国家戦略としての‘翻訳’
日本は明治の近代化で翻訳を通して知的な観念を土着化し、だれでも世界の先端知識に触れられる環境を創ってきました。ひとつ間違えれば、国の独立さえ危ぶまれた明治の日本は
当時の英語公用語化論を退け、翻訳を通じて日本語による近代化を成し遂げました。
明治維新以降、先人、福澤諭吉、西周、森有礼,中江兆民等々が、西欧文化、技術、制度、法律等、日本にない抽象概念を数々の翻訳語を創って受け入れてきました。 Societyが
社会、 justiceが正義、truthが心理、reasonが理性、その他、良心、主観、体制、構造、弁証法、疎外、実存、危機、等々。
こうした先人の努力をよそに今こんなことが起こっていることをご存知でしたでしょうか。それは政府部内で検討された英語特区という公の場では日本語で会話はご法度という制度です。こんな制度がまかり通っていいのでしょうか。
英語至上主義、日本でも喧しく企業内の英語公用語化の話題がマスコミを賑わせていますが、これこそグローバリスト、国際金融資本家の思う壺。日本が二流国に転落するのが目に見えています。
この辺の事情を歯切れのよい文章で書かれた施光恒（せ てるひさ）氏の「英語化は愚民化―日本の国力が地に落ちる」（2015年7月刊、集英社新書）は説得力のある素晴らしい本でした。
この本にもあるように、英語による支配の序列構造の中で、第二階層、すなわち、英語を第二公用語として使う、インド、マレーシア、ケニアなどの旧イギリス植民地諸国、フィリピン、プエルトリコなどの米国占領下にあった諸国のことです。かれらはある意味、英語公用語を採用して、二流国を甘んじて受け入れた国と言えるでしょう。
最近では日本の東大がアジア地域での大学ランキングが昨年までの第一位から七位に転落とマスコミでは自虐的論調が聴かれますが、その主たる理由は、授業が英語で行われている割合が少ない、執筆される英語論文の割合が少ないなどが問題にされているように思います。しかし、考えてみてください。英語圏以外で先進の学問を日本語、自国言語で学べる国は日本以外ではあるでしょうか。おまけに、世界中の古典が読める稀有な国日本、これを皆さんはどこまで自覚しているでしょうか。
一方、あの理想国家といわれるシンガポールの現況は、常に複数の言語を学ばなければならないことから始まり、エリート主義による経済格差の拡大、国民の連帯意識の欠如。そして、独自の文化、芸術が生まれない文化的貧困を皆さんはご存知でしたでしょうか。これこそ、英語化路線の一方のひずみと言えると思います。
日本は、翻訳を盾に、日本語が国語である位置を堅持して、決して日本語を現地語の位置に貶めませんでした。
これは以下の日本語と日本文化の歴史とこれに裏打ちされた利点を考えれば至極当然のことに思えます。
・６，７世紀ころから中国文明を消化、吸収するに中国文化を和漢折衷で 受け入れ、真名、仮名、文化を作り上げできた。
・５０万語という世界一豊かな語彙をもつ日本語。英語は外来語の多くを含んでの５０ 万語、ドイツ語３５万語、仏語１０万語。まさに、言霊の幸はふ国日本。
・古事記、日本書紀、万葉集など、１,０００年前文献でもさほど苦労なく読める日本語。一方、英米では１,０００年まえの文献は古代ギリシア語、ヘブライ語が読めなければ一般の人は読めない。
・世界２００の国、６，０００以上の民族、６，５００以上の言語の内、５０音の母音を中心に整然と組み立てられ、・平仮名、片仮名、アルファベット、漢数字、ローマ数字等多様な表現形式を持つ言語、日本語。
・脳科学者角田忠信が指摘しているように、西欧人は子音を左脳、母音を機械音、雑音と同じ右脳で処理、また、小鳥のさえずり、小川のせせらぎ、風の音をノイズとして右脳で受けている。対して、子音、母音、さらには小鳥のさえずり、小川のせせらぎ、風の音までも言語脳の左脳で受け止める日本人。そこから導かれるのか万物に神を読む日本人。
・ユーラシア大陸の東端で、儒、仏、道、禅、神道文化を発酵させ、鋭い感性と深い精神性を育んできた日本文化。
・「日本語の科学が世界を変える」の著者、松尾義之が指摘しているように、ノーベル賞クラスの科学の発明は実は日本語のおかげ。自然科学の分野ではこれまで約20の賞を
受賞。アジア圏では他を圧倒。
ここで、一見無関係に思われる、最近の世界情勢を見てみましょう。
Brexit(Britain+Exit), 英国の国民投票によるＥＵ離脱の衝撃は、日本、そして世界の経済、政治に大きな影響を与えつつあることはご承知かと思います。
フランスは決選投票の結果、ＥＵ離脱派のルペン氏を抑え、無所属のマクロン氏が勝ったとは言え、無所属のマクロンが政党を設立し国民議会５７７議席の単独過半数の支持を得て首相とともに今の路線で歩めるのかまだまだまだ予断を許せません。
