"Japan beckons cold-footed Carol!"
It is the evening of Wednesday, September 22nd -- barely three days after our Big PURE Weekend of workshops and shows (which I organized and hosted) and I am still catching my breath.
And now, I was going to Japan.
The Monday before, I'd learned that Kaeshi, PURE's Artistic Director, had been approached by Lâle Sayoko, a well-known Japanese dancer and member of PURE, about bringing PURE Reflections to Japan.
Lâle had seen the show and performed with us earlier that year and found the experience so powerful that she had determined to share it with her sisters in PURE Tokyo (PURE's only international chapter -- so far! :-> ). And now her dream was becoming a reality -- more quickly than anyone could have imagined!
Kaeshi, it turned out, was going to be in the Far East for Jillina's Bellydance Evolution show in December, and had been approached to teach a few workshops in Osaka. And while she realized it would not be feasible to bring the entire 30-person cast of dancers and musicians to Japan, it might be possible, she thought, to mount it with a Japanese cast.
"Do you think one week will be enough?" she asked as we headed through Cooper Square Monday night.
"Well... they would really need to understand the show," I replied, "It would take a lot of preparation in the weeks beforehand..."
"I know..." she winced a little.
"Well, you're not doing it without me."
Her eyes popped. "Really? Would you really do that?"
"Sure," I said, "I mean ... I can't let you do it alone."
We checked airline prices that evening. $980! My account wasn't exactly flush, but the show was more important. And even with two people at the helm, mounting PURE Reflections would be an herculean task.
Then I started to worry... What if the dancers aren't that committed? What if it all falls apart in the eight weeks between now and then?
Then my paranoia set in.
I wrote Kaeshi: "I just checked prices and it says $980... was that what it was yesterday, or did it go up like $100 already?"
Her measured response followed moments later: "It is the same price as yesterday. It did not go up..."
I was bursting.
"I am getting slightly cold feet about this," I dithered, "... it's happening a lot faster than I'd thought. Feeling very nervous..."
Her next message warmed my soles: "I think at this point, it's safe to go ahead and buy that ticket. The dancers are already all rearranging their work schedules to suit what I posted about rehearsals... Japan beckons cold-footed Carol! Catching a plane is much like riding a subway, only it looks and sounds a lot different on the other side..."
Well OK then!
And I bought the ticket.
At the next PURE-NYC meeting, Kaeshi asked if any other members would like to take the Tokyo plunge, and the bravehearted Pacita -- who turned out to be an extraordinary Assistant Director -- stepped up. And after a similar announcement during the PURE facilitator weekly web conference our team doubled in size, with Brian and Misha from Sarasota joining, as well Katie from Connecticut (who had hosted the show in May).
And we were on our way!
Showing posts with label japanese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japanese. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Getting Ready for PURE Reflections in Tokyo: Lost (and Found) in Translation
When we first committed to the daunting project of mounting PURE-NYC's body image dance-theater work PURE Reflections: Beauty Reimagined in Japan, with a mixed cast of PURE Tokyo members and a handful of PURE members from US chapters, it was obvious that communication would be key.
I created a Google group which has a sleek discussion thread feature which, with the touch of a button, completely translates every email in a given thread -- or at least it tries to!
As the Tokyo ladies geared up, organizing everything from logistics to publicity, a flurry of Japanese emails billowed through my inbox. And every day or so, I'd check the translated group page to see what all the chatter was about, and then weigh in, if necessary.
Yesterday's round told me that Tuesday night would be a Special Evening.
PURE-NYC's good friend, the Japanese-English BodyPoet Kazuma, had given them the DVD of PURE Reflections recorded in April at Columbia -- and many of the dancers who had signed onto the project in blind faith would see the show for the first time.
I chatted briefly online a few hours earlier with Naho, one of the PURE Tokyo facilitators.
"We're so excited to hear what your reaction will be to it," I wrote.
What I really wanted to say was, "We can't wait to hear what you think of it," but for some reason whenever I talk to a non-English speaker, I always find myself imitating their speech pattern (or at least my perception of it... which, come to think of it, probably ends up comically confusing to them).
"I appreciate all your help and very precise comments and advices :)", she wrote back, and then had to take a phone call.
This morning, I saw a long Japanese email on my mobile and ran to the laptop to read the translated thread.
It started:
"Reflections on DVD today held a meeting 10/28. The report. Here are some details as well as topics mix. ... Performance about 58 minutes, after which the 15-minute Q & A."
OK so far. Then followed a bulleted list of their reactions to the show.
First bullet:
"Acting is terrible."
My jaw dropped. Oh god, I thought, they hate us!!
Then I read through the rest of the list:
And finally:
"Everyone (even those not moving) to the acting, which everybody understands the meaning of the scene."
In other words: They liked us!! They really liked us!!
So clearly it was just a translator issue... right?
I scrolled back up to the fateful characters -- 演技力がすごい -- and brought up a variety of online translators, first Dictionary.com and AppliedLanguage.
Both spat back, "Acting is terrible."
