Thanks for your patience (^_^;). Today, I’ve posted the first part of chapter 2, “Seijō no Ran (青条の蘭)”. He-he.
I have removed the kanjis from the translation “Seijō no Ran (青条の蘭)”, and about the explanations of them I wrote on my notes. Though the older translations still have kanjis in them, I promise I will change them gradually.
I’ve posted the last half of chapter 1, “Seijō no Ran (青条の蘭)”.
I wanted to add some notes about this part of the story. For example, Sekijin(迹人) is literally a “tracker” who gathers wildlife and vegetation from wild trees. And, Sekijin(迹人) is Hyōchū(標仲)’s position. But I have not done, yet.
By the way, for the Juuni kokuki series Ono sensei borrowed many words from ancient Chinese administration system, like 地官, 迹人, etc. And, she gave different meanings to some words. Originally, Chōsai(冢宰), Taisai(太宰), and Saiho(宰輔) had the same meaning. But in the series, these three express three different positions. Honestly, I want to write about such things. However, in English, always, “I cannot find adequate words to express my feelings” (in Japanese 「その心あまりて，ことばたらず。」 from the kana preface of Kokin Wakashū).
Actually, if I translate the meaning from the original context of the kana preface, it is “He cannot find adequate words to express his feelings”. But, the 「その心あまりて，ことばたらず。」 has neither I/he nor my/his. This is one of differences between Japanese and English.
Yesterday, I released the translation of “Hisho no Tori (丕緒の鳥)”, Third Edition. I think this edition has more reader-friendly English because Delonix helped me so much. He is so kind as to have offered me some help for my translating. We’ve worked together since June 17.
I posted the article about the difficulty of my translation, and the person like him is very helpful to such a situation. He is not like a helicopter parent but like a good parent. He told me a lot of points to be corrected. He does not only blame my translation, but gives the alternatives.
I really appreciate his help. We completed our mission. If the result makes you happy, which will make me happy. (^^)
In addition, Delonix has a site on Flickr, and you can see beautiful flowers on it.
Can I complain the difficulty of my translation?
Actually, for about 10 days, I have been depressed for some reason. I know my English is bad, so my translation is not good. But when I find that someone says about it not here but somewhere on the Internet, which lets me down. Because it is the same as to talk behind my back, I can do nothing against it.
Previously, one of my blog visitors offered me some help, and I was very glad though it was not done well. Now, another visitor are giving me some help. The two told me straight “this is better than that”. I really appreciate their help. My English is not good, so I think the translation has a lot of points to be corrected. But the problem is I cannot get them by myself. If I know about them by myself, I can correct them, of course.
You know, I am NOT a professional translator and I am NOT a native English speaker. Like some software developers who volunteered sometimes ask for donations, I want your correction as a donation for my translation if you are good at English. (^^;)
Thanks in advance!!
I’ve posted a part of Chapter 1, “Seijō no Ran (青条の蘭)”.
Every time when I translate the story, some Japanese words task my brain. A word, not a sentence. Of course, sentences task my brain much more (^^;).
When I translated “The Birds of Hisho (丕緒の鳥)”, I used “a writing brush” as the meaning of “筆”. We still use a writing brush when we write calligraphy, and, in the old days East Asian people used “筆” on a daily basis. But at least two people asked me “what is a writing brush exactly?”. Please take a look at the image right. They are writing brushes, i.e. “筆”.
At this time, I use “a fur coat” as the meaning of “kawagoromo (裘)”. This is maybe O.K. But, I worry about I use “a boxy knapsack” as the meaning of “oibako (笈筺)”. 笈筺 is a thing like this in my mind.
On July 1st, I started to translate a story again, despite the difficulties. (^_^;)(^_^;)
So, today, I’ve released the first part of the translation “Seijō no Ran (青条の蘭)”. (^o^)(^o^)
Has anyone else translated the same story, yet? Well, that’s O.K.
I almost forget to write. The day before yesterday, I added the new link to the post “You can look inside!“.
The day before yesterday I finally had the book 「丕緒の鳥」, and got to the end on the same day.
By the way, Ono sensei wrote 青条 resembled 白条 except petal’s color. 白条? What is it? I searched 白条 and 白條. Because 条 was used as one of nonstandard characters of 條 in the past. Ono sensei also wrote 白条 had a orchid-like flower and was used as a medicine. After my searching, I found only 白條參 in Bencao Gangmu (本草綱目). It has a character 參, so I think it is a kind of Ginseng. Ginseng’s flower doesn’t resemble orchids’. 白条 might be purely Ono sensei’s imagination.
Therefore, I translate “青条の蘭” into “The Blue Orchids” without standing on it has lines or not.
By the way, I was going to translate “風信” into “Rumors” or “The letter” before I read it. After I finished to read it, I think it is not good. 風信 has other kind of meaning, for example, the wind direction. I wrote the post that “It depends on the story.”, and now I think it is better to translate “風信” into “Which way is the wind blowing?”.
I added a new translation to “The translation of Juuni kokuki newsletter by Shinchōsha”
By the way, on 26th, the book “Hisho no Tori (丕緒の鳥)” should hit book stores in urban areas. In contrast, me, live in the country side, have to wait until 28th. At times like this, I express disappointment that I live here.
Hey, I got another information about the new collection of short stories. You know, its name piece is “Hisho no Tori (丕緒の鳥)” and it contains four short stories. The two of them are “Hisho no Tori (丕緒の鳥)” and “Rakushō no Goku (落照の獄)”, and nobody knows the other two titles until yesterday.
Yesterday, they announced them. 「青条の蘭」 and 「風信」.
I have a little trouble with 「青条の蘭」’s reading. It has two readings: “Seijō no Ran” or “Aosuji no Ran”. Its English title is perhaps “Bule line orchid”.
「青条の蘭」’s reading is “Seijō no Ran”. (Edit: 06.28)
「風信」 is “Fūshin”. Its English title is “A/The Letter(s)”, “Rumor(s)”, or something. It depends on the story.
I added a new translation to “The translation of Juuni kokuki newsletter by Shinchōsha“.
Edit(Jun.30):
I decided to translate “風信” into “Which way is the wind blowing?”. See here.
I’ve finished the re-translation of “Hyōhaku (漂舶)”, so, I’ve released my second edition. I added some phrases forgotten to translate, again (^^;). I wonder you can find any improvements of my English about this edition.
At the first edition of the story, I had very troubles with Rokuta(六太)’s way of speaking. He is an ordinary bad brat, so his language is bad. For a non-native English speaker, to translate dialect or bad language is more difficult than to translate standard language. At this time, I had troubles again. Sigh.
In my re-translation, I use Prolonged Sound Mark for a long vowel when I romanize some nouns. For example, ō, ū.