As my Grade 11 class begins a study of short stories written by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (along with a film directed by Kurosawa Akira), we were extremely privileged to have the opportunity to speak with Avery Fischer Udagawa, a writer and Japanese-to-English translator.

Avery has worked on a wide range of translations including both fiction and non-fiction.  You can read more about her experiences and publications on her website.  The covers of some of the books she has translated can be seen below.  You can also read this interview with Avery and Sachiko Kashiwaba, the author of the story “House of Trust” which Avery translated for the young adult anthology Tomo.

During the presentation, some fascinating issues came up.  Some included:

1) Translation as a form of art – a translator has to be as good at writing fiction as a fiction writer in the target language.

2) The difficulties of translating Japanese fiction into English fiction – concrete examples included implied speakers in Japanese (based on gender), idioms, and references to mythical creatures unique to Japan.

3) The imbalance between texts translated into Japanese from English vs. texts translated into English from Japanese – how many Japanese translations would you find in a typical bookstore in the US?  Not many.  On the other hand, translated American or English classics are everywhere in Japanese bookstores.   This situation exists even though Japan produces a huge volume of published work (including many excellent pieces of work).  Avery said that this imbalance is one of the things that motivates her to keep doing what she does.  Very inspirational!

Here is a photograph of Avery speaking to our Grade 11 IB students.