Nov 5, 2016

[Machine Translation Testing with Book Reviews] 書評で機械翻訳のテスト

It was a good autumn day to enjoy sports and driving. The temperatures here today reached around 60’s. There was no need of wearing a thick jacket. Leaves on the trees were colorful. I saw bright yellow leaves on the roads blown up by the wind as we passed.

After coming back home, I played with the translation software using some of the book review posts I found on the Internet. The reviews I searched were on the book titled “レイヤー化する世界（佐々木俊尚）”.


Contents of the book are as follows.

Prologue   Modern Age

Part 1   Middle Ages
 Chapter 1    Europe used to be a frontier long ago
 Chapter 2   Why the medieval empires went vanished

 Part 2   Modern Age
 Chapter 3   The idea of "Nation" is come from fantasy
 Chapter 4   Glory called "Democracy"
 Chapter 5   Collapse of Democracy and Nation-states

Part 3   Future
 Chapter 6   All is swallowed up into a 場)>
 Chapter 7   The society is made up of “Layers”
 Chapter 8   "Super multi-national companies" will put an end to the Country/Nation-oriented thoughts
 Chapter 9   New world systems and us


The book describes the world history from the perspective of Country/Nation, Power, Democracy, and Industrial Innovation, and extrapolate it to make statements on the future.

I personally didn’t feel there was nothing new about what is said to be described in the book. The reviewers write the main points explained in the book as follows.
  1. Country/State and the democracy system based on that are not so robust as we may believe.
  2. Outline of industries are constructed by new technologies, and social systems go along with it.
[Output from Machine Translation]
  • The former is a story of history, there is no room to disagree. Churchill as using the word "tried", social systems are repeated various experiments, it will be said to be still followed. Now is just a chance "democratic era", this is not is not a flawless system. So, what about the latter? In this manual, case showing a change in the new society has been introduced some, but it is unknown whether or not the flow of the change is deterministic. Although the change began, returns to its original state by the swing-back, I would not have never Nante. The future is always something unknown. In addition, even if the change was deterministic, it is not possible to determine whether advances in how much of the speed. Is not surprisingly important because speed. If the span of until a change is long for, will people it is intended to maintain "this remains" even a little increase. However, technology advances, it is pull the trigger of the industrial structure changes, thereby personal life changes, social system so as to follow changes, because is a natural flow. "Still, while I thought that I do not change Nante society ", a wave of change was imminent until buckwheat immediately, which may have enough thing Nante.
  • =========================
  • “We need to be more sensitive to the changes. Instead of getting drifted away by the waves of ocean, we need to be prepared to get on the waves. This should especially be emphasized to younger generations.”


[Study]
This is also a typical Japanese grammar, which goes like, “We Japanese tend to be this way” “We have to be more international in order not to be left behind by the rest of the world,” or “Younger people should always learn to adapt themselves to the changes,” which I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I only want to showcase some examples that may briefly illustrate a view of a group oriented culture. Number one item to point out here is “We Japanese”, number two is “have to” or “should” do this or that. I feel that, even if there is a perfect translation system here, this this type of grammar/word usage will be just the same.

 In this book, the “Layer” is defined as a component or a module where each one represents his or her personality or attribute. The author describes that each layer can support other layers, and is interchangeable or dynamic, as opposed to being monotonous or fixed. 


[Output from Machine Translation]
  • When, you might try to say. "Single fixed existence" is, be replaced with individuals, it will be a "company man". Identity is the person that is in itself rather than, are associated with the company. Aisha spirit is rich, with people who say even that living for longer company rather than. Such a person has the horsepower, but if eliminate the whereabouts of the company, will be broken, instantly.


 [Study]
Why the author keeps saying “Layers”? This passage from the review briefly explains that portion. Here, a “company man” is meant to be someone who loves the company with all his soul and spirit, which used to be very common in Japan. But the author says (and many Japanese may already know or have experienced) that once you get lost in the company, you feel you are finished. You will end up feeling totally desolate with no hope at all.

