This study examines three Japanese translations of one of Eileen Chang’s representative works, "Love in a Fallen City," by Ueda Shizuko (1991), Ikegami Sadako (1995), and Fujii Shozo (2018). It discusses four aspects: paragraph division, phonetic annotations, notes, and inappropriate translations.
The results show that Ueda’s and Ikegami’s translations tend to be more interpretive and follow Japanese paragraphing habits, resulting in more paragraphs. Due to closely following the original paragraphing and wording of Eileen Chang’s work, Fujii’s translation has more phonetic annotations and added notes. The initial 1991 translation by Ueda had some inappropriate translations due to limited reference materials available at the time. The 1995 translation by Ikegami, which referred to Ueda’s translation, reduced the number of inappropriate translations. Lastly, the accuracy of the third translation by Fujii in 2018 has significantly improved.
Essentially, each of the three translations focuses on different aspects, so reading different Japanese translations of "Love in a Fallen City" can provide different levels of experience.