“The Giving Tree” の各国語への翻訳から言語と文化を考える(小特集 : 翻訳と情報社会)

概要

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The Giving Tree (1964)was written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. It has been translatedinto more than 30foreign languages and read by people of all ages. It is an easy-to-read taleof one tree and one boy who much loved each other. The original could be easily translated intoFrench, German and Italian languages, which all belong to the Indo-European. The Japaneseversion (1976), however, is very different from the original. It is not only because Japaneselanguage belongs to the Altaic but because it has many original words created in the long historyof Japan. The word “love” can be easily translated into the French word “aimer” and “happy”into “heureux.” How masterly can we, however, translate the word “love” into Japanese?What meanings does the word “happy” bear in Japanese? If we couldn’t successfully translatethe tale, we would hardly convey what Silverstein intended to send to its readers. In this paper,the author analyzed the tale and showed a tentative translation into Japanese.
2008-03-31