Lost in Translation

Film Blurb:
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American romantic comedy-drama film. Aging actor Bob Harris befriends a college graduate, Charlotte, in a Tokyo hotel. Charlotte feels detached from her husband’s lifestyle and disillusioned about their relationship, while Bob’s is going through a midlife crisis and a strained marriage.

 

Interpreter Bios:

Character: Ms. Kawasaki
Played by: Akiko Takeshita
Plot function: Minor Character
Character bio: Ms Kawasaki is assigned to work with Bob Harris during his stay in Tokyo. She meets him at his hotel upon arrival, and also each morning when he goes out to his promotional appointments.
Languages:
Mother tongue: Japanese
Secondary languages: English, possibly others

Character: Kelly’s Translator
Played by: Asuka Shimuzu
Plot function: Minor Character
Character bio: Seen at the hotel in a panel interview promoting Midnight Velocity. No further information provided in the film.
Languages:
Mother tongue: Japanese
Secondary languages: English, possibly others

Character: TV Translator
Played by: Kei Takyo
Plot function: Minor Character
Character bio: Seen on the set of the TV talk show. No further information provided in the film.
Languages:
Mother tongue: Japanese
Secondary languages: English, possibly others

 

Interpreting on Screen:

(1) Commercial Set
Languages: Japanese < > English
Linguist: Ms. Kawasaki
Format: Consecutive interpreting
Setup: Face-to-face
Delegates: Bob Harris and Commercial Director

This is one of the film’s most famous scenes. Fans and journalists have shared the complete script of this scene online to highlight the amount of information that is ‘lost in translation’:

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
The translation is very important, OK? The translation.

MS. KAWASAKI (in Japanese):
Yes, of course. I understand.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
Mr. Bob-san. You are sitting quietly in your study. And then 
there is a bottle of Suntory whiskey on top of the table. You 
understand, right? With wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the 
camera, tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends, say the 
words. As if you are Bogie in “Casablanca” saying
“cheers to you guys”. Suntory time!

MS. KAWASAKI (in English):
He wants you to turn, look in camera. OK?

BOB HARRIS (in English):
That’s all he said?

MS. KAWASAKI (in English):
Yes, turn to camera.

BOB HARRIS (in English):
Does he want me to, to turn from the right or turn from the left?

MS. KAWASAKI (in Japanese):
He has prepared and is ready.
And he wants to know, when the camera rolls,
would you prefer that he turn to the left,
or would you prefer that he turn to the right?
And that is the kind of thing he would like to know,
if you don’t mind.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese): 
Either way is fine. That kind of thing doesn’t matter.
We don’t have time, Bob-san, OK? You need to hurry.
Raise the tension. Look at the camera. Slowly, with passion.
It’s passion that we want. Do you understand?

MS. KAWASAKI (in English):
Right side. And, uh, with intensity.

BOB HARRIS (in English):
Is that everything?
It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
What you are talking about is not just whiskey, you know.
Do you understand? It’s like you are meeting old friends.
Softly, tenderly. Gently. Let your feelings boil up.
Tension is important! Don’t forget.

MS. KAWASAKI (in English):
Like an old friend, and into the camera.

BOB HARRIS (in English):
OK.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
You understand? You love whiskey.
It’s Suntory time! OK?

BOB HARRIS (in English):
OK.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
OK? OK, let’s roll. Start.

BOB HARRIS (in English):
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!
Don’t try to fool me. Don’t pretend you don’t understand.
Do you even understand what we are trying to do?
Suntory is very exclusive. The sound of the words is important.
It’s an expensive drink. This is No.1.
Now do it again, and you have to feel that this is exclusive.
OK? This is not an everyday whiskey you know.

MS. KAWASAKI (in English):
Could you do it slower and …

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR (in Japanese):
With more ecstatic emotion.

MS. KAWASAKI (in English):
… more intensity.

 

(2) Panel Interview for Midnight Velocity
Languages: English to Japanese
(and likely Japanese to English as well, but not shown)
Linguist: Unnamed interpreter (credited as ‘Kelly’s Translator’)
Format: Consecutive interpreting
Setup: Face-to-face on stage
Delegates: Kelly and Panel Audience

(3) TV Talk Show
Languages: Japanese to English
Linguist: Unnamed interpreter (credited as ‘TV Translator’)
Format: Consecutive interpreting / Whisper interpreting
Setup: Face-to-face
Delegates: Bob Harris and TV Host

Note: One point worth mentioning in this instance of interpreting is how much of the interpreter’s time on screen is hidden by other people and objects – even when she is speaking:

 

Talking about Translation:

(1)

The film’s title (Lost in Translation) references the amount of understanding that can be lost during the translation process. Even if translation is accurate on a word-for-word basis, cultural aspects, concepts and customs may also need to be explained in order to completely understand something.

 

Accuracy of Interpreting Shown:

• Additions and Omissions during Interpreting 

The difference in length of speech turns that it highlighted in the commercial set scene is due to extra information being added by Ms. Kawasaki (to Bob’s speech) and being omitted (from the Commercial Director’s speech). The Commercial Director is rambling about how he envisions the scene going, and even mentions that it’s important that his directions are translated correctly. However, Ms. Kawasaki summarises the speech to only the concrete directions, rather than interpreting every sentence to Bob.