This output sentences from machine translation may not make sense to many English speakers. Here’s how I understood by also reading the post in Japanese.

Having multiple layers means that one person plays different roles or show different attributes, such as being a blogger, an e-mail magazine publisher, a YouTuber, a husband, an engineer, a fortune teller, a palm reader, a Japanese chess player, and so on. All of these layers (components or modules) establish who you are. The book says having this structure will be safer you don’t have to be totally damaged or destroyed when a big change comes.

This passage should be very appealing (and even catchy) to the Japanese in general. People in general believed (or may still believe) that it was safe to stick to their company and identify themselves as part of it. Author says this type of thinking is getting out of date. Now it's time for us to change our mindset.

It is not meaningless to analyze why the author wants to say this kind of thing in his book, and the reviewer also wanted to pick that up and emphasize that point.


[Output from Machine Translation]
  • "From a single identity, to the multiple identities" This change, which takes you to the individual to "supple" definitely. If, if the individual to society and belong to there has a fractal structure, layering is also and in various fields, it will give us of "supple" it is also to society as a whole. The last moment….


 [Study]
In case this passage doesn’t make sense at all to English speakers, “identity” is the same as attributes of a person. The author wants to encourage readers to have multiple Layers of identities (attributes or personalities) where one Layer can support another. 

 [Output from Machine Translation]
  • Here "field" that is used in, than the "platform", has received wide impression is a little more level playing field. ※ detailed story about the "place" is, please try to see this book directly. As this book points out, it will go become a powerful presence to make a "place" in the future. In addition, if a single entity is to possession of more than one layer, the field might be able to produce any number. However, those that "place" is, of the individual (or company) can serve as one of hope, you might.

[Study] 
“Here "field" that is used in, than the "platform” is meant to be like this. “Here in this book, the “field” is meant to be more than a “platform”.

I now start thinking this “field” might as well be replaced with “scene”. Then I can conclude that the core theme of this book should be as follows.

The “Country/Nation” idea is getting out of date, although majority of Japanese stick to this idea still. This can bring us into problems.

Instead of sticking to the Country/Nation idea, we Japanese should focus more on the “Field,” which is more than a platform.

One example of the Country/Nation model (a multi-national company, the author says) can be General Motors or SONY with these words, “What's Good for General Motors Is Good for America” (Wikipedia says this is a frequently "misquoted" statement, so I would like to use this as a parable), and examples from “Field” (a super multi-national company, the author says) can be said about Google and Apple.

Author writes that the difference between a “Multi-national company” and a “Super Multi-national company” is former is focused on the “Country/Nation” and the latter on the “Scene”.

Each individual’s personality should be mapped out with multiple layers, like the OSI model in the IT networking.

Layers are interchangeable, dynamic, and flexible, and these don’t change who you really are. It’s safer than what we Japanese thought was the normal idea. You can change or switch options even if you fail in one portion in it.

Another example of “Layers” is SNS. There are global services such as facebook or twitter, along with local SNS’s such as LINE (Japan), Weibo (China), or Kakaotalk (Taiwan) that is popular and keeps growing. This phenomenon indicates that people use global and local services with different level (Layer) of reasoning or mindset.

[Reviewer’s Conclusion]
The author of this book says there could be no hope in this country if we stick to the “Country/Nation," which is Japan or Japanese-ness. The reviewer concludes in his post that “we Japanese” should be better off, if we focused more on the "Ba 場 (scene)". He seems to be pretty favorable to this book as well as to the author.
[My Closing]
And the purpose of writing this post here, by the way, is I only wanted to test the current translation software to see how it has improved in the past couple years.

[References]

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Jul 4, 2016

Taneda Santoka (種田 山頭火, 1882 - 1940) - Living Towards The Point Zero / Eternity

Taneda Santoka (種田 山頭火)

English version Wikipedia introduces him as follows.

“Taneda Santōka (種田 山頭火, birth name: Taneda Shōichi 種田 正一; 3 December 1882 – 11 October 1940) was the pen-name of a Japanese author and haiku poet. He is known for his free verse haiku.”