ＥＵは解体に向けて歩む？のかもしれません。実際、オランダ、イタリア、オーストリア、デンマーク、スウェーデンももしかしたら、という状況のようです。
では、このBrexit以降の世界情勢はどんな方向を示唆しているのでしょうか。
それは、
GlobalismからNeo-nationalism (Localism)へ
国境を無くし、人の交流を自由化し、市場を開放する方向から、難民の無制限な移動の制限をし、国家を取り戻す方向へ
ElitismからPopulismへ
国際金融資本家に代表されるエリート主導から大衆主導の時代へ
これは、ヒラリーＶＳトランプの構図も見え隠れしていました。
トランプの‘アメリカファースト’もある意味、Neo-nationalism (Localism)とPopulismへの傾きといえるでしょう。
グローバリストが新自由主義の政策、開放経済、規制緩和、小さな政府、これに基づき世界経済の再編を進めてきたわけですが、これに異議を唱えたのがこれらの動きと言えます。
今まさに、大きな潮流は、ローカル、それもグローカル、開かれたローカリズムの時代に突入しつつあるように見えます。
ここにこそ‘翻訳’の存在意義が見いだせます。
個々の自立した文化をお互いに尊重し、そのうえで、翻訳による相互交流を行う、そんな翻訳的方法が見直されています。
件の英語特区の提案者が言うような、言語は単なるコミュニケーションのツールではないでしょう。言語は使う人の世界観を作り出していますし、日本であれば日本語が日本人の考え方、感じ方、日本社会の在り方まで創り出してしまいます。
従って、日本社会の英語化を安易に進めることは日本のアイデンティティ、強みを破壊する行為といえるでしょう。思いやりや気配り、日本人の持つ鋭い感性や深い精神性は日本語、日本語脳、日本文化のなせる業でしょう。
ユーラシア大陸の東端にあり、儒教、仏教、道教、神道、禅が混ざり合い発酵した日本文化は我々が誇れる知的資産です。
鈴木孝夫氏のタタミゼ効果はご存知かと思いますが、もともとこれはフランス語ですが、日本人ぽくなる、人との接し方が柔らかくなる、対決から融和に導く、日本語を学んだものが
そのように変わると言われています。
ことほど左様に、世界は個々の自立を前提にそのコミュニケーションの方法論として‘翻訳’を求めています。
グローバリストの脅し、誘惑に左右されずに、これからの世界における自国語、日本語の意義、そして、翻訳の意義を堂々と主張しましょう。
お互いの文化を尊重し翻訳を通じてハーモナイゼーションを計る、素晴らしい時代の到来です。
まさしくバベルの塔を英語という一つの言語で創ろうとしている特権階級のグローバリストに神は怒り、神は別々のことばを与え、世界へ散れと言っているかのようです。
多言語、多文化共生世界の入り口に今我々はいるのかもしれません。
日本も国家戦略、言語戦略の一環として‘翻訳’を考える時代に入ったと考えるべきではないでしょうか。加えれば、私は日本が平和を謳歌してきたことをもって不沈戦艦大和神話を支持するつもりはありません。永世中立国スイスがそうであるように、地政学的適度な危機感をもって自主防衛力を持つべきと考えます。その一環として、翻訳戦略は欠かせないと考えている次第です。
以上
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Importance of Translation in Creating National Strategies
Babel University Professional School of Translation
Vice-chancellor Tomoki Hotta
During the Meiji period, Japan used translation in transitioning to a modern nation-state to cultivate intellectual ideas, creating an environment where all citizens could be exposed to the latest knowledge. Realizing that one careless move could result in losing independence, Japan deftly evaded debates on changing the official language to English. Japan turned instead to translation to bring about modernization – all in its own mother tongue, Japanese.
