![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/322\/2020\/10\/David-Boyd.jpg?resize=105%2C149&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nDavid Boyd is one of the professors in UNC Charlotte\u2019s Japanese Studies Program. He specializes in teaching courses on Japanese-English translation. He also works as a professional translator, and he is winning high praise for his English translations of Japanese picture books. His translation of Hiroshi Osada\u2019s Every Color of Light: A Book about the Sky <\/em>recently came out with Enchanted Lion Books, and already it is receiving excellent reviews. Publishers Weekly <\/em>praised his translation in a starred review. Publishers Weekly <\/em>also featured him in an article titled \u201cBuilding Bridges: The Art of Children\u2019s Book Translation.\u201d I recently contacted David and asked him about his work as a translator of Japanese picture books. Here is what he sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came to UNC Charlotte in 2018, where I\u2019m fortunate enough to teach what I love: Japanese-English translation. Most of my courses have been workshops, in which the students and I have had detailed discussions about a wide variety of texts and translation strategies. Ultimately, my goal is to help them become more sensitive to the structures and nuances of both Japanese and English.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2017, I published my first translation of a children\u2019s book: <\/em>What What What, illustrated by Ryoji Arai and written by Arata Tendo. This was also my first time working with Enchanted Lion Books, a Brooklyn-based publisher with a discerning eye for great stories and art from around the world. <\/em>What What What tells the story of a young boy who can\u2019t keep himself from asking questions. As the book begins, the boy\u2019s constant questions irritate and exasperate everyone around him. But, in the end, the boy\u2019s inquisitive nature saves the day. Sometimes you really do need to keep on asking. <\/em>What What What is both haunting and touching as it affirms the power of a child\u2019s boundless curiosity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This month, Enchanted Lion is publishing my translation of another book illustrated by Arai, with text by the late poet Hiroshi Osada. <\/em>What What What is a very human tale, but <\/em>Every Color of Light: A Book About the Sky is focused on the natural world. In the book\u2019s opening pages, it starts to rain, and over time what begins as a light rain builds into a full-fledged storm. With every turn of the page, the weather grows more and more fierce\u2014until the storm finally subsides and the sky returns to blue. In this stunning work, Osada’s words evoke nature’s moving lullaby while Arai’s art brings those words to life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Through his work as a translator, David is helping American children make connections with Japanese children\u2019s literature, but he is also contributing to Charlotte\u2019s connections with the wider world. His English translations of What What What <\/em>and Every Color of Light <\/em>add an international dimension to the ever-expanding library of books that make up Storied Charlotte. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I remember when Piedmont Airlines debuted its nonstop service between Charlotte and London in 1987.\u00a0 Even before the first flight to London took off, the city installed new signs for the airport with the word \u201cinternational\u201d proudly added to the name of the airport.\u00a0 Our international airport is just one of many examples of Charlotte\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[135,136],"class_list":["post-2523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-charlotte-international-connections","tag-english-translations-of-japanese-picture-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2523"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2529,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523\/revisions\/2529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/322\/2020\/10\/WhatWhatWhatCOVER_product.jpg?resize=137%2C137&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/322\/2020\/10\/everycoloroflight_cover.jpg?resize=172%2C172&ssl=1\")
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