Case Study of Comparative Modern Japanese Literature English Translation : Sōseki Natsume\u27s Botchan

1.Introduction ; 2.Translating \u22botchan\u22 ; 3.Translation of Japanese sounds ; 4.Japanese language knowledge ; 5.ConclusionSōseki Natsume\u27s Botchan was first published in 1906 in a periodical entitled Hototogisu, and even today it is widely read, making it one of the most popular works of modern Japanese literature. There are four English translations, by Yasotarō Mori, Umeji Sasaki, Alan Turney, and Joel Corn; the latter three being available today. The objective of this paper is to compare these three translations with reference to the original, taking up the question as to what extent it is possible to translate Botchan\u27s narrative style into English while retaining the crispness of the colloquial speech of Tokyo, the arresting wordplay, the nicknames Botchan gives to the people around him, the spoken expressions, the uniquely Japanese features and dialects, etc., all of which would face literary failure if translated directly. The paper then examines the differentiation observed in the translations by Sasaki, a native Japanese speaker, and those by Turney and Corn, native English speakers, and finally how successful the daring new translation attempted by Corn is in accurately communicating the cultural features which underlie the text, thus making this a comprehensive translation case study