He started off on his journey with sandals on a certain day of April 1925. This actually happened to be my first reading of Taneda Santoka. I have forgotten how old I was.

分け入つても 分け入つても 青い山

Deeper I go
 Still deeper
Still green mountains

When you read this in Japanese, you will instantly notice this Haiku doesn’t follow the traditional 5-7-5 syllable rule. This irregular form actually appealed to my eyes and ears when I first read it. (Haiku is an art that largely appeals to our ears. The rhythm greatly counts.) But I also had a funny feeling about some of his Haiku poems. Most of the Haiku he composed sounded so familiar to me. As a “mendicant friar” (I know I am not quite sure if this is the correct translation for 乞食僧), he had lived on the money received from local people while walking along the roads and streets.  His, what is called, “literary works” were basically the same as private notes or diary. His diary contained thousands (or more) of Haiku poems. In the diary, he wrote about whether he could receive good enough money or the food he ate. He also wrote about the water, weather, or other natural settings. He wrote about the inns he had stayed or the people he had interacted with.

****************************
あるけばかつこういそげばかつこう

I walk - There is a cuckoo
I hurry on – There is a cuckoo

****************************
へうへうとして水を味ふ

I taste this water as if blowing the whistle

****************************

It is interesting to recognize that I can even visualize something from those Haiku poems.

According to my old Japanese supplementary reader, Santoka was born in 1882. He had lived with parents, but his grandmother took over the custody. His mother killed herself in the well when Santoka was 10. Challenges continued. His father was running a sake brewery, but the business faced fanatical difficulties. His house was sold off when Santoka was in his 20s. He got married the following year, and then begot a son a year after that. His father disappeared when the business went bankrupt. Santoka was 34. In the same tear, his younger brother committed suicide. He started running a second-hand bookstore the same year, but couldn't bring the business on its feet. He started dealing with drawing frames instead of books, but things were just the same. Three years later, when he was 37, Santoka left home and divorced his wife.

He was a brilliant kid as a high school student. He graduated Shuyo Gakuen, now Bofu High School. It is said he started composing Haiku at around this time. Years after that, he was admitted to Waseda University in Tokyo, however had to give up his course due to mental illness.

At age 41, Santoka had been intoxicated when stopped a local train on the rail. After this incident, he was admitted to live in a Buddhist temple, where he continued composing Haiku. He attempted suicide when he was 50. He traveled across the country to create even more Haiku. Many of the writings I read are said to be written during this period. One of the source information said he had been telling his acquaintances that he wanted to die instantly without having to feel any pains. Just as he had wished, he died instantly in 1940, at age 58. It was one year before Japan declared a war on the United States of America in the Pacific Ocean.

What impresses me about Santoka is that his Haiku poems were simple, honest, and straight forward. There is no pride or vanity to be found from them (as far as I read what he wrote).

****************************
生まれた家はあとかたもないほうたる

The house where I was born
Not a trace anymore
Fireflies

****************************

After reading this Haiku, I thought, “This sounds like my situation.” I also wanted to name myself Santoka, but with different Kanji characters. I secretly called myself “三等火”, instead of “山頭火”.

[三等火] Fake Santoka composed:

 生まれた家はあとかたないかもめ気味が悪い

The house where I was born
Not a trace anymore
Creepy seagulls

Here are some other Great Santoka’s haiku.

****************************

[山頭火] Real Santoka composed:

酔うてこほろぎと寝ていたよ

I was drunk
When laying myself with crickets

****************************

鴉啼いてわたしも一人

A crow caws
I am alone too

****************************

まつすぐな道でさみしい

This straight road
Lonely

****************************

Here is another one I like.


[山頭火] Real Santoka composed:

どうしようもないわたしが歩いてゐる

Me - hopeless and helpless -
Walking


This gave me a hint of composing my own Haiku as a fake Santoka, 三等火.

