Comprehensive study of the Impossibility of translating Japanese modern poetry into European languages

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02396
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese literature
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Nobuhiro 東北大学, 文学研究科, 教授 (70148724)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 近代詩 / 翻訳 / オノマトペ / 翻訳不可能性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we obtained the following results by adding diversified consideration to the untranslatability of modern Japanese poetry. (1) Through consideration of various modern Japanese poems and their translations, we clarified concretely that the form of modern poetry and the characteristic of poetic expression and poetic language are the direct factors that produce the untranslatability. (2) By adding to the discussion of haiku translation in the early Showa era, we clarified that the basic principles concerning translatability / untranslatability of Japanese poetry were coverd in the wide range of issues presented. (3) By focusing on the translation of the onomatopoeic expression, which is characteristic of modern Japanese poetry, we have pointed out various attempts to open the passage from untranslatability to translatability.

Free Research Field

比較文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来のオノマトペ翻訳に関する研究では、基本的に単語レヴェルで原語と訳語とを対比する言語学的アプローチを通して、その翻訳不可能性が指摘されてきたが、本研究は訳詩の表現全体を視野に入れて分析を進めることにより、翻訳不可能性を前提としつつ可能性への通路を開く多様な試みを明らかにした。またそれによって、翻訳の可能性・不可能性をめぐるこれまでの二項対立的な議論の枠組みの問い直しを行い、翻訳の可能性と不可能性の狭間でなされる翻訳行為の意義や可能性を考察した。