Literature on Japanese-English subtitle translation

Thu Dec 10 09:34:35 EST 2009

You might want to look into the development of "celebrity subtitles" such as Tony Rayns, who does not have the level of Japanese to translate subtitles, and to a less extent, Donald Richie, which leads one to query what their roles are in the subtitling process.

best

Jasper Sharp

Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
www.midnighteye.com

More details about me on http://jaspersharp.com/

Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:28:18 +0000
From: 204172 at soas.ac.uk
To: macyroger at yahoo.co.uk; KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: Fw: Literature on Japanese-English subtitle translation

Approaching it from the perspective of a user of translators is probably useful, as I do not have an extensive background in linguistics, so my dissertation will not be so technical. Do people think that approaching the theme of the development of a translators invisibility in Japanese cinema translation is a suitable one? What other approaches could be good to take?

Claudia

2009/12/10 Roger Macy <macyroger at yahoo.co.uk>

Claudia,
Off-list.
I'm in London several days a week.  Tomorrow - Thursday - I was heading for a Japan Foundation event at 6.30 and wanted to take in 'Departures' at the Renoir before it disappears from the West End.  So I would be close to you if you wanted to chat over a coffee.

I approach the subject, by the way, as a user of translations, not as a translator.  My daughter works as a translator in Tokyo.
kind regards,
Roger Macy
28 Dorking Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 2LP
01892 530003  mobile 07747 121267

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Claudia Anderson 
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 

Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 12:07 AM
Subject: Re: Literature on Japanese-English subtitle translation

Thankyou for your replies.

I have indeed been reading Cinema Babel and it has proved useful, I will see what other similar literature there is. I am probably going to focus on Japanese-English translation, although if I find more material of interest on English-Japanese, that may be a possibility, especially as Hollywood films are more familiar to me and their translation into Japanese could prove interesting, especially with the fantasy film translations with Natsuko Toda.

I am based in London, but if you are far away I would be interested in discussing this issue, if you have Skype or another messenger, we could commnicate that way.

Claudia

2009/12/10 Roger Macy <macyroger at yahoo.co.uk>

Dear Claudia,
David has already mentioned your best starting point, Cinema Babel.  Marcus' thesis is, I suggest, more about the visibility of translation, then the visibility of translators.

I have been steadily accumulating material, from compromising correspondence on the translation of Eisenstein's films, to data on the visibility of translators on several hundred film screenings and video sales.  A proposal to present this with some critical commentary under the heading 'Film Translation as a Curatorial Issue' was rejected for the forthcoming SCMS, but I have now proposed this elsewhere, and hope springs eternal. But none of my work is about translation into Japanese, if that is your interest.  Perhaps we could chat?  Where (roughly) are you ?

I ask where, partly for practicalities, but also because English itself has many guises.  I think it's a moot point whether film translators are becoming more visible - certainly not at a cinemathecque near me - but the question of regional translation is particularly invisible.  And there is correspondence going back to the silent era on regional English difficulties.  It wasn't, by the way, until I was talking in a pub with Marcus that I discovered how Marcus pronounces 'Babel' (and, I think, vice versa).

By the way, do I take it that your AV stands for audio-visual and not 'adult' video, an area in which film translation research is erm.. pick your cliché .. not done yet.
Roger
(currently in Tunbridge Wells, England)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Claudia Anderson 

To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 

Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 10:19 PM
Subject: Literature on Japanese-English subtitle translation

Hi all,

I am an undergraduate student researching the history and change of AV translation of Japanese cinema to English, predominantly focusing on subtitling, although I have yet to completely refine the direction of my dissertation. Does anyone know of any good literature (in English or Japanese) regarding the change and evolution of cinema, throughout the 20th century? Themes that would be ideal to explore would include the increasing 'visibility' of the translator, and how Japan has coped with a cinema industry which has been problematically monolingual. 

Any help is much appreciated,

Regards,

Claudia Anderson

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