滄海よ眠れ

English translation: Requiem over the Blue Ocean

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:滄海よ眠れ
English translation:Requiem over the Blue Ocean
Entered by: kashis15

04:39 Mar 6, 2016
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - History
Japanese term or phrase: 滄海よ眠れ
I'm translating an article on Japanese postwar history and I have come across this book title. The book is about the experiences of the war and I have to provide an English translation of the Japanese title, but I'm struggling with the nuance of the title. Could anyone explain or maybe a native Japanese speaker could help by rewording.

Thanks a lot,

Niick
Nicholas Hallsworth
Japan
Local time: 02:37
N/A (Please refer to my description)
Explanation:
I’m a Japanese native and own the series. Being Japanese, it is rather difficult to provide you with an exact suggestion of the title in English, but perhaps I can help you by giving what sort of nuance I get from the Japanese title ‘滄海よ眠れ’.
First of all, this is certainly not a happy or peaceful title – Japan lost the War, and many Japanese still share extreme sadness and regret about losing so many lives in the war. And perhaps this emotion extends not only to the Japanese who fought in the war but also to the war-time enemy – the Americans. So ‘滄海’ here is definitely NOT talking about the sea itself, but the vast number of war victims, primarily who died in the ocean.
‘滄海’ implies the great ocean (refer to 広辞苑 if you have the chance), which in turn implies the greatness of the value of so many lost lives. So this title expresses a sort of mourning for the dead – both the Japanese and the Americans who lost lives in the battle. Once dead, they are no longer enemies. What remains is the emptiness that prevails on both sides. So this title implies a kind of soundless world after a fierce battle. ‘眠れ’ is quiet mourning for the victims upon whose lives stands the thriving country of Japan we see today. In this sense, we even feel a sense of guilt to be rich, having sacrificed those lives.
I hope you can by now visualize the sort of nuance this Japanese title implies. I would suggest not to translate the Japanese word-to-word, but instead to come up with a completely different English title that conveys the same image you think the original Japanese tries to convey.

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Note added at 2日16時間 (2016-03-08 20:44:58 GMT)
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I gave it a thought and came up with an idea that a title like ‘A Requiem over the Blue Ocean’ may work in this case.
Selected response from:

kashis15
Japan
Local time: 02:37
Grading comment
Thank you for your brilliant, insightful answer. I think you explained the nuance very well. "Sleep! Blue Sea" sounds good but it doesn't carry the full nuance of suffering. "Rest in Peace" is better but then the meaning is not really peaceful. I think "Requiem over the Blue Ocean" is pretty good. Unfortunately I've already submitted but if the client comes back I can offer a better title. Thanks so much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +3Sleep! Blue Seas
Richard Smith
5 +1N/A (Please refer to my description)
kashis15
3Umiyo Nemure (Rest in peace, the blue sea!)
Port City


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Sleep! Blue Seas


Explanation:
That's just an idea. It's a book about the Battle of Midway and all those who died at sea in that battle.

滄海 (うみ or そうかい)


    Reference: http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%BB%84%E6%B5%B7-%E3%81%86%E3%81%B...
Richard Smith
Canada
Local time: 13:37
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you very much! I think it's a good title, very suitable for a book. Yes, it's a six part series that attempts to put an end to the myth that the Japanese Navy would have won the battle had they arrived on the scene 5 minutes earlier!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  David Patrick
3 hrs

agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
1 day 4 hrs

agree  Harry Crawford
1 day 20 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Umiyo Nemure (Rest in peace, the blue sea!)


Explanation:
If there is no English translation published yet, I would translate it as "Umiyo Nemure" and give a literal translation in parenthesis.

Although I haven't read the book, I think the title implies "requiem" for those who lost their lives in the battle of Midway. 「安らかに眠れ」is a Japanese equivalent of 'rest in peace', and I believe 眠れ is used in the same way here. Although a title like "Requiem of the blue sea" may sound a bit more suitable for the piece of literature, I don't think it is necessary to work hard on the title because you aren't translating the book itself. So, I think a literal translation should be OK.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/滄海-うみ-よ眠れ―ミッドウェー海戦の生と死〈1〉-文春文庫-澤地/dp...

Port City
New Zealand
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks a lot for your useful advise as always. That's right, I'm using romanized Japanese with a translation in parenthesis I will either use Rest in Peace or simple Sleep as suggested above. Thanks.

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 days 8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
N/A (Please refer to my description)


Explanation:
I’m a Japanese native and own the series. Being Japanese, it is rather difficult to provide you with an exact suggestion of the title in English, but perhaps I can help you by giving what sort of nuance I get from the Japanese title ‘滄海よ眠れ’.
First of all, this is certainly not a happy or peaceful title – Japan lost the War, and many Japanese still share extreme sadness and regret about losing so many lives in the war. And perhaps this emotion extends not only to the Japanese who fought in the war but also to the war-time enemy – the Americans. So ‘滄海’ here is definitely NOT talking about the sea itself, but the vast number of war victims, primarily who died in the ocean.
‘滄海’ implies the great ocean (refer to 広辞苑 if you have the chance), which in turn implies the greatness of the value of so many lost lives. So this title expresses a sort of mourning for the dead – both the Japanese and the Americans who lost lives in the battle. Once dead, they are no longer enemies. What remains is the emptiness that prevails on both sides. So this title implies a kind of soundless world after a fierce battle. ‘眠れ’ is quiet mourning for the victims upon whose lives stands the thriving country of Japan we see today. In this sense, we even feel a sense of guilt to be rich, having sacrificed those lives.
I hope you can by now visualize the sort of nuance this Japanese title implies. I would suggest not to translate the Japanese word-to-word, but instead to come up with a completely different English title that conveys the same image you think the original Japanese tries to convey.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2日16時間 (2016-03-08 20:44:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I gave it a thought and came up with an idea that a title like ‘A Requiem over the Blue Ocean’ may work in this case.

kashis15
Japan
Local time: 02:37
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you for your brilliant, insightful answer. I think you explained the nuance very well. "Sleep! Blue Sea" sounds good but it doesn't carry the full nuance of suffering. "Rest in Peace" is better but then the meaning is not really peaceful. I think "Requiem over the Blue Ocean" is pretty good. Unfortunately I've already submitted but if the client comes back I can offer a better title. Thanks so much!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Chié_JP
1 day 2 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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