Japanese-English? English-Japanese

Sometimes I wonder how the human brain works. I am very good at remembering names but numbers and sequences I have a terrible time. My brain must not be too bad because I do manage to remember two languages but this is what prompted my musings.

The other day I was helping a friend translate some English into Japanese. This is a bit more difficult for me than translating Japanese into English. The Japanese language is so complicated with sentence structure so completely opposite from English, not to mention the formal-informal language, the nuances and poetic vagueness etc. It is one thing to understand the Japanese language but quite another to be able to speak (don't even think about write!). I get along pretty well in normal conversation but I'm not so good at literal translating because I omit the niceties and I probably sound harsh and crass to the Japanese around me.

One traumatic experience I had over 20 years ago was to be asked to interpret at a city festival. Some sister-city representatives from the States were invited and the official translator couldn't attend so I was asked to translate. And I thought I'd be able to do it! Once at the event I realized this wasn't a drink and appetizer party, it was an official presentation and the American was scheduled to give a speech on the technical contributions his company and city had introduced to Japan. I backed away saying this was not in my scope of abilities but people began to get very irritated with me because I had agreed and was getting paid for my services. Fine time to be saying I couldn't do it when I was about to step on stage!

Conclusion? I went up on stage and could not interpret worth beans. I couldn't pull the Japanese vocabulary out of my head (if it was ever even there). I couldn't adjust the language into formal Japanese. I couldn't even complete some sentences. What a fiasco! As soon as I left the stage I ran home in shame and embarrassment and it spent a couple days in tears and refused to meet with the people who had arranged the whole circus. Since then I've spent years running away from translating jobs! Trauma, big time!

I'm not so bad though when it comes to translating Japanese into English. I understand the nuances of the Japanese language and the thinking and culture behind it. I can speak the English perfectly (well, some of my American friends think my English needs polishing these days) and I do a good job of getting information from the Japanese language into English.

Another interesting thing about language and the brain is that I tend to answer a person in the language that I'm spoken to. This would become confusing when visiting the States because I'd be chatting with friends in English and Leiya or Takumi would say something to me in Japanese and my brain would shift into Japanese and I'd find myself continuing my conversation with my friends in the Japanese language much to their amusement. It always takes me a few seconds to get back into the right language mode.

I used to annoy my kids when we were in the States because we'd step off the plane in Los Angeles and my English brain would kick in and I'd have a hard time understanding Japanese for the rest of the summer.

"Sorry. My brain forgets Japanese while I'm in the States. You'll just have to use English!"

The kids would think I was just being mean to them or wanting to force them to use their limited English but it was really true. My brain would close down and I wouldn't be able to shuttle the vocabulary around in my head! I'm sure others of you who are bi-lingual (or more!) have had situations like this.

I should have used this picture for yesterday's post but you get the picture. Do any of you know this website Engrish.com? It is hilarious (though I'm warning you, it can sometimes get a little earthy!) Translating and interpreting can be tricky!