BookBlast interview with Cathy Hirano, translator from Japanese
Cathy Hirano, tell us a little bit about yourself.
I grew up in Canada and came to Japan when I was 20 without knowing any Japanese. After a year of studying the Japanese language in Kyoto, I entered a university in Tokyo where I majored in Cultural Anthropology. My first job after graduating was translating project reports from Japanese into English for a Japanese-based consulting engineering firm. I worked there for 3 years, learning how to translate on the job. During that period, I got married to a Japanese architect and, just after our first child was born, we moved to the island of Shikoku. I began translating freelance while raising two children and have continued translating in a variety of fields ever since.
When you were growing up, what books had an impact on you?
From a fairly young age, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on, which in our house was a lot as my grandmother was once a children’s librarian. Books were my escape from the reality of school life, which I found quite unkind at times, so I read a lot of fantasy, adventure stories and historical fiction. Books I particularly remember and that I kept going back to include The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Earthsea Cycle, Alice in Wonderland, especially all the crazy poetry, The Last Unicorn and The Once and Future King. I also loved things like Anne of Green Gables, Emil and the Detectives, Heidi, Paddington, Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell, and Russian Fairy Tales, as well as such authors as Margaret Lawrence, Farley Mowat, Gerald Durrell, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Madeleine L’Engle, and Patricia McKillip. I could go on and on so I will stop here!
Why do you translate?
Learning the Japanese language and coming to understand the Japanese culture was a mind-opening experience for me. It certainly changed my life for the better. I translate because I want to share that experience and give people a chance to explore the world and life from a different perspective.
Your advice to new translators just starting out?
Read, read, read good books, especially in your target language (English for me). Do the very best you can at that moment in time. Your skills will improve with each job. Welcome any feedback you get, positive or negative, as a chance to learn. Cultivate collaborators in both languages. If you want to specifically go into children’s literature, in my experience, you will need to have another source of income to support you while you do that work, whether it is translating in a field that pays, teaching, or whatever.
How did you kick-start your career as a translator, what was your strategy?
I had no strategy and no thought of a career. I took the first job I could find in Japan that wasn’t teaching English and it happened to be translating. I also fell into children’s literature translation by accident. Someone I had known at university was working as an editor for a Japanese publisher. When she found out I was a translator, she asked if I would help and that’s how I got started. I did it, and still do it, because it’s fun! Although sometimes it’s hard to balance children’s and YA projects with income-generating projects, there is a lot of love, compassion and creativity poured into producing literature for children, and that really nurtures and inspires me as a translator. The feedback from authors and editors, the creative leaps required to bridge the cultural gap, these all help me hone my writing skills, which are essential for translation. At the same time, the research I need to do on a wide range of topics for commercial translation hones my investigative skills and keeps me asking “why”, which are also essential features of translation. In other words, whatever I learn in the one contributes to better translations in the other. And without commercial translation, I couldn’t afford to translate children’s and YA literature.
How and why is the role of the translator important as a UK editor engages in the acquisitions process? And how important is funding?
I don’t actually know much about the UK acquisition process. However, with chapter books and young adult (YA), I think an acquiring editor would need a good sample or full translation to accurately judge the quality of the original and decide whether it is suitable for publication and how best to market it. A good translation is also crucial for English readers to be able to enjoy the book. Good translators are good creative writers with an understanding of both cultures. They will do their utmost to make sure the author’s voice comes through accurately in a way that crosses the cultural gap but that still allows the reader to experience the uniqueness of the original. A good translator can also work collaboratively with the editor, and the author (if they’re still alive), to produce the best possible result while making sure edits don’t compromise the original. As for funding, translators of children’s and YA literature are seriously underpaid compared to commercial translation and are doing it mainly out of love. Funding of translation projects that provide translators with proper recognition, better compensation and opportunities to improve their skills would help raise up more competent translators and result in better quality translations. Because there is greater risk involved for a publisher to take on a book from another language and culture, funding for such projects, as well as awards, would certainly help more publishers to take the plunge.
What are you most proud of translating?
I don’t know if “proud” is the right word but I look back at every project and think, “Wow, how did I manage to do that while juggling multiple projects and family life?” The biggest surprise in my translation career was the response to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I never would have guessed that a book on tidying could have struck such a chord with people all over the world.
What is your biggest failure?
Again, I can pick up any book I’ve translated and find myself cringing and thinking, “Oh, why did I do that? I should have…” So I try not to read them when I am feeling fragile, and to remind myself that each translation was the best I could do at that time under those conditions.
What are you working on at the moment?
As usual, I am balancing children’s and YA literature translations with non-fiction projects. The English translation of The Beast Player, a thought-provoking YA fantasy by Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Nahoko Uehashi, is being published by Pushkin Press while the translation of Look, a Butterfly, a board book by Yasunari Murakami, is being published by Gecko Press.
Your views on book publishing and translation?
I personally feel that the translation, publication and promotion of good literature from many different cultures and languages can nurture intercultural understanding and meaningfully contribute to creating a more peaceful world.
Has the perception of books in translation changed?
Interest in publishing and reading translated works in the English-language world and the UK in particular seems to have increased gradually over the last decade.
Your views on technology in translation?
The Internet has made background research much easier. The main drawback is getting sidetracked by other interesting articles.
Do you enjoy reading e-books?
No.
How involved are you in the promotion of the books you translate?
Not directly involved, but the quality of my translation impacts the sale of the copyright.
Your heroes in real life?
People who choose to love and forgive in the face of fear and hate.
Your favourite motto?
“Little by little, day by day.”
The copyright to all the content of this site is held by the individual authors and creators. All rights reserved. Enquiries: please use the contact form
