Wednesday, December 01, 1999
What’s in a Page?
FAQ corner
What’s in a Page?
Setting Your Units of Charge
Friday, September 17, 1999
Aunt Eva Redux: Burnt Out?
Benevolent Aunt Eva, who recently had the pleasure of seeing off her severest critic when he was transferred to a place more suited to his talents, finds it a little difficult to relate to a problem that seems to come from the inside, but has to get back into the saddle somehow.
Thursday, May 20, 1999
Translating Popular Fiction 2
In the preceding issue of the SWET Newsletter we published a number of responses to an article by novelist Shinoda Setsuko published in the Asahi Shimbun. Shinoda expressed her hope that more popular and best-selling fiction in Japan that reflects the realities of contemporary Japanese culture might be translated and published abroad, expanding the variety of Japanese fiction available in English and helping to address the gap in understanding between Japanese and other peoples. SWET member and publisher Peter Goodman of Stone Bridge Press, in California, posted the following additional reply on the mailing list SWET-L on March 12, 1999. We reprint it here with his permission. For this Web site re-publishing, we have added cover images of the books in the new Stone Bridge Fiction series launching in Fall 2007.
Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Translating Popular Fiction
Frequently we read in the Japanese press of puzzlement that the foreign market is not more interested in translation of some of the vast number of books being published in Japan every year—which includes million-sellers on the domestic market—as well as frustration with outdated and mistaken images of themselves continuing to circulate abroad. Writer Shinoda Setsuko, author of prize-winning fiction such as Onnatachi no jihad (Shūeisha, 1977), expressed these sentiments in an article published in the Asahi shimbun, January 17, 1999 (morning edition, p. 29). Here is a paraphrased translation of her article with commentary from six translators. A follow-up article, “Translating Popular Fiction 2,” by Peter Goodman of Stone Bridge Press, appeared in Newsletter No. 85, May 1999.
Friday, October 02, 1998
Name Order Matters
When the Japan Style Sheet was published in late May, Asahi Shimbun editor and staff writer Tonedachi Masaaki responded to SWET’s invitation to review the new publication, and attended the June 6 party to celebrate its arrival. Mr. Tonedachi was encouraged by seeing that the JSS supports use of Japanese name order, an issue he has been following for several years. After conversations with several SWET members, he wrote an article published in the July 13th (evening) edition of the Asahi Shimbun (other dates in other parts of the country). In response, SWET has received, to date, close to 200 inquiries about the JSS, many expressing opinions on the name order issue. Impressed by the response to his article, Mr. Tonedachi kindly agreed to write an original article for the SWET Newsletter, translated into English here.