Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This study aims to present and analyse the epic works translated from Japanese into Hungarian between 1945 and 1990 from the prespective of translation studies. Focus will be placed on the translators and the translation strategies used in this period of time.

Paper long abstract

This study aims to present and analyse the epic works translated from Japanese into Hungarian between 1945 and 1990 from the prespective of translation studies.

Initially, works were translated from Russian, German, English and French. However, as Japanese language teaching spread, translations from Japanese began to appear, particularly from the late 1960s onwards.

During the period under review, more than 40 novels, short story collections and a folk tale anthology were published, alongside more than 50 of individual short story translations were published in various journals. Translated authors included major 20th century Japanese literary figures such as Kōbō Abe, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the Nobel laureates Yasunari Kawabata and Kenzaburō Ōe, Ōgai Mori, and Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. Additionally, the first Japanese novel, Shikibu Murasaki's The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book by Shōnagon Sei were also translated in this period.

The study is twofold: 1) it examines which authors were translated during this period, how the works were selected, who the translators were, what intermediate languages the translations were made from, and what common features characterize the translations published in this era. 2) through a short parallel corpus compiled of source and target language texts, we highlight specific translation norms and strategies, with particular emphasis on realia, forms of address, transcription, and possible omissions or mistranslations.

Keywords: translation studies, prose translation, translation strategies

References:

Judit Vihar (2009): A japán irodalom megjelenése Magyarországon 1989-ig The Reception of Japanese Literature in Hungary until 1989). In.: (Farkas Ildikó, Szerdahelyi István, Umemura Yuko, Wintermantel Péter szerk.) Tanulmányok a magyar-japán kapcsolatok történetéből. Budapest: Eötvös Kiadó, 383-404.

Sato Noriko (2001): A japán kultúra fogadtatása Magyarországon. (Reception of Japanese Culture in Hungary). In: Tudományos Évkönyv 2001. Budapesti Gazdasági Főiskola, 308-316.

György Radó (2001): Hungarian Tradition. In: Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. Mona B. (ed.). London ad NY: Routledge. 448-456.

István Bart and Sándor Rákos ed. (1981): A műfordítás ma (Literary Translation Today). Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó.

Lóránt Tarnóczi (1966): Fordítókalauz. A szakirodalmi fordítás elmélete és gyakorlata. (The Translator's Handbook: Theory and Practice of Special Literature). Budapest: Közgazdasági és Jogi Kiadó.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Analysing both original texts and possible translations, my paper discusses the necessity to translate more Japanese multilingual and translingual literary works proposing a methodology based on foundational concepts within translation theory to approach such texts as inherently translational.

Paper long abstract

In this paper, I draw upon my ongoing experience translating Levy Hideo’s work Ten’anmon (1996) and my research findings to discuss why it is necessary to translate more Japanese multilingual texts and to propose a specific methodology based on foundational concepts within Translation Theory, specifically Nida’s principles of formal and functional equivalence and Venuti’s foreignization strategy to achieve such result.

According to my analysis, Japanese multilingual literary texts often include what I call a “hidden translator,” a presence, often disguised as the main character or the narrator, who simultaneously enhances the text’s accessibility for monolingual readers and reflects the author’s emotional engagement with different languages. Such stylistic device marks the original texts as inherently translational with this aspect typically manifesting in two ways which I refer to as Cosmetic Monolingualism and Functional Multilingualism.

Cosmetic Monolingualism allows the text to hint at its multilingual nature without showing it directly, instead relying on translation that happens off the page, Functional Multilingualism openly shows several languages within the text but still caters to readers familiar with only one language through techniques such as using furigana as translations, repeating phrases in multiple languages, or offering sufficient context so readers’ understanding remains unaffected. Consequently, it is essential to approach multilingual texts through the lens of Translation in order to consider the role of multiple languages and scripts in the source text, before proceeding to translate it aiming to faithfully conveying the narrator’s emotional connection to each language.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

The common translation of bunmei kaika as “civilization and enlightenment” is often questioned, always presupposing a synonymy of bunmei and “civilization” already as given. This presentation questions this equation to trace its origins (as well as early uses of kaika) in contemporary sources.

Paper long abstract

The Sino-Japanese character compound bunmei is commonly considered a “translation word” for the nineteenth-century English “civilization,” adapted from classical Chinese precedents during the transition from the Tokugawa to the Meiji period. Based on contemporary materials, this presentation demonstrates that this was not how the term bunmei was used and understood at first. Bunmei initially gained currency as a translation word for “enlightened” as in “enlightened government,” even as it was apt to convey a sense of the eighteenth-century English “civility” as well. Depending on context, it also worked as a translation word for the English “civilized” for this reason. But bunmei had never been used to explicitly render the nineteenth-century English “civilization” before 1875. For obvious reasons, the English “civilization” had been rendered as bunka if not kaika (or bunmei kaika for that matter) up to that point.

Fukuzawa Yukichi’s insistence on “civilization” (rather than “civility and enlightenment”) as the proper meaning of “Western bunmei” requires closer scrutiny than it has hitherto received. The same holds true for his derivation of the English term “civilization” from the Latin civitas as opposed to the Latin civilis/civilitas, and for the lexical background of the term kaika by which early uses of this term would still have been informed.

Fukuzawa’s linguistic moves in this case are indicative of a structural transformation in early Meiji political thought at the same time as they are emblematic for the function of so-called “translation words” in modern Japanese more generally.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper explores shikona (sumo ring names) of salaried wrestlers as a form of linguistic world-building, showing how kanji choice, naming conventions and tradition construct a culturally shared image of Japan within contemporary professional sumo.

Paper long abstract

Shikona, the ring names used by professional sumo wrestlers, constitute a unique form of linguistic creativity embedded in strong institutional and cultural constraints. This paper examines shikona of all active salaried wrestlers (sekitori) in the makuuchi and juryo divisions as of January 2026, treating them as a corpus through which a specific linguistic image of Japan is constructed and maintained.

Drawing on 70 shikona, the study approaches these names not as isolated lexical items, but as culturally loaded signs operating at the intersection of language, tradition, and collective imagination. Particular attention is paid to kanji selection, recurrent morphemes (e.g. references to mountains, natural phenomena, animals, virtues, or auspicious concepts), inherited naming patterns, and the balance between individual identity and institutional continuity.

Methodologically, the paper combines the concept of the linguistic image of the world with culturally informed interpretation, while explicitly addressing the risk of over-interpretation inherent in symbolic readings of proper names. Rather than reconstructing individual intent, the analysis focuses on shared conventions and dominant semantic fields, understood as elements of a broader discursive system within professional sumo.

The preliminary findings suggest that shikona contribute to a coherent linguistic representation of Japan that emphasizes continuity, strength, natural imagery, hierarchy, and tradition, while selectively accommodating regional references and limited signs of individual distinction. As such, shikona function not merely as identifiers, but as performative linguistic constructs that reinforce a culturally recognizable vision of “Japaneseness” within the ritualized space of sumo.

The paper is intended as a foundation for further detailed analysis and aims to demonstrate the relevance of shikona as a valuable source for studying language, culture, and identity in contemporary Japan.