Lost in Translation

Lost in translation. I heard the term for the first time from the movie directed by Sofia Coppola (I hope I spell her name right). I fell in love with the term right away because I find it very applicable.

Speaking of which, what does “lost in translation” actually mean? Regardless of the broad use of it in connotative sense, knowing the real meaning is a necessity (because we wouldn’t want to use it out of context, would we?). Therefore, I would use some sort of illustration in an attempt to explain the literal meaning of “lost in translation”, before delving on the “lost in translation” state.

As you all know, language is the verbal representation of culture. Since culture is a set of ideas that gives pattern to human behavior, you would expect language to represent those ideas as well. You could tell what is important and what’s not in a certain culture when you look at the words, terms, and expressions in its language (the language which is used in that particular cultural group). One example is the availability of a specific term that refers to seniority in a family. The term is available in Eastern languages, while Western languages are lacking it. Japanese, for example, has the term onii-san and onee-san that refer to older brother and sister, respectively. Interestingly, there’s also similar term in other Eastern languages (Indonesia, Malay, Mandarin, Korean, etc). On the other hand, there’s no such term in English (and other Western languages, as far as I know). It needs additional word to explain relative position in a family (big brother, older sister, etc). It implies that even though seniority is not an important issue in Western culture, seniority does matter in Eastern culture.

Because different languages represent different basic ideas, it’s not always easy to transfer ideas from one language to another. Translation is undoubtedly, a difficult task to perform. So, there’s always the chance that you’re not transferring the whole ideas as intended in its real language when you’re translating it to another language. Some points are, inevitably, lost in translation.

In a more general notion, “lost in translation” is used to point up any failure to communicate due to differences in principles. The movie, for example (which I haven’t managed to watch; feel free to point out any mistakes that I might’ve made concerning the movie). Regardless of its setting (Tokyo), it’s not the gap between American and Japanese that became the main theme of the movie. Instead, it’s the feeling of alienation that became central. The main character(s) of the movie felt that way because they had different things in mind, compared to their surroundings (in the case of Scarlett Johanssen’s character, it’s her own husband that she failed to connect with).

Why does “lost in translation” suddenly catch my attention? Well, that’s because I myself feel very much that way these days. It doesn’t make me feel alienated though, at least not in the physical sense. When I’m around my friends, I’m still able to talk about many things with them, connecting myself to them. Nevertheless, my view has changed dramatically in the past two years and I realize; it makes me different in thoughts from most of my friends (and most people, for that matter). The path they’re going to choose after finishing school, their main concern, the way they see things---they’re all substantially different from mine.

I understand perfectly why they see things the way they do, because I was no different from them, until recently. But once I started to think differently from them, it’s like talking with a different language. Most people just don’t get my point. As long as they use their own perspective to interpret my choices, some things will always be lost in translation.

Of course, I couldn’t force people to see things my way, could I? I’ll just have to explain my side of the story as best as possible. If that still doesn’t work, let it be. After all, being true to yourself and having your thoughts lost in translation is better than doing what people told you to do and being lost in the waves of the crowded world.