Reply #23: McCamy, I'm a Japanese-English translator, and the Japanese express themselves just fine

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Their ways of expression are DIFFERENT, not less nuanced. They express DIFFERENT nuances than English does. One tour de force short story I read was written entirely in dialogue, with the speakers being an old man, his much younger wife, and the chauffeur who was his wife's lover. There were no tag lines telling you who was speaking, but from the WAY they spoke who was who. You understand speech not only through inflection but also through the verb endings that tell how each speaker ranks in relation to the others.

They do have separate pronouns for "he" and "she," but they rarely use them except for emphasis.

Also, their written language can express things in ways that English can't. For example, if using an unfamiliar foreign word, the author might spell it out in the Katakana phonetic syllabary alongside the Chinese characters that have the same meaning.

Here's a link to a Japan-based publishing company founded by expatriate English-speakers that specializes in translating Japanese genre fiction into English.

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/

You're right, though, about the facial expressions.