Arthur Binard Poetry Reading

Arthur Binard spent many years living in Japan and translated various books and poems. He talked about the difficulties as well as the joys of translating English text to Japanese or vice versa and his experiences doing so. For example, he told us how translating can be difficult because there are not always analogous words between languages so the translator must find words and phrases that can be used to communicate the meaning of the literature. So it can either be translated faithfully or it can be completely butchered! This made some of his translations take a few years just because he could not find words that could make the literature impactful and meaningful in Japanese. On the other hand, he also talked about how he was able to write his own poem in Japanese when he could not accurately express himself in English and he joked about how translating is a form a legal plagiarism. In the end, he emphasizes that he always aimed to remain faithful to the original intentions and meanings of the author, even if that meant being liberal with the actual translating and how rewarding he found translating to be.