B) Technically, you've got a little more leeway in English. The 5-7-5 thing is meant for Japanese, in which one syllable can actually be three or four different words depending on inflection. This opens up a fairly hefty range of puns and layered meanings which English doesn't have access to.
Check out Basho, a famous Haiku author. I've seen a page somewhere (I forget the link) which had about twenty different versions of a translation of a poem by him. Fascinating the range of foci you can find in such a short piece.
oh yeah, i know. I tried to run a translation on a japanese name once and i got back like fifteen different meanings---everything from "simple moon and water" to "illusion of moon reflecting in a still pool of water."
3 comments:
you would not believe how many tries it took to post those four lines... jeeze!
A) Haiku
B) Technically, you've got a little more leeway in English. The 5-7-5 thing is meant for Japanese, in which one syllable can actually be three or four different words depending on inflection. This opens up a fairly hefty range of puns and layered meanings which English doesn't have access to.
Check out Basho, a famous Haiku author. I've seen a page somewhere (I forget the link) which had about twenty different versions of a translation of a poem by him. Fascinating the range of foci you can find in such a short piece.
oh yeah, i know. I tried to run a translation on a japanese name once and i got back like fifteen different meanings---everything from "simple moon and water" to "illusion of moon reflecting in a still pool of water."
Japanese is weird. noote.
Post a Comment