南向き翻訳事務所 岩渕デボラ ブログ

Author Nobuko Takagi has been visiting Asian countries as a part of her Soaked in Asia (SIA) Project in conjunction with the the University of Kyushu, “soaking in” the culture and meeting fellow writers. For each country, Takagi has written a short story which is first published in a  magazine (Shincho) and then posted on her blog. The final country she visited was Indonesia, and her last short story is “Fragrant Harum Diary,” set in Bali.

I’ve been honored to translate six of the ten short stories, all available in both English and Japanese on the SIA blog, including “Tomosui” (set in Thailand) winner of the most recent Kawabata Yasunari Literature Award.

Short stories are a special pleasure to work on because they offer a “literature experience,” without having to complete an entire book over several months. Ms. Takagi’s stories have been extra special because they have given me a taste of countries I’ve never been to.

I think my personal favorite was “The Chili Pepper Sisters,” a story  that starts out philosophically on a Korean farm and ends hilariously–in a ○○○ at Narita Airport.

我が家の最近の話題、「今年」と「来年」の使い分けです。

簡単と思うでしょうが、文化の違いで分からなくなることがよくあります。

日本語はカレンダー通りで良いです。2010のクリスマスは2010年１月１日まで2010年12月31日まで「今年のクリスマス」です。201１年1月1日から「去年のクリスマス」に自動的変わります。

さて、英語はどうでしょうか。英語は「今年」と「去年」よりは”this”と”last,”あるいは “next”で区別します。2010年秋頃から2010年クリスマスが”this Christmas”になって、2011年の春頃までその状態が続きます。暖かくなると”last Christmas”へといつの間にか変わります。夏頃存在するのは”last Christmas” (2010年）と”next Christmas” (2011年）。そしてまた秋になると”next Christmas”が”this Christmas”に進化します。

この違いに気づくのはかなりの年月がかかりました。主人いわく、「youだけがおかしいと思った。」

また不思議なことにアメリカ1年半在住の娘がしっかりとthis, last, nextに慣れてしまいました。私が「来年の春」と言ったら、2012年の春として受け取りました。「なんだ、this coming springと言えばはっきりしたのに」と言われてしまいました。

上記のようなデバイスさえあれば、何でもできちゃう、という時代になっています。持っている方の使用目的はさまざまでしょうが、英語関係はどうですか。実は我々が毎日、当然のように使っているパソコンやケータイにはあまり知られていない英語「力」があります。

『Google英文ライティング』遠田和子著と『なるほど英語ライティング』遠田和子・岩渕デボラ共著の新作は来年2月発売予定。今までは『英語を書く」という視点だったが、今度は英語リーディングです。今までの作品と変わっていないところは「分かりやすい」解説と「無料」な英語題材の提供。新しい焦点は仕事や学習だけではなく、それよりも個人の英語の楽しみかたです。英語が楽しいはずがないと思う方こそ、是非読んでいただきたいです。

詳細が決まり次第、ここで報告します。

Look forward to a new book on English reading by Kazuko Enda and Deborah Iwabuchi. Writing and translating English are what we all do as a part of our work and study, but reading is a personal manner. Find out how the devices you own and use in your everyday life are all you need to enter the modern age of ebooks and online English reading.

Check in periodically to get all the details for this new book scheduled to go on sale February 2011!

今日からキリスト教の降臨節が始まります。クリスマスの前の4週間のことです。教会ではこの期間を「アドベント」とよく言います。英語圏の教会もAdventをつかいますが、実はadventは普通の英単語です。時代の始まり、大きなできごとの始め等をadvent of ○○といいます。

例えば、advent of the Internet(インターネットの登場）、advent of spring(春の到来）、advent of technology（技術の出現）等、色々あります。

Adventの季節 をこのちょっとした学習で始めることができたら幸いです。またAdvent行事がたくさんありますので、興味のある方は是非最寄りの教会で参加して下さい。

Every few years I have the urge to check up on Frederik Schodt who translated Four Immigrants by Henry Kiyama. The story is of turn-of-the-century Japanese immigrants in the US, something that there is very little documentation of, AND it is a comic book. Fun and educational. Kiyama wrote it in a combination of  Japanese-meant-to-be-Japanese and Japanese-meant-to-be English. This is actually rather easy to accomplish in Japanese. English is a little trickier though, and the translation is very cleverly executed so you can tell which is supposed to be which.

It had been a while, so I decided it was time to see what ol’ Fred was up to. I came upon a page on his website entitled My College Paper. Unfortunately the links to the paper didn’t work for me, but his description of his life in Tokyo at International Christian University 1970-1972 was deja vu all over again.

My first trip to Japan was in 1973 and I was there in college 1975-76. Close enough. I am now going to officially refer this page to anyone who wonders why I am the way I am. I lived in the old Tokyo Olympic Youth Center in Yoyogi which began the day at 6 a.m. by piping in Grieg’s “Morning” full blast over the loudspeaker system accompanied by a cheery but insistent Ohayo gozaimasu, ohayo gozaimasu! I didn’t share a room with a Communist, but I did share a wall with a young woman who had visitors of all sexual orientations over to spend the night with her. I commuted to school on packed buses with old ladies clearing pathways down the aisle with their lethal umbrellas. And I used plenty of those kumitori-benjo! 30+ years later, my poor husband is tired of having me wax nostalgic over the smell of Japanese public restrooms during the summer–one of my oldest and arguably fondest memories.

