"Translating from English into Japanese is like solving a math problem." Haruki Murakami’s novels have been translated into well over thirty languages, and some of his works, such as Norwegian Wood and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, have become modern classics. But not everybody knows that the famous Japanese writer has drawn plenty of inspiration from his own language translation work. Murakami has recently worked on new translations of American classics into Japanese: J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. While recognizing the influence these works have had on his own writing, the author also points out some of the challenges of translating from Japanese to English. "’Japanese and English are structured differently, so if you just translated directly, it's hard to get the rhythm right. It's up to the individual translator to work out how to get the right rhythm,’" he says in an interview with The Mainichi Daily News. "’Translating from English into Japanese is like solving a math problem. Just like there are some math problems that people can spend an entire day trying to work out, it's possible to spend a long time thinking about why particular words are used the way they are.’” Language Translation Inc. in San Diego, California is specialized in legal, medical, technical and business language translation, and we strive to keep up with all of the latest translation news. Our company has provided translation and interpreting to companies worldwide since 1989. “Let us show you how good translation should be.” Betty Carlson Subscribe to Language Lines, our monthly newsletter, for more information about the importance of language translation today. | 
