Translation in Japan: The Cassette Effect

Japan has always exhibited a serious attitude towards the translation of foreign languages. Any discussion of this issue must take into account the fact that ancient Japan borrowed Chinese characters, called kanji, from China. In this paper, I will focus on the use of kanji in translation, which has rarely been discussed in Western Translation Studies. Since ancient times, the Japanese have read imported books written in kanji according to a method called kundoku, which is still used for reading Western languages in modern Japan. Kanji was also used for writing the Japanese language.This article deals primarily with examples of kanji used to translate Western words. Cultures that use kanji, including Japan, have long trusted its expressive ability, which is why Japanese translators used this so‑called ideogram. In modern times, Japanese translators have used kanji to express the meanings of Western words. Of course, this type of usage has its limits when trying to express meanings from other cultures. On the other hand, this method of translation is fairly efficient: although people reading a kanji may not at first understand its full meaning, they perhaps feel that it has a serious meaning that can be roughly understood from its context. I call the assumption of meaning triggered by kanji the “cassette effect.”Le Japon a toujours accordé beaucoup d’importance à la traduction des langues étrangères. Toute analyse de la traduction au Japon doit prendre en compte le fait que le Japon de l’époque ancienne a emprunté à la Chine les caractères appelés kanji. Cet article porte plus précisément sur l’usage des kanji comme outils de traduction, sujet qui n’a que très rarement été abordé par la traductologie occidentale. Depuis l’époque ancienne, les Japonais ont lu les livres importés écrits en kanji à l’aide de la méthode appelée kundoku, qui est encore utilisée par le Japon moderne pour la lecture des langues occidentales.Cet article aborde essentiellement des exemples de kanji utilisés pour traduire les langues occidentales. Les cultures qui se servent des kanji, y compris le Japon, ont très tôt apprécié leur capacité d’expression, et celle-ci a poussé les traducteurs japonais à utiliser ces prétendus idéogrammes. À l’époque moderne, les traducteurs japonais ont eu recours aux kanji afin d’exprimer le sens des mots des langues occidentales. Bien entendu, cet usage des kanji a ses limites lorsqu’il s’agit d’exprimer des idées liées à d’autres cultures. Toutefois, cette méthode de traduction est plutôt efficace : bien que ceux qui lisent un kanji peuvent ne pas comprendre immédiatement la totalité de sa signification, ils perçoivent probablement qu’il a un sens important qui peut être déduit du contexte. J’appelle l’assomption d’un sens engendrée par le kanji l’« effet cassette »

翻訳文化の象徴としての天皇制

The Tennō system has been generally looked upon as being the center of Japanese culture. However, from my viewpoint of the translation theory of translated cultures it consists almost entirely of imported foreign cultures. Clearly the terms and rituals of the Tennō system are almost all translated cultures. The following serves as examples: the word ""Tennō"" itself, the treasures of the Tennō family, their clothes, rituals and so on.This paper at first introduces these facts and then deals with the reason. Some symbolic anthropologists in Japan have argued about the Tennō system from the viewpoint of the boundary of culture. They often call the argument "the kingship theory", some of which are similar to my argument on the translation theory. However, the kingship theory argues it from inside a culture while the translation theory generally presupposes two cultures and it treats the Tennō system from the boundary between these two cultures.The translated culture is different from both its original one and the one to which it is value goes with the translated cultures. From that kind of higher value the Tennō system has derived its authority