Translation notes

A student asked yesterday about some words in the Japanese original. Since some students in the class have taken some Japanese language studies, I thought it might warrant a blog update....



「昔、あるところに、誰とでも寝る女の子がいた。それが彼女の名前だ。」（１３ original）　
"'Back then, there was a girl who'd sleep with anyone.' That's her name." (5 trans. Birnbaum)
「そして我々は寝た」　（６７ original）
"So we slept together" (45 trans. Birnbaum)
「我々はソファーの上で抱き合った」　（２２２ original）
"We made love on the sofa" (167 trans. Birnbaum)

edit: PC has located the original quote through a blog transcription here:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/osakabekenshou/archives/51708430.html
「我々はホテルに帰って性交した。性交ということばが僕はとても好きだ。それは何かしら限定された形の可能性を連想させてくれる。」
"We returned to the hotel and had intercourse. I like that word intercourse. It poses only a limited range of possibilities" (202 trans. Birnbaum).

~by the way, the writer behind this blog has his/her own analysis on why intercourse/性交　was used in place of sex or its more common variants/ セックス　エッチ - namely that the word "intercourse" has not been adulterated by media usage and is suggestive of a purer type of desire. If you feel comfortable reading Japanese, you might want to take a look.


Other phrases you might find interesting:
「象徴的な夢があり、そんな夢が象徴する現実がある。あるいは象徴的な現実があり、そんな現実が象徴する夢がある。」（１０９）
"There are symbolic dreams - dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities - realities that symbolize a dream" (79 trans. Birnbaum).
夢 Dream as compared with 幻覚 Hallucination (190 original)

意志　Will as compared with 収益　Gains

いわし = Kipper

非現実的な凡庸 172
Was translated as "mediocre dreamer"

edit:
I found this as well from: http://ameblo.jp/ikefukuro3/entry-10430138616.html
「どうしてかな？」と僕は言った。...「きっと名前と言うものが好きじゃないんだろうね。僕は僕で、君は君で、我々は我々で、彼らは彼らで、それでいいんじゃないかって気がするんだ」
was translated as:
"Why indeed," I puzzled..."I think I just don't like names. Basically, I can't see what's wrong with calling me 'me' or you 'you' or us 'us' or them 'them.'" (188)