Real nihongo.

[elwen]

One thing I will never understand is "translating" a foreign title into the same language.

I just watched the movie "Harakiri". (Which was really good, BTW.)

But... the Japanese title isn't "Harakiri".

It's "Seppuku".

They both mean basically the same thing -- ritual suicide performed by cutting the stomach. Written in kanji, each is the other backwards -- 切腹 vs.　腹切. (When the title screen came up, I even thought they had chosen to write the characters left-to-right to be old-fashioned and annoying.)

So what's the point of changing the title???

[According to Wikipedia, there is a subtle distinction, but I somehow doubt that's what the "translators" were going for.]

I feel like both words are rare enough in English that neither has truly achieved loanword status, but it may just be that I move among more culturally enlightened circles. But really, I feel like "Harakiri" would draw as many "what?" responses as "Seppuku". Changing the title like that just seems so insulting. It's like telling the Japanese that they don't know how to use their own language.

I keep trying to think of another example of this kind of non-translating, but I can't. I'm sure there must be more...

Comments

[thierrys.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, although I think in this sense, at least for the older generation "harikiri" is a more familiar term. This is from family members gently mocking my studies and telling me not to commit "hairy carey" ^^;;