The other day we had a cross-country race at my school. There is one thing here that can be said. My school is both middle and high school and appears to be perceived from the outside as one in which we4 only study. This is not true at all. The truth can be deducted from this race.
I went to a state middle school, where for example the first year middle school students ran 1.7 kilometers in their cross-country race. In comparison , the same at this school runs 2 to 3 kilometers, while the high school students run a 7 kilometers course. This is a big difference from my middle school days. Having both schools together does not mean merely studying. Considering the length of the courses, it is really good to think that everyone put in a lot of effort. I didn’t go that fast, but speed isn’t everything. On the whole, it can be seen that everybody tried their best. This is effort.
Now the third year high school students are working hard for the second round of university entrance exams. I am sure that my seniors, who have been putting in a lot of effort for the last three or six years, will achieve great results.
When I was first asked to do some translation work for this book, I was delighted. It is the first time I have had the opportunity to do so, and of course gave me the chance to study some more Japanese. As I translated more and more of articles , I found that it did in fact get easier. Despite popular belief amongst the Japanese that their language is virtually impossible for the foreigner to master ,it has shown me that I like any other language , all it needs is time and effort. In the future, I would like to try my hand at translations from English to Japanese.
There were two problems which seemed to reoccur throughout my work. The first one was due to the fact that I am living in a country in which I read, speak and hear more Japanese than I do English. The English that I do come into contact with is of course dissimilar to the native language I am used to. After eight months of broken English, intense Japanese study and isolation from my native tongue, I found that I was often unsure of the translation myself. Words that could have summed up a whole sentence have disappeared from my vocabulary. At times I was not even sure of the grammar. Still、considering that it is more likely this book will be read by those whose native tongue is not English, this regression on my part may help them!
Secondly, my opinion often came into conflict with my role as a translator. In many of the articles, particularly those with reference to Western societies, Japanese misconceptions were evident. I clearly, and somewhat unsurprisingly , also have a very different approach to life in Japan than many of the writers. Yet it gave me the opportunity to digest these ideas. Realizing that I cannot hope to change them, for people generally believe what they want to anyway, nor do I necessarily have the right to do so, I am now armed to use them for my benefit !
My English may not be what it used to be, but the information I have gained from these articles is invaluable.