original. When is a translation too free? What do you do with specific cultural references? Can you leave things out? Can you add things? What about explanatory notes?