It is not known why Ms. Kawasaki would summarise the speech from the Commercial Director into the limited words that she says to Bob. Possibilities for her actions include: lack of understanding of the Japanese (however unlikely); lack of knowledge of suitable English phrases to achieve the same meaning as the Japanese ideas; and a desire to speed up the filming and quickly starting shooting of the first take.

Ms. Kawasaki’s interpreting performance is seen to directly influence and cause the Commercial Director to get frustrated that Bob is not understanding the vision for the scene.

If this interpreting happened in real life, if would be considered a low-quality performance. Although not all interpreting is perfect, this scene should not be considered as an accurate portrayal of real-life interpreting.

• Panel Interview Setup

The panel interview scene is an accurate example of an interpreting setup, which often involves a foreign celebrity speaking in their mother tongue to an audience that might not understand them. The interpreter waits for a suitable pause to translate the celebrity’s speech for the benefit of those in the audience who do not understand.

This setup also facilitates the audience to ask questions to the foreign celebrity in their own mother tongue, which will then be conveyed to the celebrity in their mother tongue.

• Overall Accuracy

As the film’s main theme is of feeling lost and not understanding, there are not many scenes that incorporate an interpreter, even though a celebrity abroad would usually have people around them that can speak the language of the country they are visiting. The film’s audience are meant to feel as lost as the American characters in the film, both in terms of linguistic understanding and emotional ambivalence.

In the scenes which do include an interpreter, the film’s central theme is continued through two methods: extra cultural aspects which render the interpreted speech unhelpful; or incomplete/inaccurate interpreting of the delegates’ speech. In this sense, some of the interpreting performances in this film are seen to serve more towards continuing the film’s theme and purpose rather than real-life purposes of interpreting.

 

Interpreting Challenges:

Translation of Abstract Ideas/Concepts
The Commercial Director on the commercial set has a vision of how the scene should go. He tries to explain this using a few direct instructions mixed with extensive abstract ideas that should be combined to achieve what he wants.

‘You are sitting quietly in your study …
… with wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the camera,
tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends …
… as if you are Bogie in “Casablanca,” saying, “Cheers to you Guys”’

Ms. Kawasaki simplifies these instructions to the physical movements requested, completely omitting the background information and direction that was provided. This could have been omitted due to the complexity of the idea/concept and the difficulty in finding suitable English phrases to express the same feeling, which would usually require an interpreter to have a good knowledge of this type of creative/poetic phrasings in both languages.

• Different Levels of Formality Used by Delegates / Different Formalities Across Cultures
  In the commercial scene, Ms. Kawasaki is seen to speak to both delegates with an elevated register. Even though Bob Harris does not speak particularly formally to her or the Commercial Director, Ms. Kawasaki feels the need to speak to the director in a very formal register. This may be due to the service nature of her role and could be commonplace in Japan for interpreting at such appointments.

The Commercial Director speaks very colloquially when he talks and is quite brash and arrogant. One article online has described his style of speech to Bob as that of a “father speaking to a wayward child”. Ms. Kawasaki continues to speak very formally to the Director though, and still slightly formally to Bob Harris. The formality in her English speech is not as marked and apparent as her Japanese speech though.

Whereas the formality of speech from one delegate should ideally be transferred and retained in interpreted speech, as the interpreter is acting as the voice of each of the delegates, Ms. Kawasaki is not using this interpreting standard. Instead, she is translating using third person phrases (“he said”, “he would like to know”, etc.), which allows for her to employ a much more formal tone of voice. This style of interpreting is also seen to be used by the TV Translator in the talk show scene. The change of formality here seems to be due to cultural norms in Japan requiring someone on set to talk to the director or celebrity in a very formal register.

• Delegate Understanding Both Languages
  In the TV talk show scene, the TV Host is seen to know and understand English but chooses not to speak it for the majority of his show. The reason for this is likely due to the show being for a Japanese audience, so the primary language is Japanese. Short English phrases are used by the host to welcome Bob Harris, but then the rest of the discussion is in Japanese.

In this short scene, the TV Host is seen to interrupt the TV Interpreter in one instance, highlighting what he wants her to say in English. She interprets “his dance” and the host remarks “Japanese dance”. It is unclear if he is correcting her, or if he is adding extra information that he wants her to say. It appears to be him correcting her interpreting though.

Gallery:

[KGVID gallery=”true” gallery_thumb=”150″]

 

Credits:

Release date: August 2003
Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Produced by: Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz
Written by: Sofia Coppola
Production/Distribution: American Zoetrope, Elemental Films, Focus Features

 

References:

http://www.weareawake.org/suntorydirector.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/style/what-else-was-lost-in&#8211; translation.html
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2004/04/14/films/film-reviews/interpreters-notes/#.WwxfzEgvxPY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_in_Translation_(film)

Rent/buy this title: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Translation-Bill-Murray/dp/B00ESQGHTA