The rain in Tohoku

Since water and electricity are already optional here at work, you shouldn't be surprised to find out that access to our ILS is, too. They had to regenerate the keyword index last night. Supposedly, we're still waiting for "verification" from the vendor which will happen ANY MINUTE NOW.

In the meantime, I've been finding some interesting articles to read on the web. Searching the term "zuzuben" dropped by someone in a post, I found this fascinating tidbit:

In reality, the Tohoku Region now consists of rich rice fields and orchards, and high-tech cities. Traditionally, however, it is considered a poor farmland, so that the poor farmers' words in the Japanese literature have always been told in the Tohoku-Ben and that the soutern accents of the Blacks in the American literature, in the Japanese-translated edition, always have appeared in the Tohoku dialects. (Source)

I love stuff like this! Ever since reading Tolkien's appendices, I've been fascinated by the challenge of "translating" sociolects. One interesting question on this subject a while ago was, "What dialect does Eliza speak in translations of My Fair Lady and, specifically, what stigmatised features is she trying to overcome in the "Rain in Spain" song?" For instance, in the German version, she speaks Berlinerisch and her fault is unrounding the ü of such words as grün and blühen. (This not purely a feature of Berlinerisch, but one which is widespread in German dialects.)

But, of course, coming up with an analogue for a Southern accent is even trickier than finding one for a lower-class urban one. Most translators, I imagine, don't even bother. So, if true, this is a very interesting facet of Japanese literature.