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SPA Japón |
abstract
For over a millennium, “translation” in Japan did not align with conventional conceptualizations of interlingual mediation. Instead, the Japanese devised a process of translingual reading of Classical Chinese using Japanese glosses that drew on the semantic properties of Chinese characters, the main medium of writing in East Asia. This practice fulfilled many functions of translation (and some additional ones) but was not regarded as such. It changed over time, and attempts were made to use this approach with vernacular Chinese texts and texts in European languages, but around the turn of the twentieth century it was replaced by conventional translation.
This translingual practice and alternatives to it are described here, alongside discussion of the first professional translators/interpreters in Japan (focusing on Chinese and Dutch), early modern translations by Catholic missionaries and their Japanese assistants, translations of works of “Western Learning” by scholars from the eighteenth century onward, the role of nonfiction and fiction translations in transforming Japan into a modern society, and their role during the Occupation of Japan and the postwar years, as well as shifts in translation norms.
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Judy Wakabayashi |
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2024 |
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Wakabayashi, Judy. 2024. "Japan" @ ENTI (Encyclopaedia of Translation & Interpreting). AIETI. |
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10942858 |
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https://www.aieti.eu/enti/japan_ENG |