Taken Out of Context:
The Importance of Context in Japanese-into-English Translation
(Part
1) by Jim Davis
Japanese is a high-context language. Among other
consequences of this fact we find that in a Japanese document the context in
which a statement is made exerts particularly strong influence over the way
information is presented. Viewed from the opposite point of view, the type of
information that is included in—or is omitted from—a particular Japanese
sentence is heavily dependent upon the context in which that sentence appears.
Thus, the translator must identify and make use of all potential sources
of information within a text that can clarify which among several possible
interpretations of a word or phrase is the one intended by the author. Context
plays a role not only when multiple meanings exist for an individual word or a
phrase, but also when topics or subjects are omitted, when antecedents are not
clearly specified, and when idiomatic references are made. The latter point is
particularly relevant when linguistic borrowing takes place and idiomatic
expressions from English or other languages are rendered in Japanese.
Here I will present several specific examples to illustrate how context
provides essential information that can assist the Japanese-into-English
translator in producing a translation that is complete, accurate, and natural
sounding. All of the Japanese example sentences appeared in books or technical papers
that were used in Japanese courses that are offered at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. A sentence translation that is surrounded by quotation marks
was prepared by a student in one of those courses; a sentence translation that
is surrounded by asterisks (***) is my own.
Example 1: Use of
a noun for a figurative, rather than literal, meaning
The following sentence appeared in a Wikipedia article on the Internet:
渡す側の理由としては、「“袖の下”を渡すと医者の態度が全然違う」が一番多い。 (1)
The character 袖 means “sleeve,”
so the literal meaning of the phrase 袖の下 would be “under the sleeve” or “beneath the sleeve.” However, the use of
quotation marks in the sentence suggests that a literal meaning is not
intended. It is clear that the writer is using a figure of speech. The verb 渡す means “to deliver,” “to hand over,” or “to
provide (someone with money).” In this particular sentence the phrase 袖の下 functions as the direct object of this verb.
From the context we may conclude that 袖の下 actually refers to a bribe or money that is handed from one person to
another “under the table.” The Japanese phrase 袖の下 conveys the image of someone hiding something
in the sleeve of a kimono or perhaps letting the kimono sleeve fall onto an
envelope of cash that was conveniently left on a table. This Japanese phrase
and the English expression “under the table” both suggest a desire to hide some
action from the view of others.
The character 袖 also appeared in
the following passage from a newspaper article that was published by the 日本経済新聞 several years ago:
民主党の鳩山由紀夫幹事長は 12 日、福島市内で街頭演説し、米国による北朝鮮のテロ支援国家指定解除について「1 年に 2 度も首相が代わるから、日米同盟を命のように思っていても米国から袖にされる。 (2)
In this instance 袖 becomes part of
the expression 袖にされる, which is simply
the passive equivalent of 袖にする. A literal interpretation of 袖にされる would be “is given the sleeve,” but this clearly does not make sense. From
the context we can determine that Japan is “suffering” from this action by the
United States. In fact, 袖にされる is an idiomatic expression that means “is ignored,” “is taken lightly,”
“is not appreciated,” “is given the brush-off,” or “is given the cold
shoulder.” Any one of these meanings would be valid in this particular context.
The close physical proximity between “sleeve” and “shoulder” suggests that the
Japanese and English expressions may have a common link through the gesture of
turning one’s back on someone who is not liked or is not respected, but this is
pure conjecture.
Example 2:
Familiar words in an unfamiliar context
In a book that describes some of the problems confronting the Japanese
economy the author writes the following sentence:
七〇〜八〇年代は二度の石油ショックを経て安定成長期に入り、成長率は三％台後半に低下した。さらに、九〇年代初頭のバブル崩壊後はさらに低下、一％台前半で推移した。 (3)
Two students offered the following
translations:
“During the 1970s and 80s, Japan experienced two
oil crises and entered a period of stable growth, with growth rates slowing to a high three percentage points. The
growth rate fell further in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the
Bubble, hovering at rates below a half a
percent.”
“In the period from
1970 to 1980, after passing through two oil crises a period of stable growth
was entered. The growth rate then declined to a level of 3% in the latter half of this period. In addition, in
the beginning of the 1990s there was an additional decline after the collapse
of the Bubble, changing to a level of 1% within the first half of that decade.”
The words 前半 and 後半 are widely used to convey the meanings “first
half” and “second half,” respectively, for an interval of time, a game, or a
battle. However, in this instance each term follows the character 台, which in turn follows a percentage value. The
character 台 literally refers
to a pedestal, a platform, a stand, or some object for supporting other items.
When the same character follows a numerical value, it usually refers to a
“level” or a “mark” on a numerical scale. Based on this information we may
conclude that the expression 三％台後半 refers to
the “second half” of an interval that lies above the “three percent level.” The
most logical choice for this interval would be the interval between 3.0% and
4.0%.
Using similar reasoning we may assume
that the expression 一％台前半 represents the
“first half” of an interval that lies above the “one percent level.” The most
logical choice for this interval would be the interval between 1.0% and 2.0%.
The first student recognized the percentage values but did not understand the
relationship between 後半 or 前半 and the stated percentage. The second student also
recognized the percentage values but assumed that 後半 and 前半 referred to
an interval of time, even though there is no explicit reference to a time
interval in either phrase. In this example the key point for the translator is
to recognize that the “interval” in question is a percentage increment. With
this thought in mind we understand that the phrase 三％台後半 refers to “the 3.5-3.9% range,” and the phrase 一％台前半 represents “the 1.0-1.4% range.”
(to be continued)
Jim Davis is Professor and Director of the Technical Japanese
Program in the Dept. of Engineering Professional Development at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison.
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