Pioneers during and after the Meiji Restoration such as Yukichi Fukuzawa, Amane Nish, Arinori Mori, and Chomin Nakae helped to create new terms for abstract concepts nonexistent in Japan at the time incorporated from Western culture, technology, systems, and law. The following are examples of new terms: society (shakai), justice (seigi), truth (shinri), reason (risei), conscience (ryoshin), subjectivity (shukan), regime (taisei), structure (kozo), dialectics (benronho), estrangement (sogai), existence (jitsuzon), and crisis (kiki).
How many realize what is being considered recently – despite the efforts of these pioneers of the Meiji period? It’s talk in political circles about creating a system in which English speaking districts are established in Japan. These districts would be English only, with Japanese conversations in public prohibited. It seems unreasonable for talk about English speaking districts to go unchallenged.
The supremacy of English has been a hot topic especially among Japanese corporations with the mass media focusing in on this topic. Globalists and international finance capitalists would love to have Japan transition to English as its official language. The outcome unfortunately is predictable; transitioning to English will result in Japan’s overall decline.
A compelling and well-written book on this topic is “Englishnization: Path to Ignorance – How the move to English will ruin Japan (June 2015, Shueisha Shinsho) written by Teruhisa Se. In this book, the author points out that countries which were formerly British colony countries such as India, Malaysia, Kenya are examples of how English rule results in lower to middle-income countries. The Philippines and Puerto Rico are examples of middle-income countries formerly occupied by the US. One could make the point that these countries resigned themselves to a lower status when they adopted English as their official language.
Recently, Japanese mass media has been almost masochistic in reporting that the University of Tokyo has fallen from being ranked number one in Asia last year to number seven. The major reason for this decline is the low percentage of classes taught in English, along with the low number of dissertations written in English. Before switching all classes to English however, Japan needs to consider the following: apart from Japan, what other high-income countries whose language is not English allow citizens to study at the university level primarily in their own language? What is more, how many realize that Japan is unusual in that citizens can read classical literature from all over the world in Japanese?
In contrast, consider Singapore. Singapore is said to be an ideal nation-state, but its current state of affairs speaks otherwise. How many know that In Singapore one must learn several languages to survive? Singapore also struggles with increasing economic disparity caused by elitist policies, lack of solidarity among citizens, and cultural poverty where little unique culture or arts are created. This can be viewed as the unavoidable outcome that occurs when making the switch to English.
On the other hand, Japan has used translation as a shield in preserving Japanese as its official language. Japanese, therefore, has not been lowered to the status of a mere “indigenous language”.
Considering the following history of Japanese and Japanese culture, as well at the merits which substantiated Japanese language and culture, it is only natural that Japan has taken this path in protecting its language.
• In the 6th -7th century Japan brought in ideas from Chinese civilization, absorbing those ideas by creating an eclectic mix of Japanese and Chinese writing containing Chinese characters and kana in creating its own unique culture.
• With approximately 500,000 words, Japanese has a rich and abundant vocabulary. Although English also contains around 500,000 words, many terms taken from other languages. German contains 350,000 words, and French 100,000. It is apparent that Japan is a country blessed with a rich language.
• It is possible to read Japanese classic literature written approximately 1000 years ago without great difficulty (works such as Kojiki, Nihon-shoki, and Man’yoshu). In the US and England however, literature written 1000 years ago was written in ancient Greek or Hebrew. This means the ordinary person cannot read such literature without understanding those languages.
• Among the 200 countries, over 6000 ethnic groups, and over 6500 languages in the world, Japanese is unique in its methodical construction of 50 phonetic sounds each centered around vowels. Japanese is diverse in its notation –it is comprised of hiragana, katakana, alphabet, Chinese numerals, Roman numerals, etc.
• Neuroscientist Tadanobu Tsunoda has pointed out that those in the West process consonants with the left brain, while vowels are processed with the right brain which also processes mechanical sounds and other noise. Westerners also process sounds such as that of birds chirping, the sound of running water in streams, and the wind as noise with the right side of their brain. In contrast, the Japanese process these sounds with the left side of the brain, which is responsible for processing language. This might explain why the Japanese tend to see the divine in all things.