My only theory on how it was (and somehow remains) manageable is that life is daunting when you are a teenager no matter where you are–being in a foreign country was no less strange to me than high school in California. Especially in the 1960s-70s in the San Francisco Bay Area. Looking back, Japan was–and still is– just another variety of “different.”

On another note, both of my daughters went to ICU and refused to even contemplate the dorms–which were pretty much unchanged from Fred’s day. The cafeteria, though, was rebuilt last year.

ザスパ草津の試合を久しぶりにでかけたら、ハーフの終わりには「アディショナルタイム」が掲示板にでていました。あれ？ロスタイムはどうしたの、と不思議に思いました。『なるほど英語ライティング』で英語の言い回しはポジティブ(remember me)と対照的には、日本語がネガティブ(don’t forget me)になりがちとの説明があります。サッカー用語が英語ぽく、ネガティブからポジティブの動きがでたのかなと思って、帰ってきたら色々調べました。

やはり、「ロスタイム」は元々日本語 です。しかし、英語はネガティブというより悲惨な言い方、injury time (ケガ時間）だということもわかりました。つまりケガをした選手の様子を見たり、ピッチから運んだりする時間のことをいいます。でもケガがあってもなくても、審判がプレーを止めた時はinjury timeになってしまいます。

というところで、 ニュアンス的には試合時間が勝手に延長された「アディショナルタイム」となりました。

ポジティブすぎる、というのもあるでしょうか。

I stumbled onto the Kodansha International editor’s blog and found some fun postings about two upcoming cookbooks that we have been “involved” with.

One is by Tamako Sakamoto who writes the “A Taste of Home” column for the Daily Yomiuri (my involvement is that I am a long-time fan of hers.) Here is the blog posting by the book editor, and it has lots of photos of Ms. Sakamoto’s large family. The book will be out early next year.

The other book is by popular Japanese vegetarian cook and blogger izumirun. Her latest, The Vegetable Sushi Cookbook  is going to be published in both Japanese and English. Get a whiff of the work on the book here, and visit izumirun’s Japanese blog here.

This morning I went to the Maebashi tax office to get some extra forms for paying the taxes on payments to people I have hired to work for me.

Could this be a sign of an improving economy?

前橋税務署で（自分以外の）翻訳仕事で生じた所得税の支払いに必要な書類をもらいに行きました。すっきりなくなったので。

これって、経済浮き上がりの印でしょうか？

It has been a long, busy autumn. We finally decided to take a break and went to Nagano. Usually, we here at Minamimuki are diehard Toyoko Inn people. We know what we’re getting and we do not pay much for it. As a treat, though, we wanted to go somewhere nice. (Our idea of “nice” is just a little more expensive than Toyoko Inn.)

What we came up with was a walk around Ikenodaira not far from the Komoro exit on the Shinetsu Expressway.  We went up above the deserted ski area (no snow yet) and took a walk around the “Ikenodaira Swamp.” I would have translated that one “marsh” myself, and even marsh was pushing it in terms of water, BUT we got a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji from Nagano. Now that was “nice!”

From there, we drove another 15 minutes to our inn for the evening, Tokiwakan. You must check out this link. We drove ten minutes up a mountain covered in terraced fields. We barely avoided hitting an older couple who stopped their little truck in front of us and began opening the doors to get out as we, at the same time, tried to pass them. In other words, it was not a high traffic area. But there at the top of the hill was the Tokiwakan. It was a lovely place full of some of the most congenial staff I’ve met in Japan. The room was lovely, the mountain-top bath (you take a little trolley straight up to get to it) was cozy and well-tended and had a beautiful view. And the food was excellent–freshly made tempura, simmered carp, homemade ice cream and other goodies for dinner, and the usual hotel smorgasbord for breakfast, but nicer (eggs cooked while you wait) and COFFEE.

I hate to say it, but it was worth what we paid for it (which wasn’t all that much in the world of fancy hotels in Japan). In a world with a poor economy and a lack of imagination, Tokiwakan  has used its resources to create a wonderful getaway. After all my years in marketing research, I got the distinct impression that the owners pinpointed exactly what customers wanted and figured out to provide it without going bankrupt or charging a fortune. I can’t describe all the details–just go and have a nice time!

Yesterday was the 6th anniversary of this company. As usual, I completely forgot, but someone remembered and brought home a bouquet of roses!

The “translation economy” began sliding just  about in 2004, so it’s good to still be here. Here’s to a fantastic 7th year!

南向き翻訳事務所設立6周年を迎えました。難しい経済状況で「までやってるよ！」と言えるだけでも幸せです。皆さんと共に活躍ができて、素敵な7年目になりますように！