Translating Souma

Souma speaks in an archaic dialect of Japanese which resembles that of Edo period Japan (1600 - 1868). His speech is noticeably antiquated and is frequently remarked upon by other characters. To translate him in a way that honors his unique dialect, I had to get creative.

Early Modern English (EME) is the language of William Shakespeare. It developed out of Middle English in the late fifteenth century after the invention of the printing press and was in use until it transitioned into Modern English in the mid-1600s. The use of this dialect of English has clear overlap with the Edo period (about 50 years) and is the most modern form of English that is noticeably distinct from Modern English (it being the direct parent of our language today). This makes EME a good candidate for which to translate Souma, due to the historical overlap of the dialects and the distinctly archaic charm it’s infused with.

This isn’t all this choice provides, though. Grammatical features of EME have absolutely survived to the modern day: many dialects in northern England and in Scots still make distinctions between “you” and “thou” in casual speech, and other features can be found elsewhere, such as Appalachian English’s use of a-prefixing. The language isn’t just archaic; it’s very much alive, because language isn’t so hard and fast as to discard old forms so readily. Especially isolated or insular cultures often retain archaisms for generations later than culturally mixed communities.

Another notable culture that still uses “thou” and “thee” is the Quakers. A religious group, the Quakers have clung to this archaic grammar as a form of universal address to others. It developed before the pronoun fell out of style and stuck with them as an assertion of their “belief in the equality of all people.” The Quakers immigrated en masse to the United States in the late seventeenth century to escape religious persecution and brought their “thees and thous” with them, persisting with this grammatical quirk well into the twentieth century and the modern day, though it is apparently falling out of favor among younger generations.

A 1737 grammar book also makes occasional reference to these archaisms, indicating that their use had not been eliminated entirely even almost a century after the transition from Early Modern into Modern English. I have made use of this book in my development of Souma’s speech, as well as older sources such as Shakespeare himself (Shakespeare’s Words and Open Source Shakespeare have been particularly helpful). I’ve also taken inspiration from Quaker characters in fiction, such as Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick (Melville).

Souma, I think, is a rather interesting and layered character, given his religious background in the Shinkai cult and his wholly unique speech style. What started as a caricature gave way to a rather nuanced linguistic case study. Combining all of these sources of inspiration, I use EME to translate Souma to hopefully convey both his antiquated speech style which has persisted to the modern day, and his religious background in the cult, drawing a close parallel with the Quakers of today. Unlike Shinobu, I try to use a very natural and casual style of speech so that he sounds fluid and fluent in his dialect. Of course, I’m not Shakespeare, so I am constantly learning and improving my linguistic skills when working with him. My goal is to capture the nuance of his character through his voice and hopefully show his charm through how he speaks.

Translating Shinobu

Taking inspiration from Don Quixote de la Mancha (de Cervantes) and especially Edith Grossman’s 2005 translation of it, I aim to yadda yadda

Seishun

青春 (seishun) most commonly means “youth,” and in Japanese culture there’s a sort of idealism applied to that concept. It’s often used synonymously with the idea of “living one’s life to the fullest” or “the best time of one’s life.” There are certain activities, events, experiences, etc., which are associated with seishun in Japanese culture—but to get the idea, think like, riding your bikes through the countryside, going on a picturesque camping trip and catching fireflies, going to festivals with your friends. If you watch anime featuring teenagers, you’ll see a lot of similar experiences pop up that have the same sort of dreamy, nostalgic vibe to them. This is seishun, an ideal fantasy that perhaps appeals to many people both young and old because very often, and especially so in the age of technology, this ideal is out of reach. Seishun doesn’t have to occur during one’s adolescence; it literally means “blue spring” and refers to a metaphorical “springtime” of one’s life—hence, it’s most commonly associated with adolescence, but it can certainly occur at any point in life.

Aniki

Aniki is a word for “older brother,” which combines the kanji for “older brother” (obviously) with one that indicates “love and respect” for the person it’s being used on, and also suggests a high rank or status. It’s most notable for being used in the yakuza, with members of lower status using it with members of higher status.

Anija

Ritsu calls Rei 兄者 (anija), which literally means “older brother.” The compound of the word utilizes the kanji for “older brother” (兄) and for “someone” (者), the latter of which may suggest a certain amount of impersonal distance between them.

Rapunzel

Tori calls Wataru ロン毛 (ronge), or “long hair.” To make this a smoother translation into English, I chose the more nickname-like “Rapunzel,” since she is more or less the quintessential long-haired character in the Western world.

Princess

Wataru’s nickname for Tori is 姫君 (himegimi) which is a play off of his last name, 姫宮. The first kanji in both of these names is the same and means “princess”: Himegimi, combining “princess” with the kanji for “monarch” (also the kanji for “you” or the honorific -kun, though that isn’t written in kanji often), means “the daughter of a high-ranking person,” such as a king or an aristocrat. AKA, a princess, more or less. Therefore, this is how I translate the nickname.