A NIKKEI TRANSLATION OF TANIZAKI’S MAKIOKA SISTERS
A NIKKEI TRANSLATION OF TANIZAKI’S MAKIOKA SISTERS

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on five different translations of Junichiro Tanizaki’s classic The Makioka Sisters (Sasame Yuki): in English, Dutch, French, German and Brazilian Portuguese. These five translations were done by highly skilled and experienced translators, yet are all very different. I am particularly interested in the Brazilian translation, because it has peculiarities which indicate that specific characteristics of the translator shape the features of a translation. Indeed, in the Brazilian translation language is rather more formal than in the other translations researched. Also there are many more footnotes and some of the passages were maintained in Japanese. All these features make this translation seem very different from the others under scrutiny. Since one of the characteristics of the Brazilian translation is that it was made solely by Japanese descendants, one wonders if there is a causal relationship between the two. The main difference between the different translators is that all of the four Brazilian translators, being of Japanese descent, live in a country where there is a numerous Japanese community with still strong ties to the ‘motherland’ and its culture.

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