[三等火] Fake Santoka composed:

どうしようもないお菓子が並んでいる

The snacks – nothing is worse than these –
For sale

Now here’s another wonderful haiku by the Great Santoka.


[山頭火] Real Santoka composed:

おちついて死ねさうな草萌ゆる

The weeds
I can die calmly on them
Sprouting


And my version will be like this.

[三等火] Fake Santoka composed:
病気で死ねそうな甘み萌ゆる

The sweats
I can get sick and die with them
Sprouting

Here is a haiku by the Great Santoka.

****************************

[山頭火] Real Santoka composed:

生死の中の雪ふりしきる

Between life and death
Snow falls with no end

****************************

My version will be this.

[三等火] Fake Santoka composed:

下痢で生死の中　道路ひたすら続く

Between life and death with diarrhea
Road is stretched ahead with no end

****************************
[山頭火] Real Santoka composed:

すべつてころんで山がひつそり

I slipped and fell
A sound mountain

****************************
[三等火] Fake Santoka composed:

家に財布忘れてレジ店員ひっそり

Oops, I left my wallet at home
A silent cashier

 (I actually forgot taking my wallet while shopping a few times this year. One time, when I left my wallet at home, a shop clerk said I could get that drink for free... My wife got to know all about it later, shook her head, and said it was a big embarrassment...)

While playing with this Haiku, I just remembered one very famous Haiku by Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉)

****************************
古池や蛙飛び込む水の音

Old pond
A frog jumps in
Sound water

****************************

This Japanese Haiku might be translated into the Michigan English, like this way.

[三等火] Fake Santoka composed:

湖畔集う  赤き日焼けと 独立祭

 Assembly at the lakeside
Skin is burned and red
Independence Day


My wife keeps saying to me, "You always ask me to take photos but you don't upload anywhere. It's pointless."

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Jun 13, 2016

A man who you love to hate. -- Uno Koho, 宇野功芳 (1930 - 2016)

Koho Uno, a music journalist, an orchestra conductor, a chorus conductor, died at age 86. Although I think he was not so much well-known outside of Japan, it suddenly occurred to my mind that I wanted write something about his career when I heard the news of his death.

Wikipedia (Japanese)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%87%E9%87%8E%E5%8A%9F%E8%8A%B3

First of all, I must confess that, in my younger days, his writing style and choice of words me much influence toward me when writing essays or stories myself. It was when I was in high school that I found one of his books by chance in the shelf of a large bookstore in Sendai that I started reading his essays on classical music and orchestra conductors. There was this passage about a symphonic piece conducted by W. Furtwangler in his peculiar way like this. “It is an accelerando with a flesh that will bleed if you cut it”. He also wrote about Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished” by Carlos Kleiber and Vienna Philharmonic, in a way like this: “In the second theme of the second movement, his conducting is just like a calligraphy master, nonchalantly moving his brush to spell out the words”.
So naïve a teenage boy or a young man of early 20’s as I was, I used to go to CD stores after having read and memorized his essays on conductors and orchestras. It was the 1980s in the midst of the Bubble Economy, with so much extravagancy, vanity, and a lot of money flowing in the society. He started to work as a conductor and released a couple of CDs around this time. How excited I was when I finally found he conducted an orchestra to perform Beethoven's symphonies. Because of this much expectation on what or how he would create a work of art, his actual performances disappointed me so much. He openly disliked and criticized Herbert von Karajan or Georg Solti’s interpretation and rendition for being superfluous or lacking “deep” spirituality, but his music through the orchestra sounded much poorer, thinner, and shallower than that. But he continued his stage performance as a conductor, to sound famous symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, or Mozart. His tempo was ridiculously awkward, and timpani sounded so huge and cheap, as if it were firecrackers at a local festival in Taiwan or China. We started to experience the Internet activity. His peculiar writing style was often ridiculed in online forums. His typical expressions were copied and pasted out in the numerous forums. This phenomenon made me think of Mr. Uno being a respectable man in that he did what he believed was good for him to do, no matter how malicious and abusive people in public were when they criticized, despised, or ridiculed what he did. To his performance of Beethoven’s symphony, some still say, “Terrible… This is a sacrilege to Beethoven. Make apologies to him right now!” However, it should be noted that not a little influence did he make to classical music fans. Takashi Asahina was said he made it to become a maestro in Japan, thanks to Mr. Uno’s positive reviews or praises on him. Not only did he spend many words of praise and admiration toward Bruno Walter, he introduced Evgeny Mravinsky, Carl Shuricht, or Han Knapertsbush who were not so well-known in Japan at that time. Mr. Uno was the type of journalist who evaluated highly even about non-popular musicians if their performance was outstandingly excellent.