• Located at the tip of the Eurasian continent, Japan has developed a culture by cultivating Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism, and Shintoism. These ways of thought have fostered a keen sensitivity and profound spirituality in Japan.
• As scientific journalist and editor, Yoshiyuki Matsuo pointed out in his book How the Science of Japanese will Change the World (Nihongo no Kagaku ga Sekai wo Kaeru), the discoveries of Nobel prize winner scientists are a product of the Japanese language. Japanese scientists have earned approximately 20 Nobel prizes for discoveries in the field of natural science – more than any other Asian country.
Although seemingly unrelated, let’s take a moment now to consider the recent state of world affairs.
Many are aware of Britain’s departure from the EU (familiarly termed “Brexit”, a combination of the terms “Britain” and “Exit”) determined by popular vote. This move continues to greatly impact economies and politics both in Japan and worldwide.
In recent French elections, incumbent French president Emmanuel Macron succeeded in keeping French politician and proponent of departing from the EU Marion Anne Perrine and her supporters at bay. However, it is still too early to predict if Macron can create a political party capable of both earning a majority of the 577 seats in the French National Assembly and working with the prime minister in continuing as an EU member. In fact, the EU might be on a path heading towards dissolution, since The Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Sweden are considering separation as well.
What are these global state of affairs hinting at?
They are hinting that the world is turning from globalism to neo-nationalism (or localism). This means turning away from doing away with national borders, liberalization of interaction with people from other countries, and opening markets to the restricting the unrestricted flow of refugees, and turning towards recovering nation-states. It is a shift from elitism to populism, a shift to an era moving away from elitist leadership represented by financial capitalists, moving instead towards leadership by the public. This shift was made visible during the Trump vs. Clinton presidential election. Donald Trump’s slogan of “America First” is in one sense a step towards neo-nationalism and populism.
Globalists have pushed forward neo-liberalist policies, open economies, deregulation, small government, and accordingly the reorganization of the global economy. Recent events such as those mentioned above, however, are a backlash to such policies.
The trend now appears to be moving towards localism, or what should rather be called “glocalism”. Simply put, glocalism is a social process that consists of the concurrent drives towards globalization and localization.
It is here that we find the significance of translation.
The translational approach is being reconsidered – an approach where individual independent cultures respect other cultures and their languages, using translation as a means of engaging in communication.
Language is not simply a communication tool as proponents of English-only speaking districts in Japan might claim. Language creates peoples’ world view. In the case of Japan, Japanese forms the way of thinking, feeling, and make-up of the Japanese society.
It can, therefore, be said that blindly switching to English as Japan’s official language will lead to the destruction of Japan’s strengths. The virtues of thoughtfulness, consideration, keen sensitivity, and profound spirituality characteristic of the Japanese are the products of Japanese, the Japanese mind, and Japanese culture.
The eclectic mix and cultivation of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Zen Buddhism that make up the culture of this island country located at the eastern tip of the Eurasian continent are a treasure that the Japanese should be proud of.
Some have heard of the term “tatamiser effect” coined by Takao Suzuki. This was originally a French term that meant to become Japanese-like. In other words, it means to become more flexible in one’s attitudes towards others and to move away from confrontation and towards harmony. It is said that those who learn Japanese begin to think in this way.
This is exactly why the world seeks translation. Translation is based on the methodology of forming communication while valuing the independence of individuals in various countries.
It is important not be easily swayed by globalists who advocate English at the expense of other languages, but instead find the significance of Japanese, and confidently emphasize the importance of translation. Through translation, we can bring about enlightenment in which cultures from all countries are respected and harmony pursued.
I can’t help but be reminded of the Tower of Babel when considering recent globalist trends. It is as if globalization advocates are trying to create English as their tower of Babel. God is angered by this and instead has created various languages, ordering people to be scattered throughout the world.
We must realize that we are entering a doorway to a world where diverse languages and cultures coexist.
Japan needs to consider translation as a part of its national and language strategies. Granted, I do not intend to state that since Japan has advocated peace in recent years there is no need to take self-defense measures. Just like permanently neutral country Switzerland, I believe it is important for Japan to have a healthy sense of danger geopolitically and be prepared accordingly. As a part of that, I believe translation is crucial in forming national strategies.
Issue 174 from the ALUMNI Editorial Office
Published by: Babel University Professional School of Translation ALUMNI Association
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