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Word count: 7500
Title/topic: "Indra's Semantic Net: An Examination of Issues Related to Translation from One Language to Another Across Time and Cultural Geography, as Elucidated by a Comparison of Two English Versions of a Classical Japanese Text"
Grade level: undergraduate
Programs/majors: linguistics; Asian literatures; liberal arts
Study guide available: Yes

Excerpt: "...indeed it can become as hard for the scholar as for the translator not to despair at the seemingly infinite range of equally valid yet immensely different possible meanings that can be derived from a source text in the process of translation from one language to another, especially for cases in which the source and target languages are vastly separated by time, syntactical issues (such as word order and basic sentence structure) and a sizable fund of signifiers that, although ostensibly interchangeable across linguistic boundaries, are intricately tied to culturally-imbedded signifieds that could not be more different to the hypothetical objective man from Mars observing two cultures in contrast. The problem is only exacerbated by the slow semantic shift of signifiers across, to, and away from individual signifieds over time, like contingent but ultimately untethered tectonic plates gliding slowly across the shifting mantle of meaning. Consider, for example, the following two translations of the haiku "Autumn Wind Whistlings", written by an anonymous contemporary of the famous Basho (late 17th century).

We will start with Burford Liggett's 1823 translation (spelling normalized):

What the farmer said:
"one don't title a haiku
ye devi'nt slugwit!"

Compare this to the much more contemporary (1966) translation of Robert McQuorkney:

The radio shrilled:
"Cadillac ac ac ac ac..."
Fuckin' HATE that song.

Immediately one sees that although the spirit is the same, one could arguably not have two more different surface renderings derived from a single text. Why, then, is this--in fact, how, then, could it be--the case? It is the purpose of this paper to examine (and answer) this question in light of the issues mentioned above, considering factors such as the cultural contexts of the source/target languages at the times of composition and translation, the ranges of possible meanings for various words in both languages (and their effects--limiting, distorting, and/or freeing--on the translators' word choice praxis), and poetic license. In the process, one hopes that larger and more universal aspects of the perils and frustrations of the translator's art will be elucidated and..."

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[Cue choppy, energetic spyaction theme song, heavy on the kettle drums and low-register brass] In 1998, Donna Pinciotti's little sister Tina on Fox's That 70s Show mysteriously disappeared from the series, never to return but for a few embarrassed half-mentions in later episodes.

In 2003 a similar fate befell Kaitlin, little sister of The OC's Marissa Cooper. Though she was to return briefly three years later, the circumstances and a growth spurt of highly-questionable credibility have left numerous quietly-gurgling questions skulking unanswered out in the Wasteland among people who really want to know.

In Fall 2007 Fox execs premiered a series featuring all of the little sister characters who have ever disappeared from any of the network's shows, as well as from any other fondly-remembered property that they could acquire on the very, very cheap. It started with Tina and Kaitlin; others were soon added. Plot was unimportant. Later, execs said, we'll have little sister characters mysteriously disappear from other shows (say, either of the girls from Bernie Mac, though I guess technically there's only one little sister there they mused) and show up on the new show after some suspenseful delay, focus-grouped for maximum tension to within a .005 degree tolerance of the tensile strength and capacity of the leading (at the time) brand adult diaper. Save the disappearances for sweeps; fans of the show and vaguely-interested bystanders will be forced to watch every Fox series featuring little sister characters (which, of course, they soon all will) to see who disappears, thus driving the network's ratings through the roof. We don't even need to stick to one genre--why not cross-over with reality shows (too bad My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancee is no longer on the air one said. There was a little sister on that show who could've been forced onto the new one; after all, how many contestants on those things really read every clause in their contracts anyway?)

And then the breakthrough--the show could be will be and was about a mysterious convent in the desert where all of the missing girls go to escape some horrible once-cliffhangered fate, perhaps a stalker who is killing little sisters at random. "They all dressed as pint-sized nuns and went on A-Team-like adventures every week." It will, they beamed, be called The Little Sisters.

Ommmmmmmmmm..........mmmmmmmmmmm.........mmmwawawawawawawawaaaahhhh......and lo with a sweeping of many winds, I punched through the fourth veil and flashed that the mysterious Archon-like voice of Charlie's Angels was none other than Richie Cunningham's older brother Chuck, who was also unpersoned without a trace after how many episodes, never to return. Some theorize a marriage-gone-bad to Valerie, Donna Pinciotti's equally-shadowy older sister, coupled with a Solomon-sized mid-life crisis. Sic transit gloria Chachi, baby.

.........mmmahahahahahahhhhhhkkhaaandscene.

There is one sentence on each half of the item with the meaning of "The power of the Buddha can reach everywhere in the world and can help all the suffering people".

with Chinese character "asking the buddha and blessing the people"