His records can be found on YouTube. It's amazing. He kept up with this own style even after he had reached 80 years old. He was a character.
After hearing his performances on YouTube, I began to realize Mr. Uno was a very serious man, who pursued having fun through music with all his strength, while remembering his favorite conductors and all, to play music like no other.


This is the music I was hearing while jogging today



I was listening to this record a few times over and over today...

I was not quite sure why I wanted to write about him, but as I keep typing out sentences, I began thinking this way. Maybe it is because I admire his effort about his work and life, and, even though I am not a musician or a critic, there’s a lot to learn from him.

Internet is a funny thing. It allows us to do communications across borders and cultures, but it also shrinks our mind and spirit for fear of receiving backbiting or abuses from others who we cannot even see. Reading Japanese news articles, even a trivial comment on Twitter or Facebook from musicians, actors/actresses, scholars or any other famous people can cause to get him or her “burst into flames” on the Internet, which makes me think of something I had never imagined when I was just a naïve teenager more than 25 years ago.  
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May 31, 2016

詩人・建築家・画家としての立原道造 (1914 - 1939)

立原道造という２４歳で亡くなった詩人がおります。

青空文庫に出てくるぐらいだからずいぶん昔の方に違いないと思い、まずは手っ取り早くWikipediaで調べてみると、こういった文面から始まります。


 「立原 道造（たちはら みちぞう、1914年（大正3年）7月30日 - 1939年（昭和14年）3月29日）は、昭和初期に活動し24歳で急逝した詩人。また建築家としても足跡を残している。」

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AB%8B%E5%8E%9F%E9%81%93%E9%80%A0


青空文庫（http://www.aozora.gr.jp/）というウェブサイト内で自分は何の気なしに谷崎潤一郎の作品などを眺めていたのでしたが、 作家が「た」行であったためか、「谷崎」→「立原」というふうに、たまたま視線がシフトし、 それで彼の詩集を読むことになった次第です。

「優しき歌」という詩集の中の、以下に抜粋した部分が自分の目に留まったのでしたが、読んでいくうちに、自分の日本語解釈が合っているかどうか確かめるためにも、簡単に英訳してみることにしました。

英訳しながら、非常に印象的な詩風だと感心しました。淡い 絵画のようであり、また、はかない情景が目に浮かぶようです。 先のWikipediaによると、彼は大学工学部で建築学科を出ていると共に、詩やパステル画も残しています。彼のパステル画をウェブ検索してみると、確かに彼の詩風と合致します。










また、「ヒアシンスハウス」という、彼が生前に構想した建築物があるのだそうで、彼の死から65年を経た2004年にその名も「ヒアシンスハウス」という建物がさいたま市の公園に竣工されたとのことです。


--------------------------------------------------

IV 薄明

音楽がよくきこえる
だれも聞いてゐないのに
ちひさきフーガが　花のあひだを
草の葉のあひだを　染めてながれる

 I can hear the music so well
Although nobody else hears it
A tiny fugue slips through between the flowers
And between the leaves while dying colors on them


窓をひらいて　窓にもたれればいい
土の上に影があるのを　眺めればいい
ああ　何もかも美しい！　私の身体の
外に　私を囲んで暖く香（かをり）よくにほふひと

 You can only open the window and lean against it
You can only glance at the ground surface with the shadows
Ah, every one of these is beautiful! You are the one
Who surrounds my body to give me warmth and nice fragrance


私は　ささやく　おまへにまた一度
――はかなさよ　ああ　このひとときとともにとどまれ
うつろふものよ　美しさとともに滅びゆけ！

I whisper to you once again
-- You, a transient being, ah, let this moment freeze
Let theses changeable objects disappear with this beauty!


