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bupdaddy's review
1.0
Jerky jerk becomes a teacher and butts heads with everybody. In 1900 Japan, but speaking like the Bowery Boys.
Seriously, In Yasotaro Morri's translation, he explicitly says he converted Japanese slang to Bowery slang to be more accessible to American audiences. It doesn't work.
Also, the protagonist is supposed to be sympathetic but isn't. Only my stubborn streak got me to finish this.
Maybe it's good in another translation. It's supposed to be a loved classic in Japan, so that would make sense. Then again, Japanese people love them some crazy things.
Oh, also on the version I listened to, the narrator said 'sundry' like 'sun dry' (like you might say if you were suggesting an alternative to the dryer), as 'fasten' with the 't' pronounced, and many other things like that.
Seriously, In Yasotaro Morri's translation, he explicitly says he converted Japanese slang to Bowery slang to be more accessible to American audiences. It doesn't work.
Also, the protagonist is supposed to be sympathetic but isn't. Only my stubborn streak got me to finish this.
Maybe it's good in another translation. It's supposed to be a loved classic in Japan, so that would make sense. Then again, Japanese people love them some crazy things.
Oh, also on the version I listened to, the narrator said 'sundry' like 'sun dry' (like you might say if you were suggesting an alternative to the dryer), as 'fasten' with the 't' pronounced, and many other things like that.
sazuka's review
2.0
This translation was awful. That aside, I thought it was remarkable that Natsume Souseki's tale about a math teacher from Tokyo who takes up a post at a middle school in rural southern Japan could describe exactly what it is like for me, a foreigner, to teach English here a hundred years later.
Quote in point:
"My teaching for the day was finished but I could not get away. I had to wait alone until three o'clock. I understood that at three o'clock the students of my classes would finish cleaning up the rooms... Outrageous, indeed, to keep on[e] chained to the school, staring at empty space when he had nothing more to do, even though he was 'bought' by a salary! Other fellow teachers, however, meekly submitted to the regulation, and believing it not well for me, - a newcomer - to fuss about it, I stood it."
If Botchan (the book and the title character) is a strong proponent of morality, then I question Souseki's blatant prejudice against the country folk from the very start. I wonder if the Japanese countryside was as bad back then as he made it out to be (and in that case, I'm curious to see what has effected the changes in the modern-day countryside), or if Souseki was just a very homesick city boy.
Quote in point:
"My teaching for the day was finished but I could not get away. I had to wait alone until three o'clock. I understood that at three o'clock the students of my classes would finish cleaning up the rooms... Outrageous, indeed, to keep on[e] chained to the school, staring at empty space when he had nothing more to do, even though he was 'bought' by a salary! Other fellow teachers, however, meekly submitted to the regulation, and believing it not well for me, - a newcomer - to fuss about it, I stood it."
If Botchan (the book and the title character) is a strong proponent of morality, then I question Souseki's blatant prejudice against the country folk from the very start. I wonder if the Japanese countryside was as bad back then as he made it out to be (and in that case, I'm curious to see what has effected the changes in the modern-day countryside), or if Souseki was just a very homesick city boy.
touko's review
2.0
This translation was awful. That aside, I thought it was remarkable that Natsume Souseki's tale about a math teacher from Tokyo who takes up a post at a middle school in rural southern Japan could describe exactly what it is like for me, a foreigner, to teach English here a hundred years later.
Quote in point:
"My teaching for the day was finished but I could not get away. I had to wait alone until three o'clock. I understood that at three o'clock the students of my classes would finish cleaning up the rooms... Outrageous, indeed, to keep on[e] chained to the school, staring at empty space when he had nothing more to do, even though he was 'bought' by a salary! Other fellow teachers, however, meekly submitted to the regulation, and believing it not well for me, - a newcomer - to fuss about it, I stood it."
If Botchan (the book and the title character) is a strong proponent of morality, then I question Souseki's blatant prejudice against the country folk from the very start. I wonder if the Japanese countryside was as bad back then as he made it out to be (and in that case, I'm curious to see what has effected the changes in the modern-day countryside), or if Souseki was just a very homesick city boy.
Quote in point:
"My teaching for the day was finished but I could not get away. I had to wait alone until three o'clock. I understood that at three o'clock the students of my classes would finish cleaning up the rooms... Outrageous, indeed, to keep on[e] chained to the school, staring at empty space when he had nothing more to do, even though he was 'bought' by a salary! Other fellow teachers, however, meekly submitted to the regulation, and believing it not well for me, - a newcomer - to fuss about it, I stood it."
If Botchan (the book and the title character) is a strong proponent of morality, then I question Souseki's blatant prejudice against the country folk from the very start. I wonder if the Japanese countryside was as bad back then as he made it out to be (and in that case, I'm curious to see what has effected the changes in the modern-day countryside), or if Souseki was just a very homesick city boy.
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