南向き翻訳事務所 岩渕デボラ ブログ

Translator and blogger Anne Ishii posted her definition of what translation is all about on her blog “Ill Iterate.”

Her three basic steps of “Tuck” (as in “to tuck in”–I think), “shave,” and finally “dress up,” pretty much describe the process.

I was also delighted to see that she has renamed the profession: I can now proudly call myself a “trannie!”

A couple of weeks ago, I gave my students at GWPU an assignment to  reorganize and rewrite an English press release from a certain publisher, giving them both the Japanese and English versions to work with. Ignoring the fact that only about half the class finished the assignment on time, I was thrilled to see that they produced versions much shorter than the original, with one about a third of the original length.

It was an incredible job of “shaving,” now I’ll have to read it to see if it’s properly “dressed up…”