やまない音楽のなかなのに
小鳥も果実（このみ）も高い空で眠りに就き
影は長く　消えてしまふ――そして　別れる

Despite the music that keeps being played
Small birds and nuts have fallen asleep high up in the sky
Projecting long shadows until they disappear – and split up

--------------------------------------------------
五月のミシガンは一年のうちで最もうつくしい季節ではないかとよく思います。今は午後九時ごろでも外は明るい。はかないほど見事に明るく静かに時間の過ぎゆく午後八時ごろなどは、立原道造の詩風に通ずるものがあるとさえ思うほどです。












「はかなさよ　ああ　このひとときとともにとどまれ　
　うつろふものよ　美しさとともに滅びゆけ！」
という言葉がじつに正直な気持ちの吐露だと感じますし、そこから

 「小鳥も果実（このみ）も高い空で眠りに就き 　
　影は長く　消えてしまふ――そして　別れる」
と締めくくるあたりは、なかなか真実味があります。


















自分としては、３.１１以降も親戚等で亡くなられた方々のことを思うにつけ、また、彼らの活躍していた夏の時代に思いを寄せるにつけ、上記の立原の詩から若者臭さを感じるとともに、宿命じみたうつくしさをも感じ取るわけですが、それを素直に認めるあたり、自分も年を取ってきたということかもしれません。

 

さて今月、自分は一週間ほど休暇でバハマ諸島に旅行に行ってきましたが、そこでの明るく強い陽射しやうつくしい海、露店や飲食店の居並びをあるいたり、水上タクシーに乗って島々を渡ったりしていても、感動と共に、その海の色にせよ、建物の鮮やかな色彩にせよ、照りつける陽の光にせよ、もったいないような気持ちすらも湧いてきます。

































 バハマの首都ナッソーで土産品を買おうとした際、手っ取り早いのはStraw Marketと呼ばれるこの一帯。今回、私はチェス・セットを買いました。言い値の半額かそれ以下に値切って買うのが流儀だみたいなことを水上タクシーの船頭さんが言っておられました。確かに容易に半額に値切ることはできます。本来の値段はいくらだったか、謎といえば謎です。

削り方やサイズに不統一がみられる手作り感満点の作品ともいえる商品。
ピースは畳んだ台の中に収納し、手にもって運べます。











また、自分は今月、誕生日を迎えることができました。当日はどうしようかと考えあぐねた挙句、この数年来行ったことのなかったステーキ専門店に出向き、そこで食事するを以って記念としたのでした。
















初夏の陽の光が緑色の葉っぱに降り注ぐ風景は、自分自身これまでいろんなところで何度となく見てきたはずなのに、いつの歳になっても初めて見るような感激が走るのは、自分が五月生まれだからではないか、と思ったりします。

不思議なことに、そんな初夏の風景が時折飛び火して、真夏の終戦記念日に思いが行くこともあります。しかもそれは決まって三島由紀夫のこのインタビュー音声で、こういったことを彼は言うわけです。

　『終戦の時わたくしは、終戦の詔勅を、親戚のうちで聞きました。
　　　（中略）
　そして戦争が済んだら、あるいは戦争が負けたら、
　この世界が崩壊するはずであるのに、
　まだ周りの木々が濃い夏の光を浴びている。
　ことにそれは普通の家庭の中で見たのでありますから、
　周りに家族の顔もあり、周りに普通のちゃぶ台もあり日常生活がある。
　それが実に不思議でならなかったのであります。』


立原道造のように詩的な話でもあり、ゾッとするほど真実味を伴った感覚でもある、という思いを巡らせた次第です。


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