Then my inner-HitchHiker took me to AltaVista's blessed BabelFish, which rendered, "Performance power is enormous." And WorldLingo concurred.
Ahhhhh! Now that's more like it!
But how did this happen?
I broke the phrase down, character-by-character, and fed it to each translation engine.
Piecemeal, it reads something like this: "Performing/Played skill/technology force/power the it does us."
So the issue it seems was in switching "enormous" with "terrible" -- which by colloquial English standards is a pretty terrible thing to do, as we are used it meaning "really, really bad."
But earlier meanings have more to do with awe-stricken fear. Indeed, the word itself stems from Indo-rooted Sanskrit and Avestan for "feared" AND "revered" -- indeed, anything that would cause us to tremble in awe, as enormous things are wont to do.
My guess is that the Japanese character for "force/power" must have multiple meanings which, when combined idiomatically, could render as "terrible," "enormous" -- or, dare I say, awesome ☺ -- and probably dozens of other ways depending on the translator.
Given the vast sea of translational possibilities, the fact that Google and other online translators do as good a job as they do is pretty freaking camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle amazing.
And the fact that there are so many translation engines to offer second, third and fourth opinions is beyond mind-blowing to me.
But in the end, perhaps it is best to remember these two rules of online translation:
(1) Always give your correspondent the benefit of a doubt. Even in the same language, email can be easily misinterpreted; and
(2) Some online translations are best experienced like a John Ashbery poem -- just let let the images wash over, smile sweetly and pretend you understand.
I created a Google group which has a sleek discussion thread feature which, with the touch of a button, completely translates every email in a given thread -- or at least it tries to!
As the Tokyo ladies geared up, organizing everything from logistics to publicity, a flurry of Japanese emails billowed through my inbox. And every day or so, I'd check the translated group page to see what all the chatter was about, and then weigh in, if necessary.
Yesterday's round told me that Tuesday night would be a Special Evening.
PURE-NYC's good friend, the Japanese-English BodyPoet Kazuma, had given them the DVD of PURE Reflections recorded in April at Columbia -- and many of the dancers who had signed onto the project in blind faith would see the show for the first time.
I chatted briefly online a few hours earlier with Naho, one of the PURE Tokyo facilitators.
"We're so excited to hear what your reaction will be to it," I wrote.
What I really wanted to say was, "We can't wait to hear what you think of it," but for some reason whenever I talk to a non-English speaker, I always find myself imitating their speech pattern (or at least my perception of it... which, come to think of it, probably ends up comically confusing to them).
"I appreciate all your help and very precise comments and advices :)", she wrote back, and then had to take a phone call.
This morning, I saw a long Japanese email on my mobile and ran to the laptop to read the translated thread.
It started:
"Reflections on DVD today held a meeting 10/28. The report. Here are some details as well as topics mix. ... Performance about 58 minutes, after which the 15-minute Q & A."
OK so far. Then followed a bulleted list of their reactions to the show.
First bullet:
"Acting is terrible."
My jaw dropped. Oh god, I thought, they hate us!!
Then I read through the rest of the list:
Scene 1 -- like birth from the sea, motherhood, accept
Scene 5 -- emotional scenes!
Scene 7 -- Demon, scary!
Scene 9 -- Spiral, wonderful scenes of the sun.
And finally:
"Everyone (even those not moving) to the acting, which everybody understands the meaning of the scene."
In other words: They liked us!! They really liked us!!
So clearly it was just a translator issue... right?
I scrolled back up to the fateful characters -- 演技力がすごい -- and brought up a variety of online translators, first Dictionary.com and AppliedLanguage.
Both spat back, "Acting is terrible."
Then my inner-HitchHiker took me to AltaVista's blessed BabelFish, which rendered, "Performance power is enormous." And WorldLingo concurred.
Ahhhhh! Now that's more like it!
But how did this happen?
I broke the phrase down, character-by-character, and fed it to each translation engine.
Piecemeal, it reads something like this: "Performing/Played skill/technology force/power the it does us."
So the issue it seems was in switching "enormous" with "terrible" -- which by colloquial English standards is a pretty terrible thing to do, as we are used it meaning "really, really bad."
But earlier meanings have more to do with awe-stricken fear. Indeed, the word itself stems from Indo-rooted Sanskrit and Avestan for "feared" AND "revered" -- indeed, anything that would cause us to tremble in awe, as enormous things are wont to do.
My guess is that the Japanese character for "force/power" must have multiple meanings which, when combined idiomatically, could render as "terrible," "enormous" -- or, dare I say, awesome ☺ -- and probably dozens of other ways depending on the translator.
Given the vast sea of translational possibilities, the fact that Google and other online translators do as good a job as they do is pretty freaking camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle amazing.
And the fact that there are so many translation engines to offer second, third and fourth opinions is beyond mind-blowing to me.
But in the end, perhaps it is best to remember these two rules of online translation:
(1) Always give your correspondent the benefit of a doubt. Even in the same language, email can be easily misinterpreted; and
(2) Some online translations are best experienced like a John Ashbery poem -- just let let the images wash over, smile sweetly and pretend you understand.
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