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Educashun
By lylehsaxon (Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 03:07:10 PM EST) (all tags)
My technical level of Japanese is pretty sloppy, but I was able to get used to the rythem and feel of the language through a lot of listening practice.  I bought a Y30,000 yen "Professional" Sony recording Walkman in 1985 that I used to make tapes of children's books that I listened to (nearly) endlessly while studying the books.  Typically I would understand very little during the first listenings before having struggled through the book with a dictionary (getting help from Japanese friends for parts I couldn't find in the dictionay on my own), but then the meaning would come through loud and clear after listening to the tape several times after having read the relevant pages in the book.

I made copies of the master tapes that I then listened to with auto-reverse walkmans (walkmen?).  I had an auto-reverse machine for my bag that I listened to all the time while outside - walking down the street, riding the trains, etc., and I had one for when I was sleeping.  Typically, the sleeping model would burn out every four or five months from excessive use, and I went through a small mountain of machines over the few years I was most intensively studying this way.

It's much easier now with MP3 players.  Recently I've gotten ahold of some Japanese audio books that I like.  One by that famous actor Taka... something Ken, that is quite entertaining and interesting to listen to, and Botchan, which is great - particularly after reading two separate English translations of the book (the one by the Japanese translator is vastly superior to the one by the western translator - who overtranslated it, doing stupid things like calling soba noodles "buckwheat noodles") and half of the Japanese original.  Same as back in 1985, I understand the part I read very well, but am missing things in the last half, which I've yet to read.

In the "Why am I doing this?" category, I've obtained recording of "The Tale of Genji" and "Heike Monogatari" (What's the English title for this?  The Tale of Heike?  The Heike Tale(s)?).  These are useless for modern Japanese, but since everyone here studies them, and even has to memorize part of "Heike Monogatari", they are interesting to listen to in a way (with very low compression!).

Just some random stuff I guess.  But I do have a specific question.  Does anyone have any information on available Japanese audiobooks?  The concept seems to be not nearly as popular as in the US.  I guess people prefer to actually read books (gasp!) than listen to them.  Actually, I prefer reading books too, but I *can't" read things like "Heike Monogatari" and in the sardine trains of the morning rush, I can't even hold a book in front of my face, so audiobooks are the only way to go!

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/

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Getting Used To Japanese | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
Botchan. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #1 Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 03:50:12 PM EST
I read Botchan and just didn't get it. Perhaps because I was told repeatedly that it was "Japan's Huck Finn" which doesn't really do justice to the uniqueness of the story.

Maybe it was just a cultural thing. I swung wildly between identifying with the protagonist and thinking he was a dill-weed. This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. What was confusing was whether I was supposed to feel this way or not. Perhaps I should give it another try.



Which translation did you read? by lylehsaxon (2.00 / 0) #2 Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 12:03:25 PM EST
Which translation did you read?  The one by the Japanese translator retains vastly more of the Japanese feel of the story.  The one by an (American?) translator is really horrible in that it's been over-translated and become a completely different story!

I read the English versions (both of them) 20 years ago, but I began reading the Japanese original this year and I've listened to the entire book in Japanese original audiobook form.  One of the key points in the book is how small town language/dialect (impossible to translate properly into English!) and politics come into play.  Also there is the Meiji-era bit of transformation towards western ideas and education.

The Japanese original is really funny!  The main character comes across as a bit bumbling, but true-hearted and with honor - something lacking in some of the characters he runs into in the hick-town.....

Lyle
The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

Turney Translation by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #3 Tue Aug 22, 2006 at 10:35:04 PM EST
Seems I've read the American translation. Though, oddly, my problem was not over-translation. It was the main character. In this version he doesn't come off as true-hearted and honorable. Instead, he seems like an ass who is constantly butting heads with folks and justifying his inability to get along with a self-serving code of honor. And, finally, when he definitively loses his teaching gig, he goes running home to nursey.

It sounds to me like Turney's translation may have seriously altered the nature of the story.

Either that or a I'm a lousy reader – which is also a possibility.


[ Parent ]

A combination of things... by lylehsaxon (4.00 / 1) #4 Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 04:33:36 AM EST
Well - the language being smooth-flowing in this case is what I mean by over-translated.  The translator, by eradicating everything that didn't seem natural (language-wise) to a native English speaker, ended up killing the story!  I first came to that conclusion after reading the other translation, and especially after beginning to read the Japanese original.  The parts where the main character has "self-serving codes of honor" come across more like the main character in "The Catcher in the Rye" than "Huckleberry Finn", if other books must be compared to it - which they shouldn't really.  Huckleberry Finn is off to one side and The Catcher in the Rye off to the other, with Botchan in-between somewhere!  Also, a lot of the moralizing bit is pretty close to the old way of thinking in Japan, opposed to a (comparatively speaking) lack of regard for teachers, etc., being part of the new western way.  Also, part of the comedy of the book is the adolescent transition from being a student to entering the rough and tumble of political life in the real world.

Lyle

The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

Getting Used To Japanese | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

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