in contrast: death row inmate's last statements https://web.archive.org/web/20250221030618/https://www.tdcj....
Japanese Death Poems
31–40 of 51 posts
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#32in contrast: death row inmate's last statements https://web.archive.org/web/20250221030618/https://www.tdcj....
Wow, I wonder what I would say if I had no choice but to accept dying
Maybe just one word F
Makes me think of that infinite improbability drive scene 2005, these people reach the end of their maze, life path
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#33As a native Japanese speaker, I'm happy to see our literature introduced to other countries. But I also feel conflicted. The original Japanese of the first poem is: おほけなき床の錦や散り紅葉 The translation on the site: > I am not worthy > of this crimson carpet: > autumn maple leaves. This contains the translator's interpretation, and the sound and intonation are completely lost. I admire the translator's effort, but I want vis…
Sound and intonation are never going to translate between Japanese and English. It's not even on the table.
Such things can't even necessarily translate well between two languages as similar as French and English. Japanese and English is completely hopeless.
It's true in the other direction too, though this being an English site it might be more easily neglected. I've seen some English songs translated into Japanese, keeping the same syllable count scheme. The Japanese is radically simplified compared to the English, with entire adverbs, adjectives, even clauses removed. And that's even before we ask whether Japanese necessarily has the correct words to translate some of the richer English concepts with their own centuries of history and connotation behind them that these songs contained.
It is what it is. There isn't much that can be done about it. Even if someone made an exhaustive translation of something, it could never be repacked into something that matches the original concise packing.
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the general problem with literature and poetry especially. They're not entirely translatable. - Languages are part of culture and they are historically conditioned, making them necessarily bounded and finite [0]. While the essential thing signified may be the same for corresponding words in two languages ( snow vs. Schnee ), there is variance in semantic emphasis, connotation, and symbolic significance. In ot…
By "procession", do you allude to the filioque clause? Agreed on difficulty of translation as I follow Quine so think a language as a whole is the unit of meaning as opposed to any specific granular element.
> By "procession", do you allude to the filioque clause?
The filioque is about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, not the Son from the Father.
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#35In the topic of death poems, I consider "You Want It Darker" by Leonard Cohen a masterpiece. He was 83 with terminal cancer. Yet, this song captures both his wit & spirit at its height.
such a good tune
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#36Now that my storehouse has burned down, nothing conceals the moon. This piece instantly reminded me of Ashes and Snow movie, where one of the poems has very similar opening (followed, in my opinion, by even more beautiful piece, which you can easily find if interested): Ever since my house burnt down, I see the moon more clearly I wonder whether or not this is just a coincidence.
"when my house burned down, I gained an unobstructed view of the sky"
A different translation of the same
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#37So this is where the Tenchu video game series gets its inspiration for some of its game over screens.
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#38As a native Japanese speaker, I'm happy to see our literature introduced to other countries. But I also feel conflicted. The original Japanese of the first poem is: おほけなき床の錦や散り紅葉 The translation on the site: > I am not worthy > of this crimson carpet: > autumn maple leaves. This contains the translator's interpretation, and the sound and intonation are completely lost. I admire the translator's effort, but I want vis…
Sound and intonation are never going to translate between Japanese and English. It's not even on the table. Such things can't even necessarily translate well between two languages as similar as French and English. Japanese and English is completely hopeless. It's true in the other direction too, though this being an English site it might be more easily neglected. I've seen some English songs translated into Japanese,…
[deleted]
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am a native Japanese Original Kanji - hiragana works: おほけなき床の錦や散り紅葉 How it sounds: Oh ke naki Yukano nishikiya chiri ko yo
In which case the "crimson carpet" appears to be the loose invention of the translator. The original just says "brocade" or I guess, "quilt", implying some sort of silk bed cover?
Try an image search with 紅葉 落葉. The result will be the typical image a Japanese person imagines when hearing 散り紅葉. Then try the same search with "crimson carpet." From the standpoint of literary and artistic sensibility, the difference is not small.
Re: Japanese Death Poems
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am a native Japanese Original Kanji - hiragana works: おほけなき床の錦や散り紅葉 How it sounds: Oh ke naki Yukano nishikiya chiri ko yo
Oh ho ke na ki?
It is modern Japanese pronunciation. In classical literature, おほ is pronounced as a prolonged "o" (an elongated /oː/ sound).