At the University of Tokyo, I took classes on translation and interpretation. As part of my goal to internalize both skills as an exercise towards fluency, I translate to familiarize myself with the nuances of the art. I hope this will serve me in furthering my research of developing systems that can understand word connotations and context, and in turn, help language learners communicate cross-culturally more meaningfully.
by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke
A short story that doesn't get enough recognition. I am particularly fond of the story's structure. My main challenges included differentiating between 絵描き and 画家, and naturally combining clauses in ways natural for English.
by Makino Shinichi
A reflective narrative on the author's grandmother. It was challenging to map the different ways of representing quotations to English. My favourite part is imagining the author smiling at the end as he looks back at his memories with his grandmother.
My professor, Kaku Hanako, told me that our glossary assignments would be one of the things she hoped we would take back with us after the course, as a personalized treasure. I am sharing them here in the case they may one day be helpful to others.