Fifty Sounds
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-02 10:51:09
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Polly Barton
- ISBN：1913097501
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
In this dazzling debut， Polly Barton reflects on her experience of moving to the Japanese island of Sado at the age of twenty-one and on her journey to becoming a literary translator。 Written in fifty semi-discrete entries， Fifty Sounds is a personal dictionary of the Japanese language that draws together a variety of cultural reflections – from conformity and being an outsider， to the gendering of Japanese society， and attitudes towards food and the cult of ‘deliciousness’ – alongside probing insights into the transformative powers of language-learning。 Candid， humane， witty and wise， Fifty Sounds is remarkable work that takes a transparent look at language itself， lifting the lid on the quietly revolutionary act of learning， speaking， and living in another language。
Reviews
Marina Sofia
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Fabulous。 Full review to follow。
Jola
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Review to come。
Ellie
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AD | Gifted copyI received a copy of this book from the publishers free of charge for review purposes。 Receiving a free copy has not influenced my opinion on this book， and all my thoughts are honest。Read full review on my blog。Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton is the kind of book that I wish I read more of。 If you’re a person who likes their books categorised， then I suppose this is a memoir， but in reality it is far more expansive than that。 The title， Fifty Sounds， refers to the Japanese mimetics AD | Gifted copyI received a copy of this book from the publishers free of charge for review purposes。 Receiving a free copy has not influenced my opinion on this book， and all my thoughts are honest。Read full review on my blog。Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton is the kind of book that I wish I read more of。 If you’re a person who likes their books categorised， then I suppose this is a memoir， but in reality it is far more expansive than that。 The title， Fifty Sounds， refers to the Japanese mimetics Barton uses as jumping off points to share her experiences throughout the book。 As much as this is anecdotes and tales from Barton’s life， this is also an exploration of language， and of being an outsider to a language， and of living and working in multiple languages。As someone who is completely unfamiliar with the Japanese language， and mostly unfamiliar with Japanese customs and culture， this book was incredibly educational。 I have dabbled in Japanese fiction before， but have never felt like I’ve come away from it with a more developed idea of Japan itself。 This， I imagine， is more to do with the limits of fiction than anything else。 What Fifty Sounds offers is an insight into the language and culture of Japan through the eyes of someone like myself， that is to say， a female Westerner with an interest in linguistics。At points， I almost forgot that this book was non-fiction， such was the comprehensive nature of the memories relayed here。 I will admit to a relatively boring， middle-class British life: I have never had an opportunity to immerse myself in a non-Western culture， my experiences have been exceptionally middle-of-the-road （I went to a decent state school， then attended a Russell Group University， and usually holiday somewhere in Europe）。 Being able to draw on my life to find an experience that so well embodies and exemplifies these elements of linguistics in the way Barton does seems to me to be something that would be found in the world of fiction。 Having reminded myself that it is not， in fact， limited to the world of fiction， I do feel as though I’ve been given something of an itch to do something。 Perhaps not live in Japan （my language learning skills are not my strong point）， but certainly to build the confidence to explore possibilities more。Another thing I feel compelled to confess to here is my previous lack of knowledge re: translation。 My exposure to foreign languages is limited to GCSE French and even lower level German。 From this sort of level of language learning， I did see translation as little more than picking from perhaps 2 or 3 words with an appropriate meaning， and reshuffling the sentence structure to fit the grammar rules for the language to which I am translating。 Perhaps this is somewhat more possible for languages that developed in similar ways to English and share a lot of common ideas and conventions。 I never， however， stopped to consider that many languages are bound to completely different rules to my own， and nor did I particularly ever consider that culture and society can affect the way a word is perceived。 Two words in two different languages may have the same meaning in a concrete sense， but may not be considered the same in conversation at all。Reading Fifty Sounds has really opened my eyes to not only the Japanese language and culture， but to the art of translation。 I would definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest， even if passing， in linguistics， translation or Japan。 。。。more
Blair
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What is it like not only to learn another language， but to live in it？ As someone who can only speak/read English and has never been particularly good at languages， it’s not something I have spent a lot of time thinking about。 But Polly Barton’s memoir is so thoroughly immersive that I now feel I know something of what it is to have the experiences she describes。Barton didn’t set out to become a translator: she studied philosophy at Cambridge before applying， almost on a whim， for a programme to What is it like not only to learn another language， but to live in it？ As someone who can only speak/read English and has never been particularly good at languages， it’s not something I have spent a lot of time thinking about。 But Polly Barton’s memoir is so thoroughly immersive that I now feel I know something of what it is to have the experiences she describes。Barton didn’t set out to become a translator: she studied philosophy at Cambridge before applying， almost on a whim， for a programme to teach English in Japan， which saw her assigned to the small island of Sado。 Fifty Sounds is an extended attempt to answer the question ‘why Japan？’， chronicling her experiences in the country alongside a guide to the entwined intricacies of language and culture。 It’s a tale of self-discovery， of loving a country that often seems reluctant to reciprocate， of how learning a language can be a personal revolution。There were times when I got nervous about where the narrative was going， feeling that I wasn’t up to the task of understanding it – philosophy often forms a framework for Barton’s understanding of her circumstances; she writes of the difficulties of explaining Wittgenstein’s work to a neophyte。 But the writing is also so humane， and the result is both more revelatory and much easier to understand than any critical theory I’ve read， showing in practical， real terms how fundamentally language shapes one’s world。 Barton takes these complex ideas and ties them down to the reality of a sentence， an experience， and in the process they come to make perfect sense （even to the neophyte， which in this case is me）。Fifty Sounds is an especially effective type of memoir: the kind that makes a part of you immediately want to do the thing it describes， while another part simultaneously rejoices in the fact that you haven’t done the thing and never will。 It is also， unexpectedly， type of book I really needed to read right now， as I go stir-crazy living alone in lockdown; I would never have have guessed how much emotional solace I would draw from this story， which turns out to be largely about being an outsider twice over。 And on top of being surely one of the most readable memoirs ever， it’s made me really keen to read more of Barton’s translations。I received an advance review copy of Fifty Sounds from the publisher， Fitzcarraldo Editions。TinyLetter | Linktree 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Fifty Sounds
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Fifty Sounds&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Fifty Sounds&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0